Daughters of the American Revolution

We keep old issues of the Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine in the Lundberg Collection. Most of our issues date from the '60s and '70s but we do have some dating back to 1929!

These issues have valuable service information about Revolutionary War soldiers and histories from the Colonial Era. They also contain genealogical sources submitted by DAR members which include Bible records, grave transcriptions, wills, and general family histories.

Daughters of the American Revolution

Find your revolutionary ancestors on the Daughters of the American Revolution website.

The Genealogy page of the DAR site explains how to get started with genealogy and how to conduct research at the DAR library in Washington, DC.  

You can also search the DAR's online databases. Information in the databases is pulled from DAR membership applications. They include databases for:

Ancestor Database: Previously known as the Patriot Index, this is a database of members' "original" ancestors. These ancestors provided patriotic service during the Revolutionary War. If you can prove your lineage from one of these patriots, then you are eligible to join the DAR.

Descendants: Searches through every name on the lineage portions of DAR applications. These are all of the recorded descendants of the Revolutionary War Era ancestors.

GRC: This is a database of the Genealogical Records Committee Reports and includes transcriptions of gravestones, family Bibles, and personal collections created by DAR members. 

NEW DAR BOOK SERIES FOR AMERICAN REVOLUTION RESEARCH

The DAR Library has launched a new online pdf book series on researching ancestors in each of the original states during the period of the American Revolution. The first book is New York State, which is one of the most difficult states in which to do research for this period. South Carolina will be next.  At this point the Library is only selling online versions of the publication. Purchasers will receive a link to pdf of the book for downloading and use on a computer or laptop. They may print out a copy if they so desire, and libraries may do this as well. The New York book is 704 pages long.
The online store is at the following link:  http://members.dar.org/content/announcements/?ID=1634

Forgotten Patriots

The Glenview Library owns Forgotten Patriots: African American and American Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War, by Eric G. Grundset. -- 2nd ed. -- National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, c2008.  R929.373 GRU GENEALOGY

This 854 page DAR book is now free online in PDF format with  a 79 page supplement for 2008-2012 covering additions, corrections, and much more bibliographic information.

The 2008 publication identifies over 6,600 names of African American and American Indians who contributed to American Independence. The Supplement includes an additional three years of research revealing additional names of African American and American Indians who contributed to the Revolution.

Chapters discuss the Northern states, the South, miscellaneous naval and military records, foreign allies, and the West Indies.

Appendices include a map of the enslaved population; 1790 Census documenting the color of participants in the American Revolution ; names as clues to finding forgotten patriots ; and the numbers of minority participants in the Revolution.

The DAR and Genealogy

Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a service organization that was founded as a national society in 1890 and as an Illinois state organization in 1892.

DAR provides service and leadership in the areas of American heritage, citizenship, conservation, education and scholarships, genealogy and family history, historical preservation and restoration, Native American studies, service to veterans, and youth programs.

Any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background, who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution. DAR defines a "patriot" as anyone who provided service or direct assistance in achieving America's independence.

Many local chapters of DAR are near Glenview.

DAR Genealogical Research Database

After nearly a decade of scanning, indexing, and other behind-the-scenes work by DAR members and employees, the DAR Genealogical Research System (GRS) is now available on their public website.

Click here to search online.

The GRS is a growing collection of databases that provide access to many materials collected by the DAR over the past 119 years. On the GRS page, several tabs enable searching in the following databases:

--Ancestor (established DAR Revolutionary War Ancestors and basic information about them with listings of the applications submitted by descendants who joined the DAR [updated daily])

--Member (limited access to information on deceased/former DAR members – not current members.)

--Descendants (index of generations in applications between the DAR member and the Revolutionary War ancestor. There is much eighteenth and nineteenth-century information here. [ongoing indexing project])

--GRC (everyname index to 20,000 typescript volumes (some still being indexed) of genealogical records such as cemeteries, Bibles, etc. This index is not limited to the period of the American Revolution at all.)

--Resources (In particular, the digitized DAR Library Revolutionary Pension Extract Card Index and the Analytical Index Cards. Other information sources will be coming in the near future, mostly relating to Revolutionary War service, bibliographies, *Forgotten Patriots* (updates), etc. Read the introductions to these to learn why these are both important genealogical indexes. For example, the Rev. War pension index includes the names of people *mentioned in* those pensions that were abstracted (not just the pensioner or widow)!!!!)

--Library Catalog (Their book, periodical, and manuscript holdings)

Each of these databases has interrelated content, and a description of each is given more fully on the website. You will notice restricted information in many search results. This is the result of a concerted effort to protect the
identity of DAR members while providing historical genealogical information to researchers.

The national numbers of members (without the names of living members) given in the search results are needed to order copies of applications and supplemental applications. They do not lead online researchers to any other information about the member.

(Received from: Eric G. Grundset, Library Director, DAR Library, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, 1776 D Street, N. W., Washington, DC 20006-5303

Contact him at egrundset@dar.org or 202-879-3313)