Did your ancestor participate in the American Revolutionary War? Did you know the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) have placed many of its records online? To join the DAR, descendants of Revolutionary War Patriots are required to submit genealogical data proving relationships back to a Patriot. They must also document that the ancestor served or supported the American cause. Let's take a tour of the DAR website.
The DAR's official website may be found at https://www.dar.org/. Click on the "Genealogy" link:
On the next screen, pull down the "Online Research" drop-down list and click the first option "DAR Genealogical Research System (GRS)":
Click on the "Ancestor" link:
Put in the name and details of your Revolutionary War ancestor:
You don't want to miss what all is available on the next screen of results.
If you click the little descendancy icon (near the top right), you can view the descents of six people have who joined the DAR through this ancestor. Some information is restricted and does not display on the Internet.
Notice that a source documenting the ancestor's participation is included on the results page. Charles Vincent provided supplies to the troops.
You can learn more about the six successful submissions by descendants as well. The National Numbers are identified in the bottom left of the screen. Hover over the "S" and "D" letters in the "Docs" column and you can learn things such as whether that submission included supporting documents.
To see what the supporting documentation is, you will need to "Purchase" a copy of the original submissions, which you can do through the website, by following the links in the bottom right of the screen.
It brings a great sense of pride to many Americans to know that an ancestor helped the United States gain its freedom. What will the DAR website teach you about your Revolutionary War ancestor?
