<p>Just wondering if anyone here has personal experience with scholarships offered by the Daughters of the American Revolution? I know that there is one scholarship in particular - the Lillian and Arthur Dunn scholarship - that is awarded to students whose mother is a member of the DAR.</p>
<p>Due to a big interest in genealogy I have discovered that I’m eligible for DAR membership (who knew?) I’ve contacted the local chapter but as yet haven’t taken the membership plunge - mostly because I’m not sure what that membership involves. I have visions of meetings conducted by Emily Gilmour (hopefully you all watch “Gilmour Girls”!) along with cotillions and dinner dances… not that I have anything against cotillions and dinnner dances, they’re just not part of my social comfort zone.</p>
<p>Any experiences - with the DAR or with the scholarships? By the way, I do know that they offer scholarships to students not affiliated with the DAR as well.</p>
<p>I could technically belong as well thanks to information dug up from my LDS sister however I haven’t looked into it. ( although there must be more to it than that- because that is the sort of thing my sister would jump on)</p>
<p>They do have a nice building that is often used for secular weddings and memorials though :)</p>
<p>I heard there are guidelines for proving the lineage, that you can’t just present them with a family tree. I think you might need records of marriage, death, birth, property deeds, wills- stuff like that to connect the dots.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s a pretty rigorous application process - you need official proof of lineage (like birth certificates). I’ve lucked out since my ancestor in question married Hannah Boone, the sister of Daniel Boone. The entire line has been researched exhaustively, so my part of the application would be somewhat easier. My only hestitation is the depth of commitment expected - as I said, I’d be up for the genealogy but not-so-thrilled (maybe) with the sterotypical social aspects.</p>
<p>Hey scout, I’m descended from Ida Mae Boone, who was, I think, a niece of Daniel’s. We must be related!</p>
<p>My Great-grandmother was an active member–I actually have oodles of ancestors in the R. War. Gee, if I knew it got scholarships, I might’ve joined! Oh well, too late now.</p>
<p>It seems kind of small for high school graduation but my high school used to have a couple formal dances there.
I should ask my sister- being LDS, she has had to research far back as she can- I think she got to the 1300s in one lineage- It keeps her off the streets though ;)</p>
<p>I also wouldn’t worry about the stereotype- The junior league for example- is not your “grandmothers” junior league as the saying goes- I don’t know alot about the DAR, but I imagine the same would hold true for them as well</p>
<p>The DAR center in Washington DC is very helpful. They have a “women’s art” museum that I have visited on several occasions as they have some wonderful quilts. The needlepoint section is very sad, as many historical needlepoint pieces memorialize children who have died.</p>
<p>We have one of those done by an ancestor of mine in the 1830s, when she was a young girl. It’s massive and full of intricate patterns, and the tininess of the stitches is just unbelievable. And like you say, the sad part is that she lists her parents, then siblings, then in a lighter shade of thread, all the siblings who died.</p>
<p>To put it into perspective, I just finished reading Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower. He claims there are 32 million descendents of the original Mayflower crew in the U.S. today - more than 10 percent of the total population. Although there were more participants in the Revolution, they got started 150 years later. It IS hard to believe and the book’s back at the library so I can’t check his source.</p>
<p>I actually printed out the paperwork for DAR but found the whole process so daunting I never pursued it. I tell myself sometimes I should do it just for scholarship reasons for my son. Now I could easily make a side trip for official documents when visiting my daughter in Chapel Hill.</p>
<p>Scout - your post interests me because I do have a very detailed family tree. My Battle of King’s Mountain grandfathers (Greers) were the first settlers in Indian Territory west of the Watauga…and your Daniel Boone was frequent houseguest of my Alexander Greer (and his son Andrew). My other Revolutionary War ancestors were Balches, a bunch of Princeton-educated Presbyterian ministers who ended up picking up a rifle as well. (Most of these Ulster Scots (Scots-Irish/Scotch Irish) arrived in Philadelphia between 1720 and 1730…and most ultimately fought in the Revolutionary War.) </p>
<p>Just amazing what interesting connections pop on the good old CC Board.</p>
<p>The DAR wants to increase its membership. Badly. As time passes and more generations are removed from the American Revolution, although many qualify, few take the time to do the paperwork which does involve copies of birth, marriage and death certificates all the way back unless you are related to someone already in the DAR but then you still have to prove you are a descendant of that person. It takes a lot of time, so unless your child has a few years until HS graduation, I wouldn’t be counting on a DAR scholarship. But if you contact the national headquarters through their web site, they will contact the nearest chapter to you and someone will walk you through the membership process. I did it. I also thought about the scholarships but my kid was in college by the time the paperwork was approved…By the way, the meetings are not mandatory…I was going until I became uncomfortable when the meeting on citizenship deteriorated into complaint about new immigrants. Aren’t we all immigrants in some generation except maybe some native Americans…I mean, it was ridiculous…But the lineage stuff is loads of fun and fascinating.</p>
<p>Well, well, Garland - I never expected to meet a long-lost cousin on the CC board! We need to compare notes…</p>
<p>And Idmom: most of my mother’s people lived and died in the same 100-square-mile block of NC since the early 1700s. They were primarily farmers and mill hands, with a few soldiers and preachers added in. We’ve also got lots of Civil War documentation for the Talberts and Owens and Spiveys, but I don’t think the DAC gives many college scholarships!</p>
<p>scout - One branch of our Balches ended up in North Carolina…one even signed the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. His cousin (one of my great grandfathers) stayed in Eastern Tennessee and founded what is now Tusculum College. Both were named Hezekiah Balch and both were ministers educated at Princeton. So I imagine I have quite a few relatives in the eastern TN/western NC border area. Is this near your 100 square mile block of NC I wonder?</p>
<p>Our Balches ended up in Texas heeding the call of Sam Houston for soldiers to fight Santa Anna. After the Battle of San Jac, they just decided to stay on. (Though I don’t know why…TN and NC are soooo beautiful!) Our Greers (& Vances) are still in TN and NC though.</p>
<p>I love this history stuff…but if I keep it up this thread will get moved to the Parent Cafe…lol!</p>
<p>I just finished Philbrick’s Mayflower, too. If I recall correctly, his source was the Mayflower Society which started a project to track the first five generations of Mayflower descendants many years ago.</p>
<p>I am the Scholarship Chairman for our local chapter of the DAR. There are both National and State Scholarships, so you should investigate both the National website and the state in which you live.</p>
<p>Many of the scholarships are for specific majors, such as occupational therapy, nursing, political science, and history. There are also scholarships for medical school. </p>
<p>The Lillian & Arthur Dunn Scholarship is for children of DAR members, but many of the others do not have that requirement.</p>
<p>One word of caution: the directions must be followed exactly. If it says to staple the application in the top left hand corner, DO IT! Don’t staple it in the top right hand corner or it will be discarded without being read.</p>