The Daughters of the American Revolution was founded on Oct. 11, 1890, only 100 years after the Revolution was fought. So it goes without saying that the year 2026 is more than just another year for its members.
“I’m very excited,” said Loreena Luetgers, Comfort Starr DAR Chapter captain. “All of the ladies are, because it was our patriots who helped birth the nation. Our chapter isn’t doing a lot because we’re spread out and we’re really aging, but we’re going to do what we can.”
The birth of the nation was a time that was marked by a revival in patriotism and intense interest in the beginnings of the United States of America. Women felt the desire to express their patriotic feelings and were frustrated by their exclusion from men’s organizations formed to perpetuate the memory of ancestors who fought to make this country free and independent, Luetgers said. As a result, a group of four pioneering women, whose fathers were true patriots of our country that fought in the American Revolution. The DAR has carried the torch of patriotism ever since.
According to the Captain Comfort Starr Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Tracy, the founders of the DAR are Mary Desh, Mary S. Lockwood, Ellen Walworth who earned a law degree from New York University, qualified to practice before the courts of New York and the District of Columbia, and Eugenia Washington. These women experienced many hardships and death as described in Women of Vision: Founders of the Daughters of the American Revolution by Noel Marie Fletcher.
Today, 136 years later, the DAR is a non-profit, nonpolitical volunteer women’s service organization, the largest women’s patriotic organization in the world with over 1 million members, 3,000 chapters in all 50 states and 12 countries. Tracy is represented in the group by Jane Muedeking. Its most veteran member is June Lindquist from California, who has been part of the organization for 80 years.
“It is the largest women’s patriotic organization in the county,” Luetgers said.
Locally, the DAR purchased a new bench at the Wheels Across the Prairie Heritage Center, and a couple summers ago, cleaned gravestones at the Tracy City Cemetery.
The DAR owns a full one-block, historic building that remains the monument to the American Revolution in Washington DC. “Memorial Continental Hall: The Crown Jewel of the DAR Historic Complex of Buildings” is featured online at memorialcontentalhall. dar.org.
The motto of the DAR is” God, Home, and Country;” its mission is three-fold: historic preservation — preserving American History which means to perpetuate the memory and spirit of the men and women who achieved American Independence; patriotism — promoting patriotism to cherish, maintain, and extend the institutions of American freedom, to foster true patriotism and love of country, and to aid in securing for mankind all the blessings of liberty; and education — to carry out the injunction of President George Washington in his farewell address to the American people, “to promote, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge, thus developing an enlightened public opinion” or securing America’s future through better education for children.
There are many hours of research to obtain the records and proof needed to become a member of the DAR by tracing back your mother’s lineage of ancestors.
A woman must be 18 years or older and provide documented, lineal bloodline proof of descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence (a Revolutionary War Patriot). Membership is open to any woman regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background.
The Patriot must have supported the American cause between 1775 and 1783 and is defined as anyone who provided direct assistance to the American Revolution, including: signers of the Declaration of Independence; military veterans (Continental Army, state troops, militia/ minutemen); members of the Continental Congress or state assemblies; signers of oaths of allegiance or fidelity; individuals who supplied, manufactured, or transported goods for the army; and others who provided aid to the cause.
Prospective members often work with a local DAR chapter to complete the application. The applicant will do all the research with the local chapter assisting. All relationships between generations MUST be proven. This involves obtaining vital records: Courthouse records, Census records, Cemetery records, Family Bibles, Military Records and Tombstones by rubbing off the front printing on paper as proof.
