The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) accepts limited DNA evidence to prove descent from a Revolutionary War veteran. In my opinion, the DAR DNA policy is a little too limited. Here’s why–and what you can do.
Membership to the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) has been a holy grail for U.S. genealogists for 125 years. With its requirement of proof of a “lineal bloodline descendant from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence” in three categories: birth, marriage, and death, as well as proof of Revolutionary War Service, membership is exclusive to those with an iron-clad paper trail.
That is, until 2014, when the DAR added DNA evidence to its list of acceptable documents proving a relationship to a Revolutionary War ancestor.
What does the DAR DNA Policy Accept?
The DAR only accepts one of the three forms of DNA testing which is the Y chromosome test, or YDNA. The YDNA traces only a direct paternal line, making it a great choice when trying to link living males with their Revolutionary counterparts. This YDNA is basically passed unchanged from generation to generation, making the modern day holder of the YDNA the proud owner of possibly exactly the same YDNA that fought the Redcoats. That’s pretty cool, don’t you think?
The DAR recently announced that to further help those wanting to use their YDNA as part of their application, they have formed a project at Family Tree DNA, the company that provides the YDNA testing. Projects are absolutely the best way to get the most out of your YDNA testing. There are surname projects, location projects, haplogroup (deep ancestral group) projects, and even special interest group projects, such as this one for the DAR.
While the results of the testing are only available to members of the group, the statistics page gives us an idea of the scope of this project. They currently have 1,242 total members and what looks to be about 430 YDNA tests completed (though it is admittedly difficult to tell based on the chart online.) This means if you think your paternal line may be a candidate for the DAR, you can have a representative of your line tested and compared to the group. If you find a match, you will have relative certainty that you do connect to that Patriot, and can then be more confident in your traditional research in pursuit of the necessary paper connections.
In April the DAR opened up project membership to include mtDNA and autosomal DNA. They will not be using these two kinds of DNA in their applications (yet), but hopefully this project will pave the way for the addition of those tests in the future (though, for several reasons, inclusion of these tests in the application process will be more difficult.)
Though, in all honesty, they have made the YDNA process difficult enough. Let’s say that you are actually able to trace down multiple generations to find a direct male descendant of your Revolutionary guy to be tested, an individual who is, the DAR mandates, “sharing your maiden name or your mother’s maiden name,” and you convince that unassuming relative to give up his saliva, you still are only half way there. The DAR guidelines also state that you have to have a second individual who is “a descendant of the same Revolutionary War ancestor through a different unbroken male lineage that has been previously proven on a DAR application…” (I added the emphasis here.)
A Practical Example of the DAR DNA Policy
OK, so let’s say you are a genealogical whiz and, let’s face it, you were lucky, and you find two such candidates and have them tested.
Well, the DAR tells us that those two men must match EXACTLY on the 37 YDNA markers tested. Now there is no telling when that YDNA might experience a mutation. So to me it seems a little unfair to require perfection. So it is possible, that even after all the work of finding the right guys to be tested, the test itself may work against you, as even one difference is enough to keep this YDNA off of your application, at least for now.
So while I applaud the DAR for using YDNA testing at all, and for spearheading a special interest project at Family Tree DNA, the reality is that the limitations of direct paternal line genealogy and the requirements of testing make it unlikely that very many will be able to take advantage of the YDNA in their DAR applications.
However, there are a few things you can take away from this article now:
- First, collect those DNA samples whenever you can, especially for key relatives, like your paternal line and the oldest living generation (whose DNA is less likely to have experienced any mutation.)
- Second, keep your research paper trail strong. Nothing in the near future of the genetic genealogy industry tells us that distant relative connections (like to your Revolutionary War ancestor) will be provable by DNA alone.
- And third, definitely look at crowd-sourced studies for your particular DNA. Those surname, location, haplogroup, and special interest group projects I mentioned from FTDNA are just some of the ones that might help your research—or that you could use to help someone else’s. I’ve talked about these studies before: click here to read about them.
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Thanks for sharing this post with your genealogy friends who do DNA research (especially those who may have Revolutionary War ancestors!)
I do not quite understand some of the info you have incorporated into this article regarding DAR membership requirements.
~ “proof of a “lineal bloodline descendant from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence” in three categories: birth, marriage, and death”
~ the DAR mandates, “sharing your maiden name or your mother’s maiden name,”
Below is a statement regarding DAR membership from their National DAR website:
“How do I join the DAR?
Any woman 18 years or older who can prove lineal, bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence is eligible to join the DAR. She must provide documentation for each statement of birth, marriage and death, as well as of the Revolutionary War service of her Patriot ancestor.”
My membership acceptance was not based on my Rev War Patriot “sharing your maiden name or your mother’s maiden name”.
It was helpful that my Patriot link to Rev War was already in the GRS thru a relative whose genealogy was accepted for membership in DAR in another state/chapter.
Each DAR chapter in a particular state has a Registrar who is of great help in researching descendants toward finding your individual patriot.
Thank you~Sue
How about the reverse situation I recently encountered: an ironclad paper record, but DNA results that do not match, indicating a “nonpaternity event” somewhere along the way. Does the DAR disqualify an applicant based on DNA results?
Seems ridiculous to state that you need YDNA to join “Daughters” of the American Revolution, since we personally don’t have YDNA. I have two members (brother & father) whose YDNA has been tested, so I can try to join with their DNA. Hopefully their DNA traces down. What if the patriot was on my Mother’s side? I guess that is a paper trail only for the time being.
What if I need YDNA to prove a more recent connection? My paternal grandfather changed his surname and cut off ties to this family. He was born before North Carolina issued birth certificates. He passed away before I was born, so I tested my father and I found my grandfather’s brother who does have a NC birth certificate. Both are an exact match to each other. However, my Patriot ancestor is on my paternal grandfather’s mother’s line so no YDNA straight line to the Patriot in question. Will my YDNA test of my father and great-uncle help to prove my name-changing grandfather’s connection to his parents?
Sue, thanks for the additional clarification about DAR membership. The quotes you saw in the blog were pulled directly from their press release about the use of YDNA, but your additions here are helpful.
Toby, excellent question. You bring up a topic I have been thinking a lot about lately, and that is the difference between or biological and cultural genealogy. I assume since DNA evidence is not required for admittance into the DAR, if you have an ironclad paper trail then you would submit your application without the DNA results. As a cultural member of this family, I say you deserve to be added as much as any biological member.
Kelly, you have certainly pointed out one of the limitations of only accepting YDNA as additional evidence of membership. If you cannot find a direct paternal descendant of your Revolutionary war veteran, then you will just have to stick to paper research in your application.
Tracy, great job using YDNA to track down your grandfather! At this point the DAR is only using YDNA to verify connections to patriots, so I don’t think your YDNA test would directly apply. But I would definitely talk to your local chapter of the DAR and get direction from them about how best to go about documenting your connection to your Patriot.