My DAR application was just approved :)

Question

So happy, I just found out my DAR application was approved!  

Something else to be thankful for!  Yay!

Comments

Congratulations and Happy Thanksgiving!

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Wow!  Great news - congratulations, S!!!

Did you know that the public schools in Grant, AL are known as "DAR School"?  The DAR has somehow affiliated itself with the school system in my town and provides all kinds of extra support to the schools here.  I understand that this is the only DAR school in the country.

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Congratulations!

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Gaile,  You should know that the DAR actually supports two schools, Tamassee DAR School in Tamassee, S.C.  The Tamassee school was founded by the DAR in 1919.  The DAR actually owns the land and buildings for the Kate Duncan Smith DAR School, at Grant, Ala., and the school is overseen by a DAR board of trustees.  KDS was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Oct. 11, 2002.  KDS was founded in 1924.  My Aunt Lorene Wilder taught 1st grade at KDS and my Uncle Preston Wilder taught Vocational Agriculture and shop for many years until they retired.  They are now both deceased.  My two sisters, and my brother graduated from KDS, and my brother's children graduated from KDS and his grandchildren now attend KDS.  Grant was selected by the DAR as a site for a school because of its remote location and poor road access to the top of the mountain, and there was only one school on the mountain and it did not have a high school.  The DAR for many years paid the teachers salaries and provided houses for the teachers to live in.  It has only been within the last 25/30 years that the Marshall County School system began paying the teachers salaries, and providing other administrative support.

If anyone is interested in reading about the history of KDS DAR School here is a link: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3044

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Thanks for the nice comments, everyone!

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Carolyn,

Thank you for all that information.  I moved to Grant, AL in 2007 because my husband and I were looking for both mountains and water in a rural area for our retirement home and fell in love with the 100+ foot waterfall on our property.  Since moving here, we have also fallen in love with the warmth extended to us by the community that epitomizes what we like to think of as American values.  

I know that our schools here are named Kate Duncan Smith DAR School and there are three of them - elementary, middle, and high - all on the same large and beautiful campus.  I had no idea of the richness of the DAR school's history, though.  Thank you so much for providing that!

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This is an old conversation, but it caught my attention because after much work, I submitted my DAR application to National November 2017. I am still waiting to hear their response. Yes indeed, DAR requires strict documentation of ancestry. Notes in family bibles and family letters are not accepted as proof. Two official primary documents are required for each of the first 3 generations. One challenge that I ran into is that my mother was born in Nebraska before the State required Birth Certificates to be issued.

I procured my grandparents marriage license which shows they were married in Nebraska 1906, and the 1910 US Census shows my mother as a baby in the household. But there is no record of my mother's 1909 birth in the State. Fortunately I located her Social Security application which is a qualifying official document and it shows  her birth date and location

Anyone who completes an accepted DAR application after1985 deserves respect, because it is a difficult challenge.I have several more New England Revolutionary War great grandparents, but the documentation is such a challenge that I may not bother to pursue  supplementals. I am just hoping and focusing on my existing application

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Congratulations and welcome!

It's a double edged sword, isn't it? You had an established patriot, but had to bring it up to the genealogical proof standard that didn't apply at the time. But once you do it, of course it makes sense, especially when you keep in mind that your application becomes an archival document - which is why it has to be updated with correct information with proper sources, and printed on special paper. :)

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Hooray! I just received the phone call from my DAR Chapter that National has validated and approved my application! I will be asigned my membership number February 5th and my Certificate will come in the mail!, My qualifying Ancestor is Eliphalet Whittlesey and Comfort Waller Whittlesey., Massachusetts. Eliphelet and Comfort hurried to winterize one room in their saltbox house. They knew that Eliphalet would be joining the militia by winter. Comfort mixed and hauled plaster for the walls - even though she was pregnant. They didnt have glass for the windows so Comfort inserted oiled paper. Comfort stayed alone on the  dangerous Berkshire, Massachusetts frontier while her husband served his country. When Eliphalet returned home (he walked from Boston), his wife was safe and he was greeted by twin babies. I am awed by what our great grandparents did and want to promote the memory of their stories

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Congrats!

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I am glad for you but I am having problems getting my DAR application approved.  Not because it is wrong but because one has to light a fire under the Chapter Regent to look at it and move it on.  Terrible!  She doesn't want new members and does her best to discourage any one from applying.

Answer 1

Congrats, sister!  I wanted to see your DAR ancestor, but your profile is set with a private family tree, so I can't see it.  You might want to set your Privacy to Private with Public Family Tree. The WikiTree programming needs to see your Family Tree tab to make DNA and other cousin connections for you. Please take a look at my profile http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cooper-1 where I use Private with Public Biography AND Family Tree to see a list of some of my WikiTree cousin connections and my list of U.S. Presidential cousins. 

Still curious about your DAR ancestor, however.  Kitty 

Comments

Great idea, Kitty. I'll do that.

The ancestor I was approved with is Faunce Hammond. I have several others, and I'm considering filing a supplemental app or two.  I'm looking forward to being in DAR.

Thanks for all you've done with getting the ok to use the DAR template!  Once my paperwork is all filed at HQ, I'll add the DAR info to Faunce's profile.

Sharon

Answer 2

Congradulations;  DAR Applications are much harder to complete and get approved than SAR applications. SAR accepts DAR applications approved after 1 Jan 1985 as proofs but DAR does not accept any SAR applications. Now to work on your supliments for Ancestor Bars!! Good luck and enjoy the trips!!

Lonnie JOnes