The DAR Genealogical Research System (GRS)

Click Image to Open GRS

The DAR Genealogical Research System is a combination of several databases created in recent years to organize the large quantity of information that the DAR has collected since its inception in 1890. Much of the work to create these research tools is the direct result of funding provided by the President General’s Project of the administrations of Linda Tinker Watkins (2001-2004) and Presley Merritt Wagoner (2004-2007). This system of databases will continue to expand as new information is added.

Access to the various databases is through the “tabs” along the top of the search screen. The following descriptions provide basic information about each database.

 ANCESTOR TAB  

Working database of the DAR Genealogy Office

The Ancestor Database was created by and is maintained by the staff of the DAR Registrar General’s offices. With few exceptions, the data are taken from verified membership applications and supplemental applications. New records and information are added on a daily basis. Typographical errors should be reported to the Corrections Genealogist rgcorrections@dar.org. Requests for corrections must be mailed to the Corrections Genealogist at 1776 D St NW, Washington, DC 20006-5303. Due to the volume of mail and to the limited number of staff, requests for corrections are held until a pending application or supplemental application is received. For more detailed instructions, please see the Guide to the GRS.

Adding Patriots

Please be aware that the Ancestor Database is NOT a comprehensive list of all individuals who served in the Revolutionary War. New patriots are added as they are proven through DAR membership applications and supplementals. Requests to add an individual outside of an application or supplemental cannot be honored. Also, lines that have been closed to membership are included in the database. Researchers should be aware that lines coded as being in error may not be suitable for DAR membership. Please consult the Guide to the GRS for more details.

Spelling of Surnames

The DAR established a system of assigning a standard surname to variant spellings of similar surnames. This was based in part on the Library of Congress’ classification system. That the DAR uses one particular spelling variant over another is in no way an indication that DAR considers that spelling to be the “correct” spelling of the surname. The Ancestor Database was created to assist staff with the verification of membership applications and supplementals and this is its primary purpose. Using this spelling system helps to ensure that patriots are not established under more than one spelling. It is only under extremely rare circumstances that we will consider making any changes to an ancestor’s surname spelling. For membership purposes, members may use whatever spelling variant they choose for their pins and chapter yearbooks.

The scanned images of approved applications and supplementals and of all surviving supporting documentation are not available outside of DAR headquarters and cannot be viewed through this database online.

One may order a “record copy” of a membership applications or supplemental applications from the Library Copy Services Office. Please see the section for this office on the DAR’s public website at www.dar.org/library/record_copy.cfm#copies.

MEMBER TAB  

The Member Tab search option is limited in order to protect the privacy of the Society’s members. One may search for basic information on a member’s ancestor record using national number, name and other fields using this tab.

DESCENDANTS TAB  

The Descendants database is an index of the names found on the lineage page of DAR applications and supplementals. The database is currently under construction. DAR member volunteers are working on the project every day, resulting in the addition of approximately 4,500 names to the database per day.

The purpose of this database is to help those looking for a DAR Patriot line to identify the best possible Record Copy to order. Once a link has been found using the information in this database, use the Record Copy Order Form (PDF Format) to receive a copy of the full application.

If you do not locate the name you are expecting to find it may be because not all the applications have been indexed. This database contains lineage from original applications starting with National Number 370,001 through National Number 868280. Also included are the lineages from more than 12,000 supplemental applications. Thanks to the efforts of over 1,400 volunteers the database grows daily so please check back often.

GRC TAB  

The DAR’s Genealogical Records Committee Reports began in 1913 and continue to arrive every year. The information in these 20,000 typescript volumes is predominately Bible record and cemetery record transcriptions along with many other types of transcribed or abstracted genealogical sources. The Genealogical Records Committee has sponsored a project since the late 1990s to index all names in every one of the GRC Reports in the DAR Library. The GRC tab provides a direct link to the “GRC National Index” and to the page explaining this project in more detail.

The GRC Reports themselves are being digitized, and this work will be completed in the fall of 2009. Researchers may view the digital images at the DAR Library’s Seimes Technology Center. The images are not available at the present time online outside of DAR headquarters. The original typescript volumes have been retired and placed in off-site storage, so researchers must now use the digital images.

Information in the “GRC National Index” does not relate specifically to approved membership applications and supplementals and is not the contents of the files of documentation supporting them. This index is an ongoing project, and the staff of the DAR Library’s GRC Office adds new index content daily.

Researchers may order copies of pages in GRC Reports by contacting the DAR Library’s Search Service. Please consult the Search Service information page on the Library’s portion of the DAR website at http://www.dar.org/library/search.cfm.

RESOURCES TAB  

Researchers will find a variety of links to other resources of use in genealogical research in this section of the system. In the near future, various bibliographies and other information relating to the American Revolution will appear in this section.

In particular, two card indexes in the DAR Library have been digitized and indexed and provide researchers with citations to millions of names and genealogical subjects:

1. The DAR Library Analytical Card Index: The Library began creating this index in the 1920s and additions continued until the early 1970s. The contents of the analytical index come from such sources as old county histories, many of the DAR’s own Genealogical Records Committee Reports (prior to the early 1970s), and a variety of other genealogical publications and periodicals. The index is a major resource that reveals buried information in thousands of published studies.
2. The Revolutionary War Pension Index: In the years prior to the availability of the federal Revolutionary War pensions on microfilm and now online, DAR staff genealogists and volunteers visited the Pension Office and later the National Archives to abstract, type up, and index thousands of pensions needed to prove the Revolutionary War service of pending ancestors of prospective members. They did not, however, abstract every Revolutionary War pension. The result of this work was 340 typescript volumes of pension abstracts [233 covering the entire country (compiled form 1927 to 1965), 101 specifically covering pensions for New Hampshire veterans (compiled from 1918 to 1933), and 6 covering pensions of Rhode Island veterans (compiled from 1918-1921)]. This digitized card index is still important despite the availability of published and online versions of the pensions. It not only includes the name of the pensioner or widow but also the names of other persons mentioned in the pension papers, such as someone who swore an affidavit stating that they had served with the pension applicant during the Revolution or were aware of the applicants service during the war. The presence of such information may be the only place where another individual’s Revolutionary War service appears – in someone else’s pension application!

LIBRARY CATALOG TAB  

This section provides a direct link to the DAR Library’s online catalog. The catalog provides subject, title, author, and other access to the books, microforms, manuscripts, maps, genealogical charts, and other sources in the collections of the DAR Library. The Library’s cataloging staff is also cataloging the book collection of the DAR Museum’s Reference Library, and these cataloging records also appear in the Library’s online catalog. Please note that the DAR Library is only a reference collection and does not loan or sell any of the books listed in this online catalog. One may also reach this catalog on the DAR’s public website at www.dar.org .