Qualifying for DAR Membership: 52 Ancestors 2021 Prompt “Groups”

 Surprise Discovery: I Qualify to Join the DAR Five Times Over

When I was a senior in high school, I was surprised to receive a modest scholarship from the New Ulm Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the DAR. I believe that the award was for $200, a nice amount for a work-study student. I didn’t understand why they had chosen me, the daughter of Norwegian and German immigrants who arrived in America long after the American Revolution. I won a National Merit Scholarship that year, which had received coverage in the local newspaper, so assumed they chose me to honor a local student’s achievement. I felt a little sorry that they weren’t able to find any real descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers to honor instead.

It turns out the joke is on me, for once I began to research my ancestry, I discovered that I qualify to become a member of the DAR several times over. While it is true that the majority of my ancestors came from Germany and Scandanavia in the 1800s, my grandfather Ivan Macbeth’s ancestors arrived in America far earlier, just a few years after the Pilgrims. Thus far, I have identified five direct ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War. They are as follows:

1.      Joseph Burtt 1726-1820. 5^th Great-Grandfather

Served as a private in Capt. Joshua Holt’s 4^th Andover Company.

2.      Nathaniel Mills Jr. 1743-1814. 5^th Great-Grandfather.

Served in Lt. Paine Converse’ Company of the Connecticut 11^th Regiment.

3.      Israel Randall 1743-1829. 5^th Great-Grandfather.

Served as a Lieutenant under Col. Reynolds’ company of militia from Nottingham, NH Aug. 1776.

4.      John Dane Jr. 1716-1801. 5^th Great Grandfather

Served in Capt. Joshua Holts’ 4^th Andover company as support—too old at 58 to bear arms.

5.      Francis Dane. 1750-1832. 4^th Great-Grandfather—John Dane’s son

Served in Capt. Joshua Holt’s Andover company of foot soldiers. 1775. With Capt, John Abbott, 1775, and in Col. Gage’s Andover regiment in 1777.

At some point I will have to decide which of these ancestors has the best paper trail so that I can prove both that I am their descendant, and that they served in the Revolution. Then I can begin the process of applying for membership with my local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter. In the meantime, I will continue to research other colonial ancestors to see if I have additional veterans of the Revolution in my family tree.