Daughters of the Revolution of 1776 (DOR or DR)

'''Membership requirements. '''The Daughters of the Revolution of 1776 was a patriotic genealogical lineage society. It was organized in 1890 with similar membership requirements and similar goals to those of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The membership application said, "A woman may be eligible to membership in the Society who is above the age of eighteen years, and is descended from an ancestor who assisted in establishing American Independence during the War of the Revolution, either as a military or naval officer, a soldier or a sailor, an official in the service of any of the thirteen original Colonies or of the United Colonies or States or of Vermont; a member of a committee of Correspondence or of Public safety, or a recognized patriot who rendered material service in the cause of American Independence."

The Daughters of the Revolution of 1776 required direct descent from a patriot ancestor. This was more strict than the requirements for their sister society, the D.A.R., which at the time also allowed membership based on collateral lines of descent (requirements long since removed by the D.A.R). Thus, the Daughters of the Revolution of 1776 have distinct genealogies with different lineages from those in the D.A.R.

'''Society goals. '''The purpose of the society was "To perpetuate the patriotic spirit of the men and women who achieved American Independence; to commemorate prominent events connected with the War of the revolution; to collect publish and preserve the rolls, records and historic documents relating to that period; to encourage the study of the country's history, and to promote sentiments of friendship and common interest among the members of the Society."

'''Organization. '''It was organized by sets of state societies and local chapters. A local chapter was formed by at least five members. A state society consisted of at least twenty members from all of the combined local chapters in the state.

'''Society records and index. '''The DOR was disbanded in 1983, and the national society's records were donated to the Suffolk County Historical Society Library, Museum, and Bookshop in Riverhead, New York. In 2009 some German Genealogical Group volunteers indexed all 12,266 DOR membership application papers. The index is now online. It can be searched by either the patriot's name, or the applicant's name.

To obtain copies of a DOR membership applications found in the index, researchers can fill out a form printed from the German Genealogy Group Internet site. Submit (a) the completed form, (b) a printed copy of the index results, (c) an SASE, and (d) $10 (U.S.) check to the Suffolk County Historical Society. The Suffolk County Historical Society will make a copy of the DOR application and send it to the researcher. A Daughters of the Revolution of 1776 membership application shows the line of descent genealogically from the patriot to the DOR applicant, and describes the patriot's service.

'''Assessing application information. '''Like all secondary sources, verify DOR membership application information. Treat DOR applications as a wonderful source of clues to be assessed and verified by corroboration with more primary documents.