2020's Got Nothing on Genealogists: The Journey Into Joining the D.A.R.!

AUGUST 20, 2020

While there are a plethora of options of lineage societies to join, for me, it wasn’t even a choice! I’ve known since high school that I would one day apply for membership into DAR, because I learned at an early age that my paternal great grandmother, Ethel E. (Hinman) Eggenberger, and my great aunt, Vera Madine (Eggenberger) Wicke, had both been members of a DAR chapter in Kansas.

In fact, Vera’s DAR application form has been the only record I have found in existence, as of yet, that has indicated what her mother’s middle initial of “E” stood for – Eulala! Not even Ethel’s own DAR application form had spelled out her middle name, and maybe for good reason…because where the heck did Eulala come from??

Unfortunately, my path to membership did hit a few bumps in the road, when I submitted my short form application and learned that the documentation proving lineage from my great grandmother to our patriot ancestor, Isaac Wilcox, no longer held up to today’s genealogical standards, and the records I would need to solidify the line were seemingly no longer extant.

But with help from my local chapter’s registrar, I started working on proving lineage to another patriot in a collateral line, James Stark, my 5th great grandfather. The problem here was that I am descended via James Stark’s daughter, Joanna (Starke) Wilcox, but Joanna was only 1 month old when her father passed away!

For those in the genealogy world, you see why that’s a problem. Proving lineage is all about showing proof by written records. The longer a person lives on this Earth, the more written records they create, and the easier to track them and their relationships. But how do you prove a father-daughter relationship if they didn’t spend an extended amount of time in the world together?

DAR researchers let us know that Joanna had never been validated in their records as a daughter to James. But, coincidentally, just a month prior to my submission, another DAR applicant also happened to be descended from Joanna and also happened to be trying to prove the relationship. Her work paid off and was what helped usher through my final approval in D.C.!

She helped uncover the last will and testament of James Stark, and that will would be the clincher in solidifying our ancestral line. What’s even more fascinating, is that it was a nuncupative will, meaning it was a “deathbed confession” where James dictated his will orally during his last living moments. And in that statement, he gave witness to having an infant daughter, Joanna.

Westmoreland Probate Records, p. 99-100, James Stark.

And yes, you read that right. The poor man died of smallpox! And little did 1-month old Joanna know, but she was already heir to 500 acres of land.

My NSDAR membership number was finally generated on 5 January 2020 and I was inducted the following day. The really exciting part of my initiation was that the DAR had just hit its millionth member, so another new member in my chapter and myself were the first new members in the 7 digits! In fact, it felt like Christmas, and it should have, because it all took place on January 6th, aka “Little Christmas.”

I’m very proud to have joined a society with such deep roots and one that held significance to my great grandmother Ethel and her daughter Vera. I can’t wait to reap the full benefits of my membership.

Before I close out, I’ll just leave you with one final little ditty my Aunt Sandra shared with me that I found so funny…

“I don’t know if I told you that I attended a DAR meeting with Aunt Vera. It was at her friend’s house in Ottawa and there were about 10 ladies in attendance. All of them, to me at age 20, seemed ancient. I don’t remember anything about the meeting; but one thing stands out in my mind: one of the elderly ladies fell asleep in her chair and I was so astonished I just kept watching her while the meeting continued on as if all was normal.”