The mother of all clubs

More than 230 years ago, the ancestors of the current Daughters of the American Revolution defeated the powerful military of Great Britain and gained independence.

Here in the 21st century, the DAR again finds itself in conflict — not with an army, but with a stereotype.

According to this stubborn characterization, DAR members are all over 75, stuffy, snobbish and stuck like mortar to the distant past. If your great-great-great-great-great grandfather wasn’t dodging cannonballs at Trenton or Saratoga, they don’t want anything to do with you.

Based on a recent conversation I had with representatives of several DAR groups in Central Virginia, however, all of these perceptions miss the mark. The DAR is not in the process of dying off along with its graying members, but actually adding younger ones. It is actively trying to find African-Americans and Native Americans who were involved in the Revolution, so they can be appropriately honored. Financial support for Indian schools is an outgrowth of this.

The emphasis now seems to be more on building a bridge between past and present than on burning bridges.

“We’re not even all Republicans,” said Jane Pitts, regent of the John Lynch Chapter.

One local chapter, the Blue Ridge, just celebrated its 100th anniversary. It is known as the “Mother of All Chapters” in this area, having spun off a number of other groups.

“This happened if there were too many people to fit in one member’s living room for a meeting,” noted Mary Esther Cawthorne of the James River chapter.
And given those universal ties, all the local DAR chapters celebrated along with Blue Ridge.

“We had a party,” said Muriel Casey, regent of the Lynchburg chapter. “It was a modest party, but it was fun. Despite what you hear, DAR members can be fun.”

Nevertheless, the organization now finds itself in the midst of conflicting social trends.

“Women these days are not looking for things to join,” said Casey. “Most of them are working and have families, and their free time is limited.”

On the other hand, a groundswell of interest in history and genealogy is enticing other women into the DAR orbit. The Altavista chapter alone is looking at a possible 35 new members this year.

It is true that you have to be descended from a Revolutionary “patriot,” although that person doesn’t necessarily have to have been in the military. And you have to prove it.

“I was lucky,” said Cyndi Fein, regent of the Blue Ridge chapter. “My mother did my paperwork for me.”

Once that’s out of the way, though, today’s DAR members do more than sit around sipping tea and comparing forefathers. A Lynchburg chapter has adopted and sent food and clothing to a Marine platoon in Iraq; several local groups worked together to move the “John Lynch Rock” — supposedly denoting the original site of Lynch’s ferry — to the foot of Ninth Street; and in Amherst County, another project restored a springhouse in Monroe.

Beyond that, they have adopted a woman veteran at the new VA Center on Lakeside Drive and provided much of the womanpower for a program to lay annual wreaths on veterans’ graves in the Old City Cemetery. Nationally, the DAR contributed more than 9,000 phone cards to wounded American soldiers being treated at the Landstuhl Base in Germany.

These are expressions of patriotism, to be sure, but not necessarily politics.

“That’s a very taboo subject,” said Ann Reams, regent of the Poplar Forest chapter. “We try to be apolitical, and we don’t fight.”

That was their ancestor’s job.