Eligibility

Membership in DAR is open to all women who can prove lineal bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving United States independence, regardless of race or religion.[1] The National Society of DAR is the final arbiter of the acceptability of all applications for membership.

Acceptable ancestors include various related categories of known historical figures, including:

Signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence;
Military veterans of the American Revolutionary War, including State navies and militias, local militias, privateers, and French or Spanish soldiers and sailors who fought in the American theater of war;
Civil servants of provisional or State governments, Continental Congress and State conventions and assemblies;
Signers of Oath of Allegiance or Oath of Fidelity and Support;
Participants in the Boston Tea Party;
Prisoners of war, refugees, and defenders of fortresses and frontiers; doctors and nurses who aided Revolutionary casualties; and ministers, petitioners;
Others who gave material or patriotic support to the Revolutionary cause.[1]