Today's DAR
As we prepare to celebrate Mother’s Day, the National Society is pleased to introduce a new “Legacy” status for relatives who use the same ancestor to join DAR. The Legacy designation will be granted to a member whose original DAR Application connects to her nearest DAR relative within the first three generations; the paper to which she connects may be either a DAR Application or Supplemental, providing she uses the same established ancestor as the original submission. Legacy status is granted to both the new member and the relative to whom she connects!
Legacy status may also be conferred retroactively to living members if their original new member Application meets all the requirements. Members who previously joined using a Short Form Application are eligible for Legacy status designation. For example, a woman joins on a Short Form that connected to her grandmother’s DAR Application; both members will receive the Legacy designation.
The goals of the Legacy initiative are to both celebrate our bonds of membership and to encourage prospective members/chapter registrars to choose the simplest and most efficient path. It is an incentive to use the easiest connection to membership that minimizes the amount of documentation submitted with an Application, benefitting the member, chapter and Society.
Why is it so much more efficient? Because new member Applications that connect to documented lineages on established Patriots take advantage of previously documented generations, thereby minimizing the amount of information requiring documentation. This saves time for the Chapter Registrar in preparing the Application and increases the chances that it will be verified on the first review. The prospective member has fewer documents to collect, less time to wait for her paper to be verified and fewer chances of being frustrated by receiving an Additional Information Request (AIR).
Once received at DAR Headquarters, Application papers arriving with fewer pieces of documentation speed processing time for Data Entry. Application papers that can be verified with minimal documentation greatly speed the verification process—fewer documents to review, less new information to verify. Applications are processed and verified faster; more Applications are verified; the turn-around time decreases. This benefits prospective members, chapters and DAR staff – all while celebrating the benefits of welcoming female relatives to our important mission.
Please note that the Legacy designation will be granted for a prospective member’s original submission that connects to another same-ancestor verified Supplemental or Application within the first three generations. Substitute ancestors do not qualify for Legacy status.
In order to qualify, Applications must be complete and comply with DAR requirements. To be eligible, the prospective member’s Application must connect to a lineage and Patriot that are both open, i.e. the lineage must not be coded “in error” and the Patriot ancestor’s line must not be closed. (Even if documentation is submitted to address coded Patriots, the additional time spent reviewing additional documentation and completing correction procedures greatly delays the entire verification process.)
It is DAR policy to always use the most recent Application as the source for a lineage, so it is permissible for a prospective member’s Application to follow the DAR relative’s lineage to the Patriot ancestor yet cite a more recent National Number on Page 3 as the source for the appropriate generation. In cases where the verifying genealogist discovers a more recent paper connecting to the new member Application within the first three generations, Legacy status will be granted to both the cited relative on Page 2, as well as the more recent National Number used to verify the paper.
There are no special procedures or forms required to request Legacy status. Eligibility is determined during the verification process and Legacy will be granted to eligible new members going forward. Members desiring Legacy status retroactively should do so by sending an email message, including name and National Number, to [email protected]. Queries will be researched as time allows, so please be patient. Legacy status will be visible to designated chapter officers in e-Membership after board approval for new members. Please be patient while waiting for e-Membership status updates.
You are likely wondering about the possibility for a Legacy pin for your DAR ribbon! Stay tuned! In the meantime, please encourage prospective members to draw on their rich DAR heritage for their original DAR new Applications so that they may earn Legacy status for themselves and bestow the Legacy honor on their nearest DAR member relative. Learn more about Legacy status here: www.dar.org/LegacyProgram.
