If your great-great-great-great-grandfather once said, “Give me liberty or give me death,” you might be a Daughter of the American Revolution.

If you have a relative that crossed the Delaware with George Washington on Christmas Day in 1775, you might also be a DAR. Do you have branches on your family tree that include Laura Bush, Ginger Rogers, Bo Derek or Susan B. Anthony? You could be in DAR, too.

All it takes is proof that you descend from a Revolutionary soldier or patriot.

Sue Boyd, a registrar with the McComb DAR chapter, will be the guest speaker at the Lincoln County Historical and Genealogical Society program Thursday night. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Jimmy Furlow Senior Citizen Center. The meeting is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Membership in the DAR is open to any woman at least 18 years old who can trace lineal descent from a Revolutionary soldier or patriot.  Boyd will explain the advantages of membeship as well as offer starting points for the genealogical process. The DAR Genealogical Research System includes free online databases containing information on Revolutionary patriot ancestors, descendents of those patriots, as well as the vast array of genealogical resources from the DAR Library.

The first step is to begin with what you know and what you can document, she said. What documents do you have for yourself and your family? Do you have a copy of your birth certificate? If you are married, do you have a copy of your marriage certificate? What information is in these records?  What documentation do you have for your parents and grandparents? If any of them are deceased, do you have copies of their death certificates or obituaries? 

If you have close relatives who have joined the DAR, all that you may need to do is to provide documentation that connects you to their application. In that case, you may not need to do additional research. If you do not have a close relative who is or was a member of the DAR, you will likely need to do some genealogical research in order to find a suitable patriot ancestor on whom to join the society.

“There are so many people who have patriots and just don’t know about it,” she said. “To realize you had a family member who made a significant contribution to achieving independence for America is amazing.”

Boyd has helped women complete paperwork to join the DAR for about 20 years. She has traced her own lineage to American Revolution patriots as well as settlers of Jamestown and passengers on the Mayflower.

Membership in DAR provides opportunities for grants and scholarships as well as travel, volunteerism and patriotism.

“It’s about pride in heritage, your family and your country,” she said. “We’re very patriotic souls.”