When Linda Banister read an advertisement for the national organization known as Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) – an organization founded in 1890 to “promote historic preservation, education and patriotism” – she was intrigued and more than a little wary.
“I held some stigma…old ladies in white gloves and all that,” Banister recalled. “But the minute I walked in they were the most warm, welcoming group.”
Recently relocated from Mill City to Stayton – the primary seat of the Abigail Scott Duniway Chapter, which draws its membership from all over Marion County – Banister was interested in meeting other like-minded women.
“I went to each of the meetings just to find out what they’re into, which is everything,” Banister – a retired history teacher and veteran – said. “Between education and the service component they drew me in.”
But joining DAR isn’t quite that simple. Interested applicants must also prove “lineal descent from a patriot who provided aid to the American Revolution”.
“I thought you had to have a surname patriot, but you can tack back and forth,” Banister said, recounting the 18 months it took for her to trace her own ancestry. “And being a patriot isn’t just the soldiers and spies. It’s Martha Washington making shirts, it’s servers and farmers bringing food to the soldiers, it’s wagoners who transported the local officials. Any way you could have helped the effort is patriotic service.”
Using a combination of DNA testing and genealogy research Banister did in fact discover a patriotic ancestor. And so, in October 2014 she became an official member of DAR.
“I’ve never been around a group of women that are so active,” she said. “It’s statewide, it’s sister chapters…and we’ve got a national chapter to back us up.”
Heavily involved in DAR’s education committee, Banister now serves as a State Officer and a State Librarian, promoting everything from Little Libraries to community libraries to libraries in spaces like assisted living facilities and hospitals.
“If you come to DAR there are hundreds of things you can get involved with,” she pointed out. “If you have any interest in your local community, you can find something to do and you can find great satisfaction.”
It’s information Banister and the rest of the Abigail Scott Duniway Chapter are hoping to disseminate as they celebrate the 20th anniversary of their chapter on Oct. 21 by recruiting new members.
“I defy anybody to not find something to get their teeth into,” Banister said, referring to the ways members work to promote historic preservation, education and patriotism both locally and across the country.
“We’re trying to work with the [Silverton Country Historical Society] to do a grant because they’re needing bookcases,” fellow member Jeanne Barnes said, referencing one of the many projects the chapter has headed, which includes library outreach in both Stayton and Silverton as well as support of the Edward C. Allworth Veterans’ Home in Lebanon.
“And we would love to have other women join us,” Banister said.
The only requirement is the establishment of patriotic lineage – and DAR can help.
“DAR is indexing ancestors,” Banister said of the organization’s genealogy research database – a supporter of the 10 Million Names project, which aims to recover the names of up to 10 million people enslaved in America between the 1500s and 1865”.
“DAR is very cognizant of the underrepresented records out there… They hope to bring them to view of the public and index them,” Banister said. “That is going to have a humongous impact and change the look and history of all of our people.”
It’s a goal Banister, educated as a cultural historian, can get behind.
“I can’t understate the impact of ancestry or an interest in tracking back families,” she said. “Our vision of family – encompassing historical family – is amazing.”
It’s also a way DAR connects its members, to each other – through patriotism during the American Revolution – and through the recognition of historic figures as chapter namesakes, like Abigail Scott Duniway.
“She was the mother of women’s suffrage,” Banister said, describing a woman who, in 1852 travelled by wagon from Illinois to Eola, Oregon via the Oregon Trail before establishing her own newspaper, the New North West, with the motto, “Free Speech, Free Press, Free People.”
Lobbying for women’s suffrage in the pages of her newspaper and across the state for 42 years, Scott Duniway eventually cast her first ballot in 1914.
“We have quite the namesake,” Barnes pointed out. And quite the legacy to uphold.
But that’s what the DAR is all about.
“Not a white glove in sight.”
For information visit www.abigailscottduniwaydar.weebly.com.
