Deborah Goodacre

While the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a national organization created to honor and preserve the legacy of our patriots who served and fought for the freedoms we enjoy today, just who are these ladies in each of the 41 chapters in Arizona? I’ll tell you; we are a diverse group of women who come from all parts of the United States. We have different backgrounds and histories, and we are a fun, smart, and interesting group of women. If you are new to Arizona and need to find some new friends, or maybe you’re a retiree and need something interesting and important to do, you might consider looking into your family lineage and see if you qualify to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Why join, other than you can meet some fantastic women? I’ll tell you from my personal perspective: I joined because I can! It was a total surprise that I have a patriot in my lineage and, furthermore, from the State of Louisiana! And I’m proud of it. It all started when I had met two women who are members of the Gila Butte Chapter. I was intrigued by their research and decided to look into my mother’s biological father’s family; she was raised by a step-father from the age of three. This search had nothing to do with finding a patriot, but it led to a fascinating journey where I built a family tree on Ancestry. Later, I made a trip to Louisiana to do research. Fortunately, my nephew lives there in the heart of Acadiana, making the trip easier and more economical.

Once back home, I connected with several people through Ancestry’s email. One person turned out to be a second cousin to my mother, and another was a fellow who knew a ton of information about the Falcons’, my maternal great-grandmother’s family. This man suggested I go on Facebook and join the Falcon group and follow their chats. Late one night, I was scrolling down, down, and down when I saw a note in all caps: “I just got my SAR, if you’re related to Christobal Falcon or Gaspard Falcon, here are their DAR numbers.”

Yes, folks, I found my patriot on Facebook, Facebook! I already had Gaspard on my tree, but then I had to make the connections which set me on months of research, challenging to say the least. I used a ton of brain cells digging, analyzing, and piecing together the family connections and documents; equate it to a forensic search. But what a kick! I loved all the research and the mysteries I had to solve. It was worth all the time and effort.

Since then, I have discovered I have four more patriots I can connect to, but it only takes one to qualify to join DAR. It can be hard work, and the DAR is picky, but if you do your research correctly, it’s worth it.