News

Finding Heroic Women Patriots

Most of us trace our ancestry and NSDAR membership to a male ancestor who served as a soldier, officer in the militia or army, served in local government on the side of the Patriots, supplied money, services, or supplies to support the American Revolutionary War.

We have all heard the stories of the famous women Patriots, like Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, and Betsy Ross, who have been recognized for their acts of individual patriotism. During the American Revolutionary War, we know that women were spies, provided medical help, went to the troops to supply clothing, food, or even gave up their liberty and life in combat alongside their husbands. But only a few of us can trace our lineage to these well-documented and famous women.

Our sisters from the Sequoia Chapter, NSDAR, dedicated the Liberty Tree they planted in Golden Gate Park to all the heroes of the American Revolution, including these heroic women.

“...in commemoration of the services of the Revolutionary Soldiers, Sailors, Patriots, and Heroic Women who have bequeathed to us our noble heritage." Planting of the Liberty Tree in Golden Gate Park, Sequoia Chapter, NSDAR, April 19, 1894.

Tips To Find Women Patriots

Most wives of Patriots also supported the efforts in the war by providing supplies and services alongside their husbands. During the Colonial times, the coverture laws meant that a married woman did not have a separate legal existence from her husband. So while her husband was alive, any property donated or taxes paid were only credited in the husband’s name. However, there is a great opportunity for us to find a new female Patriot if her husband died during the war and the wife continued with her support of the war through donation of goods or services or paid war taxes. It takes more work to find these women in our lineage, but it is worth the effort to add the names of these brave and sacrificing women to the roles of Patriots in the NSDAR.

WOMEN PATRIOTS OF THE LA PUERTA DE ORO-SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER, NSDAR

Mary Van Cleve, Patriotic Service

Mary Haley, Patriotic Service

Elizabeth Duncan, Patriotic Service

Elizabeth Porter, Patriotic Service

Amey Peatross, Patriotic Service

Eleanor Triplett, Patriotic Service

Mary Ball Washington, Patriotic Service

--Contributed by Carol Yenne

Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC); A Longstanding San Francisco Alliance

The La Puerta de Oro–San Francisco Chapter, NSDAR, has a longstanding tradition of presenting our city’s ROTC youth with medals at the end of each academic year, recognizing their outstanding achievements.

The NSDAR has awarded ROTC medals since 1967, as the ROTC program plays a vital role in supplying trained officers to our armed forces. The presentation of these awards fulﬁlls two of the important objectives of DAR: the support of education and the promotion of patriotism.

Our chapter awards medals to outstanding cadets in three different programs: the University of San Francisco ROTC, the San Francisco Uniﬁed School District Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC), and the U.S. Navy Sea Cadets, Arkansas Division, based on Yerba Buena Island.

The JROTC teaches high school students leadership skills, citizenship, respect for themselves and one another. Community service projects and student-taught classes train the cadets to motivate and direct others, and to give back to their communities. The curriculum uses contemporary models and methods to enhance learning that have proven to help students perform better in both their JROTC classes and in their general schoolwork. While JROTC is not a program designed to recruit students to the armed forces, its focus is to develop strong, civic-minded individuals ready to make a signiﬁcant contribution to their country.

ROTC is a college/university-level program that trains cadets and commissions them as officers in the armed forces upon graduation. When President Wilson signed the National Defense Act of 1916, the ROTC was born. The program consists of a diverse group of men and women—the ﬁrst class of female cadets was commissioned in 1976. ROTC is the largest commissioning source in the U.S. military. Many scholarships are awarded to qualiﬁed students, some paying for the student’s entire college education. The curriculum is focused on giving cadets the tools and conﬁdence to lead, to make decisions in complicated circumstances, and to excel in self-discipline.

The U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps, which partners with the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard, is a youth development program that instills into its cadets the values of teamwork, discipline, camaraderie and service. Cadets, ages 13 through 17, begin with a mandatory two-week training session focusing on the Navy’s core values of honor, courage and commitment. One of the program’s goals is to develop interest and ability in seamanship and seagoing skills. Cadets can participate in advanced training aboard Navy and Coast Guard vessels, or even take classes wherein they learn to build underwater robots.

Each year in the spring, a representative from our chapter attends the three awards ceremonies in San Francisco to present the highly coveted medals. When these decorated students apply for college or military stations, the fact that they can add the DAR Outstanding Cadet Medal to their résumé is of great value and pride.

--Contributed by Annette Litle

Getting Started with Genealogy

La Puerta de Oro–San Francisco Chapter, NSDAR, is proud to have many members who can help you find and prove you are a descendant of an American Revolutionary War Patriot. Below you will find some useful information to get you started with your genealogy research. We would love to talk to you about other ways we can help you discover your American Revolutionary War history!

Start With What You Know

Talk with your parents, grandparents, and others in your family to find out what information they have available to share and what you can document. It is necessary to prove the direct lineage of each generation from yourself back to that Patriot. You will need your birth certificate and records linking each generation. Early birth, death and marriage links can be proven by a number of sources, including obituaries, wills, deeds, probate records, estate settlements, church records, cemetery records, Bible records, old letters, published genealogies, marriage records, and newspaper announcements.

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 applications.

Before you get too far along in your research, you will want to devise some manner of organizing your research material. Download the Pedigree DAR Worksheet and start filling in your family tree(s), beginning with yourself, and work towards a prospective Patriot.

Try doing an internet search for an early ancestor or suspected Patriot. A link is often provided to a site on which someone has uploaded original documents or posted a family tree. If documentation is not provided, you still might find a lead toward finding that documentation.

Genealogy Resources

Our chapter registrar can assist you with locating exactly what is needed. In the event that additional help is needed, the registrar can tap into DAR’s very large volunteer network for assistance. You are not by any means alone in this process.

The following are more ways to help you gather evidence in finding and proving your family’s American Revolutionary War Patriot.

To help you in your general genealogy research, and to assist with the DAR membership process, please explore our DAR Genealogical Research System (GRS). The GRS is a free resource provided by the NSDAR that includes a collection of databases that provide access to the many materials obtained by the DAR since its founding in 1890.

Use free genealogy websites such as familysearch.org or Ancestry.com (free at many public libraries) to search for family records. Thousands of vital records are being added every day, with sources cited that are acceptable to the DAR. You can search by names and by location of where your family lived. Many original documents are now available to download for free, but sometimes going through non-indexed original documents may be necessary.

Proof of acceptable service must be provided with your application. Decisions regarding service are based on the last known act performed by an individual within the Revolutionary War time frame. These services are categorized as military service, patriotic service, civil service and as Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Our Patriots are proof of the unfailing loyalty to the cause of American independence. You can get started documenting your genealogy and discover more about accepted proof of service by visiting the national NSDAR website or contact us to connect with the chapter registrar for assistance.

--Contributed by Kathie Heller

PORTRAITS OF OUR ANCESTORS: STORIES OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR ANCESTORS

Published in 2011, Portraits of Our Patriots: Stories of Revolutionary War Ancestors, tells the stories of 15 of our chapter members' Patriots and is authored by eight of our chapter members. Four of the eight authors are members of the California Genealogical Society. The book recounts with as much detail as possible the events they and their families endured in the years during and surrounding the American Revolution. A genealogical summary covering the Patriot and his family is provided at the end of each chapter which includes source references.

Our Patriot’s Stories and Authors:

Bladen Ashby by Carol Yenne
John Blair by Millianne (Peirano) Lehman
John Chatham and William Chatham by Catherine McCausland
John Chilton by Carol Yenne
Stephen Fischer by Terri Taylor
David French by Millianne (Peirano) Lehman
Lewis L. Humphreys by Joan Reumah Evans
Cephas Kent, Sr., by Mary A. Mettler
Cephas Kent, Jr., by Mary A. Mettler
Abraham Kitchel by Jim Cooper and Annette Cooper Litle
John Lamb by Mary A. Mettler
Jonathan Langley by Linda Longley
Roger McPike by Carol Yenne and Max McPike
Onesimus Whitehead by Millianne (Peirano) Lehman

--Contributed by Terry Marks

San Francisco Historical Markers

COIT TOWER AND TELEGRAPH HILL HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO. 91

Coit Memorial Tower, more popularly referred to as Coit Tower, is located at 1 Telegraph Hill Boulevard, in San Francisco. Designed in the Art Deco style by noted architect Arthur Brown, Jr., as a commemorative monument and observation tower, it was built during the Great Depression, largely financed by a bequest to the City and County of San Francisco from Lillie Hitchcock Coit.

Coit Tower is known for its views and 27 murals that comprise a large-scale fresco New Deal art project titled Aspects of Life in California, 1934. Before Coit Tower was built, the location was home to the first Western Telegraph station and inner signal station.

A California Historical Landmark, NO. 91 Telegraph Hill; “A signal station was erected on Telegraph Hill in 1849 from which to observe the incoming vessels, a tall pole with movable arms was used to signal to the people in the town below whether sailing vessels or the sidewheel vessels of the Pacific mail were passing through the Golden Gate. In September 1853, the first telegraph in California, which extended eight miles to Point Lobos, was stationed here, giving the hill its name.” - California Historical Landmarks.

At the east side of the north wall is a bronze plaque placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution commemorating the inner signal station on Telegraph Hill and the first Western Telegraph station.

PORTSMOUTH SQUARE 1924 MARKER

In 1924, the San Francisco DAR chapters joined together in placing a bronze plaque set in a stone at the base of the flagpole in Portsmouth Square, commemorating the first raising of the American flag in San Francisco by Captain John Montgomery of the USS Portsmouth in 1846. Located in the heart of Chinatown is Portsmouth Square. Not only is it the location of the first raising of the American flag within San Francisco in 1846, it is also where the discovery of gold was announced in 1848, starting the Gold Rush and putting the city of San Francisco on the map. On July 9, 1846, Commander John B. Montgomery and his detachment from the Portsmouth, raised the American flag over the plaza in the town of Yerba Buena, then under Mexican rule. The name of the plaza was later changed to Portsmouth Square, commemorating Montgomery's ship. However, it should be noted that Montgomery Street is named after Commander Montgomery of the Portsmouth.

--Contributed by Terry Marks

JEAN-ANTOINE HOUDON 1917 STATUE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON

Thanks to the perseverance of our early San Francisco Daughters, San Francisco is the home of one of the rare replicas of Houdon’s statue of George Washington, which resides in the foyer of George Washington High School.

The original statue is in white marble and was commissioned in 1784 by the Virginia Legislature out of gratitude and recognition for this great man, who had led our country with such bravery and determination during the Revolution.

Renowned French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon journeyed to America, where he stayed at Mt. Vernon for two weeks, studying the 53-year-old Washington, making sketches, casts, and taking detailed measurements. His completed work, arriving in the United States in 1796, was acclaimed by Washington’s friends as the best likeness of him ever done. It still stands in the United States Capitol rotunda in Richmond, Virginia.

The statue proved very popular, and several bronze replicas were made in the 1800s for various locales, primarily in the East. In 1908, Mrs. John McGaw, Regent of La Puerta de Oro Chapter, NSDAR, began the enormous task of fundraising for replicas for San Francisco. Sequoia and California chapters, and the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), also participated in the project. The first fundraiser, an elegant affair, was held in December 1908 in the Colonial Ballroom of the St. Francis Hotel, newly rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake and fire. DAR officers were in colonial dress, and there was a variety of musical offerings as entertainment. Patronesses were from many San Francisco philanthropic families, including Mrs. Pheobe Hearst.

Six years later, when the required $7000 was raised, the statue was ordered. On Decoration Day 1917, the bronze statue was unveiled in elaborate ceremonies at the Palace of Fine Arts by Miss Betty Washington Mann, a descendant in the George Washington family.

The original plaque read: “Presented to the Citizens of San Francisco by the Daughters of the American Revolution May 30, 1917.”

In 1933, the statue was moved to the War Memorial Veterans Building in Civic Center, and later to a San Francisco schoolyard. In 1994, it was installed at George Washington High School. The original base was lost in a move, so in the 1990s, the San Francisco Chapter of the SAR graciously donated the current base and replaced the original plaque, which had been saved.

The statue itself is filled with symbolism. Although he is dressed in his military uniform, Washington’s sword is laid aside. Rather, he holds a cane in his right hand, symbolizing what he long stood for – the subordination of the military to the civil power of the people. The column has 13 rods, one for each of the 13 original states, in the form of a fasces, the ancient Roman symbol of the administrative power of the state. His foot resting on the plowshare represents his return to the life of a farmer.

There are only 22 replicas of the original Houdon throughout the country and the world; one stands in London’s Trafalgar Square, given to Great Britain by Virginia in 1921. After the Revolution, Washington said that he would never again set foot in Great Britain, so some earth was brought from Virginia and placed under the base so he would be standing on Virginia soil.

The molds no longer exist, so this statue is truly a treasure, and we are indeed fortunate to have it in our city.

--Contributed by Cathy McCausland

Photos Courtesy: Chapter members and chapter archives.