By Lydia Browne
“[The Daughters of the American Revolution] is a women’s service organization dedicated to promoting historic preservation, education, patriotism, and honoring the patriots of the Revolutionary War.” This is what welcomes visitors to the DAR website, a society composed of women descended from those who rendered aid in the American Revolution in some way, whether it be as soldiers or simply providing resources.
Brigit Mullane, a Benicia local, has been a part of the DAR group for many years. It all started about 8 years ago. She had a friend who worked for Ancestry.com who told her about a week-long free trial. Through this, she discovered that she was related to someone who fought in the Revolutionary War, sparking an interest in genealogy that continues to this day. “I found out that in 1832 Congress decided to give people who fought in the war a pension,” Mullane said. “You had to go to the local courthouse with witnesses to say that you were in the war, and the person would say their general, commanding officer, battles they fought in, etc. In the pension accounts you can find in their own words what battles they were in.” If interested, you can find these pension accounts in the U.S. National Archives in Washington D.C. and online at https://www.archives.gov/.
Mullane is not the first member of her family to develop an interest in family history. “Both my parents were interested in genealogy,” she said, “but I thought it was very boring.” Her family is part of the reason why she enjoys this hobby today. “[My parents] asked lots of relatives about our genealogy and took notes, and I have all those notes. We would stop at courthouses on cross-country trips, and my parents would look at microfilm . . . I like that I can complete my parent’s work and pass it on to my kids. I am a pretty good researcher, and the rest of my family can use my research to look into their ancestry.” She also said that she appreciates how her research connects her to history. “. . . It makes history alive for me knowing that I had family in historical events such as the revolutionary war. It makes me more interested in those events than before.”
Through her research, Mullane has discovered many things about her family that she hadn’t known before. Apart from her connection to the Revolutionary War, she discovered that many of her ancestors were immigrants from Prussia, Germany, Ireland, England, France, and Scotland. Some of them came in the 1600s, before the United States was a country. She also found interest in looking at the wills of her family members to see what types of possessions they had during their lifetimes. “People who were ‘wealthy’ didn’t have what people have today. It was a different time,” she said.
Mullane highly encourages high schoolers to take an interest in the history of their families. “. . . Start with yourself, then add your parents and then your grandparents. Try to get any birth, death, and marriage dates, as well as where and when these took place. Ask them about their families and what they know. [Then] write down their stories. Stories like that will never be known if you don’t write them down.”
As for the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mullane has been a member since she first discovered her connection with a Revolutionary soldier. “There are different organizations that are called lineage societies and this is one of those,” she said. Among many things, such as its work in historical preservation and education, and the honor and support it offers veterans, DAR also offers scholarships for students. “It gives scholarships for history, economics, law, pol sci, medicine, nursing, etc. [It is usually] based on essays on history, [and] every chapter in the U.S. offers their own scholarship.” There is also a Junior membership for women between the ages of 18 and 35. Those who are a part of the Junior membership have the opportunity to participate in many history-based events.
Feeling connected to the Revolutionary War and our country’s history is especially important for Brigit Mullane as we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States in 2026. “I was in high school in 1976 and they celebrated 200 years,” she mentioned. Now she looks forward to another celebration of that time, knowing that her family contributed to the fight for independence.
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