In addition to military and patriotic service, the DAR also accepts civil service for establishing an ancestor as a Revolutionary War patriot.  Thousands of men in Massachusetts served in some type of civil capacity during the American Revolution.  Town meeting minutes from 1775-1783 for the majority of Massachusetts towns are now online.  In addition, officials for 175 towns from 1775-1783 have been documented in the DAR Genealogical Records Committee (GRC) reports.  Thus, if the meeting minutes for your ancestor's town have not been digitized, you can look up your ancestor in the GRC reports.  This page provides instructions on how to identify whether your Massachusetts ancestor is listed as having served in a civil capacity.

Instructions

The first step is to identify the name of the Massachusetts town(s) where your ancestor resided from 1775 to 1783.  

Next, click here to look up your town. Towns with online records will have a link.  NOTE:  If there is a link for your ancestor's town, search the online records rather than the GRC reports as the online records often have many more town officials and committee members listed than the GRC reports. 

Annual elections in most towns took place in March.  Because the official start date for eligible service is 19 Apr 1775 and because most men elected in March 1775 would have been serving in their elected positions in late April 1775, the online records are linked to the page containing the minutes for March 1775.  Review the town meeting minutes from March 1775 - 26 November 1783 for your ancestor's name.  Be sure to check for committee assignments and other types of civil service in addition to service as an elected town official.

If your ancestor's town is listed but it does NOT have a link, you will need to write down the GRC series, volume, and page numbers associated with your ancestor's town.  For example, the town of Amesbury is listed as s1 v33 pages 17-28, and the town of Beverly is listed as s1 v25 pages 56-71. 

After identifying the GRC series, volume, and page numbers for your ancestor's town, the next step is to search the DAR GRC Index.  
Click here for a demonstration. 

The instructions for searching the DAR GRC Index are below.  Click here to search the DAR GRC Index.

1. Click the drop down arrow next to All States and Countries and select Massachusetts.

2. Type the surname (last name) of your ancestor in the Surname box.  
   
3. Type the first name of your ancestor in the First Name box.

4. Type  s1  in the Series box.

5. Type the volume number (e.g.,  v35, v37, etc. ) in the Volume box.

6. Click the Search button.

7. Review your results.  If your ancestor's name appears, verify that the page number(s) listed for him in the results are the same as the page numbers listed for his town of residence.