Monday, 6 July 2015

Daughters of the Empire



Patriotism is the seed that started the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire in 1900 Canada when Margaret Polson recognized a need for support of soldiers leaving to fight with the Empire forces in South Africa.  She encouraged women to join her cause and the first chapter was formed in Fredericton, New Brunswick on January 15, 1900.  The next month in Montreal the constitution, aims and objectives were reviewed.  The name chosen was "Federation of the Daughters of the Empire" and their motto was "For Queen and Country".

Chapters opened quickly across Canada, then children's chapters, later called Junior Chapters.  In 1901 the head office moved to Toronto. There soon opened a Daughters of the British Empire USA branch, in 1908.



After the Boer War, not only did the Federation organize a welcome home dinner for the soldiers and provide them with assistance as needed, they contacted their sister organization, Guild of Loyal Women, in South Africa and arranged for the care of war graves of fallen Canadian soldiers, particularly in isolated places.


IODE Rose Ball, King Edward Hotel, Toronto 1911 (Wikipedia)
Do you have a Daughter of the Empire among your ancestors? You can do a google search for the IODE in your area. They may even have photos in their archives. Also do a newspaper archive search for Daughters of the Empire.
Labels: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Leave me a note to tell me you were here! Thanks for visiting.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

By joining our Facebook Group you get other genealogy news from time to time, and you can download pages of links that go with the posts.

Popular Posts

  • Serendipity Sunday - Irish Names and a two-fer!
    Like many, I have hard-to-find ancestors whose children immigrated from Ireland. I have a story handed down that my 3x great grandmother w...
  • Notes and Comments on Ancestry
    NOTES On your tree at a person’s profile you can click Tools, View Notes, and you can write anything you want there. Only you can view the n...
  • Getting more from the Dictionary of Canadian Families
    Researching Quebec ancestors you undoubtedly use the "Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Canadiennes" (in seven volumes) by ...
  • All Aboard!
    The railways played a major role in our history, as did the people who worked for them. I always loved going on the train . Growing...
  • It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!
    Protestant Hospital for The Insane, Verdun My great-grand uncle Horace Melvin Porter was 26 years old, full of life and part of ...
  • WWI Casualty Clearing Stations
    My great uncle Alexander George Mavor was wounded at "The Bluff" at Ypres, Belguim in the First World War. He was in the trench...
  • Quebec and New France Resources
    In the past few months there have been lots of beginners researching their ancestors who came to New France in the early years, or like m...
  • Scotland Genealogy Resources
    Both sides of my family have roots in Scotland, so it is no wonder I have amassed a list of resources from the areas my ancestors lived. ...
  • Cleaning Up Your Family Tree
    If you are like me, you like your tree to be clean and, above all, accurate. I have seen many trees on Ancestry with BMD, census or other ...
  • Using Find-A-Grave when there is no burial
    What do you do when you want to add a memorial for a family member to Find a Grave but the person was not buried? My ancestors are all lin...