MEMBERSHIP | SIDNEY SHERMAN CHAPTER #1 | DAUGHTERS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS

This isn’t a club you join.

It’s a bloodline you claim.

If a man or woman in your family helped build the Republic of Texas before it became a state, you are eligible for the oldest patriotic women's organization in Texas — through its very first chapter. Most women who qualify have no idea. Let's find out if you're one of them.

why women are joining now

Google doesn't care that your great-great-grandfather fought at San Jacinto. We do.

Studies show that as a society, we have more ways to connect than ever, and we’re lonelier than ever. What women are looking for isn’t another obligation. It’s a tribe—a reason that outlasts them.

She’s retired.

After decades of being essential, the calendar went quiet. The DRT doesn't retire you — it recruits you. Your leadership, your gifts, your time: we need every one.

She’s still in the thick of it.

Still working, still raising a family, gloriously busy. She doesn't need one more thing to do. She needs her time to matter. Purpose outranks prestige now — and this is purpose.

She loves a family reunion.

She has family who already belong — sisters, daughters, mothers, grandmothers. For them, the third Saturday isn't just a meeting. It's the family gathering nobody has to plan. The lineage is what qualifies them. The meetings are what keep them close.

She’s the keeper of the story.

She may be the last one who knows what her grandmother knew. If she doesn't tell it, it's gone. Here, that story gets documented, proven, honored, and kept — for her family, and for Texas. Forever.

what you’re joining

More than a membership

Women who share your values and your pride — here in Galveston and across Texas.

For 135 years, guarding monuments, marking veterans' graves, teaching the young, keeping the Cradle, and making friends.

Your lineage documented, proven, and honored — entered into the record for good.

Six women standing together indoors, holding gifts, in a restaurant or cafe setting with exposed brick walls and warm lighting.

Four people standing together in a room, smiling at the camera. The group consists of two men and two women, with the woman in the red outfit holding a folder or book. The background includes a textured wall, a mirror, and an exit sign.

Group of seven women standing outdoors around the Burnet Sherman Monument with a wreath

Two women exchanging flowers and a framed certificate at a Sidney Sherman DRT meeting

DRT members sitting around a dining table at the Artillery Club Galveston, smiling for the camera.

A group of women gathered around a table at a DRT meeting at the Bryan Museum in Galveston in a rustic wooden room with brick walls. Some women are sitting, while others are standing, engaged in conversation.

DRT members at the Christmas Party An elderly woman sitting and smiling, holding hands with a middle-aged woman standing next to her, both dressed festively with Christmas decorations and a white Christmas tree in the background.

A floral arrangement with yellow roses, red carnations, blue hydrangeas, and greenery, featuring Texas and patriotic flags, placed on a wooden tray with candles, set on a table at a gathering with people in the background.

A woman dressed in a historical or period costume standing in a room with several other people in the background.

Three women sitting at a table at the Artillery Club in Galveston, enjoying the DRT Texas History Lunch, with other people in the background.

DRT member standing outdoors next to a Texas flag quilt display and a table with Texas items, with flowering bushes in the background.

DRT members sitting at a table at the Conservatory of the Bryan Museum at the DRT Workshop with one woman writing or signing a document while the other two observe.

A new Sidney Sherman Chapter member holding a bluebonnet in one hand and her certificate in the other, standing indoors with sunlight coming through the window behind her, and others nearby.

DRT member in a blue blazer speaking at a podium in the Conservatory of the Bryan Museum in Galveston, with a portrait of Sidney Sherman on an easel beside her and an American flag in the background.

the only question that matters

Do you qualify?

Not sure? Most women aren’t at first. Tracing you line is part of the journey—our chapter registrar will guide you.

Membership is by bloodline. To become a Daughter, you must be a woman aged 16 or older who descends — directly, by blood — from an ancestor who lived in or served the Republic of Texas before it joined the United States on February 19, 1846.

That ancestor might have been:

a soldier or officer of the Republic of Texas
a colonist of Austin's Old Three Hundred or another authorized colony
a landowner, resident, or family member living in Texas as far back as 1820
the recipient of a Republic of Texas land grant

See if you qualify

how it works

It sounds like a lot. It isn’t—because you won’t do it alone.

Our chapter registrar guides every applicant through each step.

Tell us what you know about your Texas roots — a name, a county, a family story. Even a little is enough to begin.
This isn’t our first rodeo. Our registrar helps guide you to find your qualifying ancestor and document the generations in between.
We complete and submit it with you; the state Registrar General reviews and approves your lineage.
You take your place as a Daughter of Chapter No. 1 — and your family's story is preserved in the record of Texas for good.

DRT member with gray hair and glasses smiling, wearing a red jacket and plaid sash with medals, sitting next to a table with a bouquet of flowers, a card, and snacks, at the Wine Room of the Bryan Museum in Galveston.

Start your inquiry

This goes straight to our chapter registrar. No obligation, no cost to ask.

your turn

Your ancestors did not play it small.

They fought, they built, they persevered—and they handed it to you. The Sidney Sherman Chapter has answered the call since 1891. Now it’s your turn to claim your place.

Our members and their guests gather the third Saturday, October through May (except January), at the Artillery Club in Galveston.