The National Society Daughters of Colonial Wars was organized by Mrs. Frank Dexter Ellison on May 14, 1917, at the Hotel Brunswick in Boston.

[1] The national society was officially organized in Washington, D.C. on April 18, 1932 and incorporated in New Jersey on November 22, 1935.

[1] The official insignia of the Daughters of Colonial Wars consists of a round disk with a gold laurel wreath, the Tudor rose in gold with five petals upon five petals, and the combined St. George's Cross and St. Andrew's Cross.

[1] In 1940, the Daughters of Colonial Wars held its annual conference at The Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where fifteen of the twenty-one state societies compiled lineage books documenting 2,000 colonial ancestors.

[4] The national society created the American Heroes Award to recognize individuals who show duty, courage, patriotism, and sacrifice for their home, community, and country.