MY PATRIOT
Lore No More
English Daughter Emily Brand’s journey to DAR membership solidified her connection to a signer of the Declaration of Independence — and the strong influence of her American grandmother.
Like so many Daughters of the American Revolution, Emily Brand’s journey to DAR membership began with a casual conversation with a family member.
“My mother died two years ago, and at her funeral, I was talking to one of her cousins,” Brand said. “He said, ‘Do you know we’re related to somebody who signed the Declaration of Independence?’ I’d heard lots of stories about the family, but that was one of the things I’d never heard.”
Brand’s interest was piqued, and she began a journey that has not only brought her to membership in the Walter Hines Page Chapter, London, UK, but also strengthened her connection with the larger-than-life grandmother whose influence continues to live on in current generations.
“I wonder if any of it’s true?”
Following the funeral, Brand returned to her work as a partner leading the family law practice in a London firm. “I was chatting to one of my law partners, and I was saying, ‘I’m actually from America, and we have all these stories about our family — I wonder if any of it’s true.' She said, ‘Oh, you should see if you can join the DAR. I know friends in the DAR, and it’s a really great, fun organization to be a member of.'”
Still certain this was just family lore, Brand reached out to the Walter Hines Page Chapter, and Chapter Registrar Diana Diggines began her membership application. Brand had long felt a strong connection to the American side of her heritage and had heard stories about her great-grandparents arguing about the Civil War.
Those were the parents of her “unforgettable” grandmother, Barbara Taylor, who was born in 1902 at the U.S. naval station in Yokahama, Japan. Brand’s great-grandfather, James Spottiswoode Taylor, had been born in Virginia and was an American naval surgeon. He had married a Northerner, Louise Bernis Draper, who was an actress (“unsuitable” for the time, Brand pointed out). The couple moved to Yokahama but returned to the United States when Taylor became very ill with pernicious anemia. Taylor passed away August 27, 1922, in Philadelphia, and just a few days later, Brand’s great-grandmother drowned herself. That left Brand’s then 20-year-old grandmother and her younger sister, Emily (Brand’s namesake), on their own. The sisters headed to England.
“She was a very strong woman,” Brand said of her grandmother. “And very tall. Like my daughter. My grandmother was 5' 11", which is extraordinary for someone born in 1902.”
The discovery of her lineal connection to the signer of one of America’s most precious founding documents perhaps helps explain the deep connection Brand has always felt with the United States.
A student of American literature, her partner is American, and her two of her three children also have American partners. “To me, America represented this very well-educated, intellectual woman who traveled the globe and was very sophisticated. I am still very interested in the idea of America as a sort of space to be created for people to come to and to make their own."
— Emily Brand
Brand's grandmother, Barbara Taylor, emigrated from the U.S. to England as a young woman. Photo courtesy of Emily Brand.
Family pedigree charts in pencil held clues to Brand's connection to signer Carter Braxton. Photo courtesy of Emily Brand.
The American connection
Growing up in a family of strong women, Brand had always been most interested in the Draper line, through which she is related to the American Puritan poet Anne Bradstreet. “As rabid feminists, we were proud to have a female poet in the family.” Through her British father’s interest in genealogy and America, where he had studied, along with Diggines’ assistance, she began exploring the Taylor line and its connection to Signer of the Declaration of Independence Carter Braxton. Family trees documented in pencil offered clues, as did the findings of her mother’s cousins, including a diary extract about Carter Braxton’s son’s visit to London.
Along the way, Brand kept coming back to her grandmother Barbara, who had passed away when Brand was in her 20s.
“She was very sophisticated,” Brand said. “She spoke fluent Italian. She spoke fluent French. She could speak Spanish very well as well, and she'd had this sort of very unusual education.” It came to light that Brand’s great-great-grandparents in the Taylor line had lived in Rome. “They were very European.”
Brand’s exploration of her lineage picked up on her late mother’s own interest in honoring Barbara Taylor’s memory, whose diaries she preserved. “My grandmother was very difficult, but my mother always had a good relationship with her. She was very exhausting and very energetic. We had all these really tall girls coming through this amazing woman.
“She must have really stood out with her accent, which must have really softened over the years, so there were only a few bits where you could really hear the American by the time I knew her, which was in her 70s.”
The discovery of her lineal connection to the signer of one of America’s most precious founding documents perhaps helps explain the deep connection Brand has always felt with the United States. A student of American literature, her partner is American, and her two of her three children also have American partners. “To me, America represented this very well-educated, intellectual woman who traveled the globe and was very sophisticated. I am still very interested in the idea of America as a sort of space to be created for people to come to and to make their own. Although I’m not sure Carter Braxton was quite in that, if we look closely at his history.”
Braxton is known for being less enthusiastic than most signers about the move toward independence, even writing in April 1776 that “Independence is in truth an elusive bait which men inconsiderably [sic] catch at, without knowing the hook to which it is affixed.” By July 1776, however, he had come to support independence from Britain and signed the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776. He was later sent home from the Continental Congress after publishing a pamphlet criticizing John Adams’ more radically democratic views.
Braxton’s hesitations represent a lesser-known chapter of the American Revolution, and Brand’s Patriot story helps paint a more complete picture of the complexities of the era. “DAR is a great organization in terms of linking people and helping us think about really important things,” Brand said. “When they were fighting the Brits, you know, they were just on their horses. It’s extraordinary. I always feel really proud that they did guerrilla warfare to get the redcoats. They were really clever. You have to be really proud of them for that. That’s what makes it all the more amazing what they achieved.” P
Walter Hines Page Chapter Registrar Diana Diggines found this record and photograph of Brand's grandmother and her aunt Emily (for whom Brand is named) while researching Brand's DAR application. Photo courtesy of Emily Brand.
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JULY/AUGUST 2026
