Did your ancestors fight in the American Revolution 233 years ago? Thousands of men answered the call to arms in 1776. These thousands probably have many millions of descendants today. Many Americans can find a Revolutionary War veteran in the family tree if they expend a bit of time and effort. Luckily, there are a number of online and offline sources to help you in that search.
Finding Revolutionary ancestors isn’t much different than finding anyone else in your family tree. You always start with yourself and then work your way back, one generation at a time. You can search the online databases as well as the traditional resources, such as census records, vital records, and especially, Revolutionary War pension applications. However, you should be aware of several unique sources of records that contain information about Revolutionary War soldiers.
One excellent tutorial to read is "Finding Your Patriot: Basic Sources for Starting Revolutionary War Research" by Curt B. Witcher, available on Ancestry.com (without subscription) at: http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/news/articles/1561.asp.
Once you have learned the basics of Revolutionary War records, you will want to search the Lineage Books of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). In order to join the Society, members have to prove their descent from an ancestor who aided the American cause in the Revolutionary War. The DAR have spent hundreds of thousands of hours compiling Patriot Index lists of Revolutionary War ancestors of DAR members. The DAR Lineage Books are available online to Ancestry.com members at: http://www.ancestry.com/search/DB.aspx?dbid=3174. (This database is available to Ancestry.com paid subscribers; an Ancestry.com user ID and password are required.) The same information is available in printed DAR Lineage Books, available at most large genealogy libraries.
The DAR was founded in 1890. Early application papers supply the applicant’s maiden name, husband’s name, applicant’s birthplace (but not the birth date), parents’ names, chain of ancestors and their spouses leading back to the Revolutionary War, and discussion of patriot’s service and sources for his/her service. Note that the chain of ancestors is only from parent to child and does not show all children born to parents.
Later papers give much more information. In the chain of ancestors: birth, marriage, and death dates and places. In the applicant’s section: birth date and birthplace, marriage date, spouse’s information (name, birth date, birthplace, date of death or divorce). Space for multiple spouses is provided. The applicant must also supply data on the patriot’s marriages, children, and children’s spouses.
Keep in mind that the DAR Lineage Books contain the lineage of accepted members. While these books often provide great clues about the lineage of American patriots, the lineages they provide are often undocumented. As with any undocumented secondary source, all aspects should be documented with further research. Also remember that they do not list all the Revolutionary War soldiers. These books only list those who were identified as ancestors of DAR members.
More information about the many services of the Daughters of the American Revolution may be found at: http://www.dar.org. However, you will not find online databases at that site.
The records of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) are another great resource. Their records are available online and on CD-ROM. The online database has over 230,000 records of patriots whose gravesites have been located or whose service has been documented by a descendant who joined the Sons of the American Revolution.
The SAR online database provides information about Revolutionary War soldiers, sailors, and others, but does not provide information about their descendants. It is up to you to build a family tree in the traditional manner to prove your descent from the listed patriot.
NOTE: Much of the data was reported to the Revolutionary War Graves Committee without citing any primary documents as evidence of service. As with genealogy information found anywhere else, you need to independently verify the information provided.
To access the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution online database, go to http://www.rsar.org/rosters/findpatr.htm.
Finally, never overlook the best source of information: your family. Are you attending a family gathering this Fourth of July? If so, ask your relatives, especially your older relatives. They may know some family stories that you have not heard before. Keep in mind that many family stories have a mixture of truth and fiction interwoven in them, but they are always worth verifying. Who knows? Your aunt or uncle just may be able to provide a clue that helps you find information that previously eluded you.
There are also some Acadian and French-Canadian men who also fought in the American Revolution. There is a list of the Acadian men who served on my website.
I descend from Michel Bourg who fought under Jonathan Eddy in Nova Scotia and I am a DAR member.
A person can be accepted to DAR and SAR if they had an ancestor who gave any kind of effort to the American Revolution that can be proven. Women also contributed their service.
Posted by: Lucie LeBlanc Consentino | July 04, 2009 at 05:04 AM
I am the Registrar of a chapter of the DAR, and I have online access to the most recent patriot index, which is updated constantly. The published volumes are helpful, but not up to date. Many new patriots are verified every year. Many of us in the DAR will aid people with research, whether they are interested in joining or not.
Additionally, the applications of DAR members can be ordered from the DAR webiste or viewed at the DAR's large genealogy in Washington. Recent applications are very well-documented.
Posted by: Gretchen Maresco | July 04, 2009 at 08:13 AM
A very nice overview, Mr. Eastman. And Curt Witcher is a genealogical and historical saint, no pun intended. You've also provided sources for others to pursue and learn. Thank you and Happy Independence Dae.
Happy Dae·
http://ShoeStringGenealogy.com
Posted by: Dae Powell | July 04, 2009 at 08:15 AM
Dick, do you happen to know if the Ancestry.com database has the ability to search on the patriot's name? (or does it search on DAR members' names only?) And how recently was that database updated?
Is there anywhere that will cross reference the patriot with all the DAR members who have him as their ancestor?
Posted by: Penny Hayes | July 04, 2009 at 12:11 PM
You can search for a Patriot's name. The online DAR Lineage Books have not been updated in years. More up-to-date information is available directly from the DAR but you will need to either visit in person or else obtain assistance from a local DAR organization near you.
Posted by: Dick Eastman | July 04, 2009 at 01:38 PM
In answer to Penny's question, the DAR website has Patriots listed by name, and you can go through the lists of descendants to see if your line has been established. (www.dar.org)
Dick, this was timely for me. Yesterday I was doing a Google search for a 2nd gr-grandfather--and found a transcription of his Revolutionary Pension application. Although I knew his father had fought, I had dismissed him because I felt he would be too young (16). As soon as I found the transcription (www.southerncampaign.com) I went to the DAR site and found that this ancestor has never been established as a Patriot. So, today I am putting together the paperwork to submit. By the way, I also did a Footnote search and found copies of the original pension application (12 pages).
Also, I am registrar of the General Bernardo de Galvez chapter NSDAR and any one who served under Gen'l Galvez in the Spanish Navy can qualify as a Patriot. They blockaded the Mississippi at New Orleans so the English couldn't come north from there.
Nancy Ross
Posted by: Nancy Ross | July 04, 2009 at 02:50 PM
The DAR Lineage Books only cover the first 166,000 members' lineages. The last book was published in the 1930s; the last lineage was from sometime in the 1920s. The DAR's Genealogy Department does not accept these older lineages as proof of lineage or service -- they are only useful for clues. There have been about 866,000 members of the DAR since 1890, so 700,000 of their lineages do not appear in the Lineage Books. There are countless updates, corrections, changes, and closed lines in DAR records in Washington. In the near future, we will be providing access to some of this information online to the public once a few databases are tweaked. Issues of personal privacy prevent us from posting names of members online, so the databases have to have limits in certain areas.
Posted by: Eric G. Grundset, Library Director, DAR Library | July 04, 2009 at 03:43 PM
It has been well within the last half-Century that the DAR has required good research and documentation for people to join the organization. A good many years ago a lady joined claiming a Draper of the famous Draper's Valley family as a patriot. That information has been used by a number of people, including a professional genealogist who prepared a genealogy for Charles Stark Draper of the Draper Laboratories. Neither that lady nor Doc Draper had ancestors in Draper's Valley and I have had to fight that battle repeatedly. Those early DAR records are notoriously bad and people should be given more than the perfunctory warning to confirm all information before they accept it.
Posted by: Jim McMillen | July 04, 2009 at 04:10 PM
There is also a message board on Ancestry/RootsWeb, staffed by DAR volunteers, who will answer questions regarding DAR patriots. They generally respond within 24 hours.
URL for the message board is:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.organizations.dar/mb.ashx
Posted by: Gretchen Maresco | July 06, 2009 at 08:57 AM
This is just a correction to the post by Nancy Ross regarding the Southern Campaign. The correct website is southerncampaign.org....and it is a very useful site. Thank you for the lead.
Posted by: Marcia Zeigler | July 06, 2009 at 09:08 AM
Thank you for posting this. However, the records are incomplete. When researching patriots, it would be better to contact a DAR or SAR member, who will gladly arrange for a lookup.
Posted by: Mary H. | July 06, 2009 at 05:45 PM
DAR has a free patriot lookup service handled by volunteers. After you complete and submit the form, it can take 2-3 days to get a response back. http://www.dar.org/natsociety/pi_lookup.cfm
I wish I'd read your article when I got started. It would have saved me a lot of time. I didn't know about the SAR Find Patriot web site. I found a lot of revolutionary war records in Footnote and was able to download the images. Footnote requires a subscription but it's available free in the public libraries where I live as well as in all Family History centers. Ancestry.com is now only available in a few Family History centers but it's available free in our public libraries.
Posted by: Ada Nelson | July 07, 2009 at 10:40 AM