Sunday Search: SAR Update

As many of you may recall reading, I have been trying to find the time over the past few years to finally sit down, pull together all the documents, and submit my application to the local chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. Of course, up until last week I hadn’t even reached out to the SAR to get additional information so that was the first step that I had to take. So, out of the blue, I looked up the local contact information and gave the chapter a call. After a very nice, informative, and welcoming conversation I received some sound advice as to how I should proceed the most important of which was to start with the ancestor that I can most easily prove.

My goal when I made the call was to get everything pulled together over the next several weeks, two weeks if I was lucky. This seemed to be an agreeable and manageable arrangement for both of us and I was encouraged to attend meetings in the meantime while I was finishing up my application. By the time we ended our conversation I already knew which ancestor made the most sense. While the documents that I have in my possession are not enough for the Monacan Indian Nation, they are more than enough prove to the SAR that I am a descendant of John Redcross.

Well, somehow I finally found the time to get it done and I was able to submit all 200+ pages to the local chapter for review. This past week has been a time to review the application that I submitted and, surprisingly, a time for the chapter genealogist to condense the documentation down to only the items needed. We really do have more than enough to prove our lineage and, at the same time, not enough. Now we can focus on finding that final piece so that we can submit the same material to the Monacan Nation.

It is a great feeling knowing that this is done and that after this it will be a matter of adding confirmed patriots to the family history. Heeding the advice of the SAR, now I am going to move to the next easiest to prove which happens to be on the other side of my family. While we once thought it impossible, I have been able to trace back my mom’s side to the Revolution as well and have the documentation to support the findings as well. It is nice to know that basically no matter which family member I am talking to I can help them join the SAR (or DAR).

However, the most important aspect to this whole process for me is that it is a means to verify the research that I have spent the last few years conducting. The more lines I can confirm and revolutionary ancestors I can trace back to, the more information in our tree I will be able to verify. Having had so many questions about the family history growing up, I am looking forward to sharing with the family a history that has been not only researched by certified as being accurate. And, one day, I look forward to sharing this history with my son.