If you are considering joining the Daughters of the American Revolution or the Sons of the American Revolution, you may want to determine if your ancestor has already been documented in the DAR Patriot Index. The DAR provides a Patriot Lookup Service at its website. If you are interested in knowing if your ancestor is recognized by the DAR as a Revolutionary Patriot, you can click on a link at their website, complete an online form, and one of the DAR volunteers will check for you at no charge.
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Once they confirm the ancestor is on the list, how do you get the material used originally to authenticate that person?
You may purchase copies of accepted prior documents from the DAR.
Even if you don’t want to join the DAR, these documents are worth the price to fill in some blanks in your extended genealogy.
When you arrive at the home page for NSDAR, look on the left side. There is a tab for “Genealogy”. Click and on the right will be a tab for “Application Paper Copy Request Information”. Click again and scroll to “Contact Information”. There will be instx for how to proceed via mail, fax etc.
Another way to get some information is to go to rootsweb.com and go to “Topics”, “Organizations” and “Daughters of the American Revolution” to request a FREE look-up (full disclosure, I am a volunteer on this site). The volunteer will advise you on whether your ancestor that you suspect may be a Revolutionary patriot is in the DAR roster and how to proceed from that point. There is a cost of $10/ancestor paper once you go through the NSDAR. The more information you have to request these papers, the better.
Also, remember to qualify for membership in the DAR your ancestor need not only be a soldier. ANYONE who supported the American Revolution by fighting, monetary help, provision support and many other ways can qualify. The home site for NSDAR has this information as well.
Good luck!
my couison helen parone is dar
my couison is dar helen parone
This is a great tip. When I found the ancestor I was looking for, I stopped in the DAR Library and researched the applications that had listed this ancestor. I was able to find an application done by a 1st cousin 2 Removed done 50 years ago. It was a great source for her documentation allowing me to go back and confirm. I was able to identify 6 ancestors this way. Once I knew who I was specifically looking for, I went to Revolutionary War files. With their free trial I was able to zero in on these 6 individuals and get the copy of the files with out going thru NARA saving quite a bit. http://www.footnote.com/documents/10936943/revolutionary-war-pension?xid=209