Is That Service Right?
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IS THAT SERVICE RIGHT? National Society Daughters of the American Revolution National Society Daughters of the American Revolution 1776 D Street NW Washington, DC 20006–5303 IS THAT SERVICE RIGHT? Copyright © 2005 Revised June 2005 (0605–600–PS) Document No. RGG-3001 National Society Daughters of the American Revolution 1776 D Street NW Washington, DC 20006–5303 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword .......................................................................................3 Introduction ..................................................................................5 The Verification Procedure ...........................................................7 IS THAT SERVICE RIGHT? Acceptable Service .....................................................................11 Signers of the Declaration of Independence ..............................11 National Society Military Service ..........................................................................11 Daughters of the American Revolution Civil Service ...............................................................................14 1776 D Street NW Patriotic Service ..........................................................................14 Washington, DC 20006–5303 Loyalists/Tories ...........................................................................17 Pacifists .......................................................................................18 The senior staff members of the Registrar General’s Connecticut .................................................................................19 Genealogy Department have prepared this publication. It should Delaware .....................................................................................22 be used with Is That Lineage Right, Application Papers: Georgia .......................................................................................24 Instructions for their Preparation, the DAR Handbook and the Illinois (see Virginia) ..................................................................56 DAR Patriot Index The current editions of these publications are Kentucky (see Virginia) ..............................................................56 available from the DAR Store (formally, the Office of the Louisiana ....................................................................................27 Corresponding Secretary General.) They provide the necessary Maine (see Massachusetts) .........................................................32 tools for those whose goal is to prepare acceptable lineage papers. Maryland .....................................................................................29 Each chapter registrar should read and understand the verifi - Massachusetts .............................................................................32 cation process and what criteria the National Society uses to eval - New Hampshire ..........................................................................35 uate the veracity of a lineage submitted for membership or to New Jersey ..................................................................................37 establish additional patriot ancestors. New York ....................................................................................40 The National Society offers these publications to assist the North Carolina ............................................................................43 researcher in the absorbing pursuit of genealogy and the individ - Pennsylvania ...............................................................................46 ual’s search for her connection to this nation’s history. Rhode Island ...............................................................................49 South Carolina ............................................................................51 Tennessee (see North Carolina) ..................................................43 June 2005 Vermont ......................................................................................54 Virginia .......................................................................................56 Foreign Participants ....................................................................61 Canadian Participants .................................................................62 Spain ...........................................................................................63 General Bibliography .................................................................65 3 INTRODUCTION serve in the military. These ages may vary as each state passed its own law or laws regulating military service. s that Service Right? is a reference tool for training and to Military Service and pension records are available at both the inform chapter registrars and DAR applicants of the types of National Archives and Records Administration and the DAR Imilitary, civil and patriotic service acceptable to the National Seimes Technology Center. The State Archives in the state where Society. Obviously, not every acceptable service is listed. the soldier lived may have additional records. This publication is to help you locate correct residence and serv - Photocopies of previously verified DAR application papers may ice and prepare acceptable application papers. The Genealogy Staff be obtained from the Office of Registrar General, Record Copy. has compiled an excellent bibliography using materials in the DAR Library for each state. The applicant may submit a photocopy of the title page and pages on which her proof is found or refer to the author, title and pages of the book in the DAR Library. Specific pages may be ordered from the DAR Library. Local libraries will have some of the suggested items or you may be able to order them using Inter-Library Loan. Some of these books contain militia lists and lists of civil officers with dates of service. Libraries in the town where your ancestor lived may have rosters of men who served. Application Papers: Instructions for their Preparation (2004) gives step by step instructions for completing application forms, amounts of fees and dues and mailing addresses. This publication is avail - able free of charge from The DAR Store. The applicant and chapter registrar, or member assigned to assist the applicant, must develop the lineage to the Revolutionary War period, determining exactly where the ancestor lived between 1775 and 1783. The ancestor must have lived within the town/township where the civil or patriotic service was performed, or state militia was activated. By studying the battles that occurred in the area, the dates on which the various committees were appointed (Patriotic Service), or the dates civil government was in effect, you will know whether the service claimed was possible. Men who served in the Continental Line may have served in all major battles from Canada to Yorktown. You must prove that the service claimed belonged to the ancestor named. Men between the ages of sixteen and sixty were generally obligated to 5 6 THE VERIFICATION PROCEDURE Society. The type of service and the source of proof must be ones acceptable to the Society. (For further information see NSDAR, When an application for membership in the Daughters of the Application Papers, Instructions for their Preparation. ) American Revolution is prepared, it will be examined by the reg - If the application does not pass the above scanning procedure, istrar of the chapter which the prospective member wishes to join. the Chapter Registrar will advise the applicant. She should make The Chapter Registrar will make sure the application is filled out specific suggestions concerning the changes required on the properly. The following information will help the registrar evalu - paper, and specific requests for additional data which may be ate the application. needed. After the application is found acceptable by the Chapter All names are to be listed fully: William Henry Harrison is Registrar, it will be submitted to an additional verification process preferable to W.H. Harrison or William Harrison. Jr. and Sr. are by the National Society. Make sure the applicant understands that not to be used. (The Society reserves these terms to distinguish a request for further documentation does not mean the National father and son of the same name, when both could have provided Society disapproves her application. service in the Revolution.) Dates should be complete (day, month The verifying genealogist at National will compare the lineage and year) whenever known. If dates of birth, marriage or death are portion of the application with the documentation submitted by unknown, leave the space blank, but documentation must be sub - the applicant to be sure that no typographical or other errors have mitted to show that the person was living at the time of the birth been made. Beginning with the applicant and working toward the of the child through whom the applicant descends. Revolutionary War ancestor, each reference given on the paper Dates given for each generation should be logical. Scrutinize will be checked to see that all names, dates, and places are cor - marriages contracted at very early ages. Beware of extreme rect, and that proof is presented to show that the persons listed in longevity and the birth of a child late in a mother’s life. Care must each generation actually were the parents of the child through be taken to insure that extra generations have not been added, nor whom the applicant claims descent. generations omitted. The application must be reasonable and After the genealogist