The matter of documentation is of utmost importance. Photocopies are acceptable here, starting with your birth certificate, your parent’s birth, marriage, and death records as required, and proceeding backwards to your revolutionary ancestor.

A record copy from the SAR or the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is acceptable to document part or all of the lineage, providing the document cites specific references for the lineage and the application is from at least 1985 or more recent.

Additionally, the documents MUST show all the generations back to the Revolutionary ancestor. It can not be a “short form” showing only current generations. A DAR record must be the record copy obtained from the National Society DAR office in Washington, DC, complete with all their proper signatures. The record copies now supplied by DAR have the most recent three generations blocked out to prevent identity theft. If those copies are used, you must provide documents to connect your lineage to a descendant identified in the record copy. Record copies of NSSAR papers may also be used, in the same manner.

If pages from books are used, please furnish a copy of the title page as well. Please note that there are many family genealogies in print. Many, however, do not cite any sources for the information given and may not be acceptable as documentation. The main concern is that we are able to link each generation to the previous one.

Original source documentation from web sites such as Ancestry.com is acceptable. However, much of the information from sites like Ancestry.com, Family Search, or the IGI index is considered to be hearsay by accepted Genealogical Standards, and is therefore not acceptable as documentation.

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