Applying to the DAR and SAR

What the two Revolutionary War lineage societies require, and what their application files hold



The Sons of the American Revolution organized on 30 April 1889 and, at a meeting in Louisville a year later, voted not to admit women. The Daughters of the American Revolution formed in Washington on 11 October 1890 in answer, and Congress incorporated the DAR on 20 February 1896. The SAR received its own congressional charter on 9 June 1906. Both have been verifying lineages ever since, which is why their files are worth something even if you never join.


Note that service does not mean combat. Many accepted patriots never carried a musket, and sometimes the only surviving evidence is a name on a supply receipt or an oath roll.


What Counts as Acceptable Service


  • Continental Army, state line, navy or militia service
  • Signing the Declaration of Independence
  • Membership in a Continental Congress
  • Furnishing supplies, money, arms or a substitute soldier
  • Signing an oath of allegiance or an association test
  • Service on a committee of safety, correspondence or inspection
  • Civil office under a colony or a new state government
  • Care of the wounded as physician, surgeon or nurse
  • Captivity as a prisoner of war


The SAR counts service rendered between 19 April 1775 and 25 November 1783, with a narrow exception for the Battle of Point Pleasant on 10 October 1774. That breadth is worth checking before you decide you do not qualify.


Documenting Every Generation


This is where applications stall. You must prove each birth, marriage and death linking you to the patriot, and no generation may be skipped, including your own. Recent birth, marriage and death certificates may be protected by privacy laws, which vary by state, and can generally be ordered from the state government for a fee. Family tradition is not accepted as proof, and neither are printed lineage books; both societies require original source documents for each link in the chain.


When a Relative Has Already Proved the Line


Search the free DAR Genealogical Research System and the SAR Patriot Research System first. An approved paper on your patriot can sometimes carry several generations of your own application. Be careful with the early ones, though. DAR notes that older papers may contain little or no information, because forms from the 1890s through the mid twentieth century were verified when less had to be proven. Sometimes you must document a generation that a cousin was excused from documenting in 1912.


DAR also does not rewrite an approved paper when a problem surfaces. It flags the ancestor's record instead and closes that line to new applications until the question is resolved. The Patriot Research System is likewise explicit that nothing in it counts as proof of service on an SAR application. It is a finding aid, not evidence.


Ordering the Application Papers


DAR sells the record copy and the supporting documentation as 2 separate purchases, and the documentation leaves out vital records less than 100 years old. Sometimes there is no purchase button at all, because DAR has not finished reviewing that record. In many cases, this makes it possible to obtain copies of the documentation a relative or another member already submitted to prove the same line, rather than gathering every record again yourself. SAR's digital copy request needs the member's name and national number as well as the patriot's name; the P-number from its Patriot Research System is not a national number.


Start with a chapter registrar rather than the national office. They do this constantly, they know which states are difficult, and the help costs nothing.


We regularly help people obtain the documents needed for DAR and SAR applications, and offer a free consultation to get started.



Need help finding more records? We have genealogy research services available. You can also try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1.3 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.


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