How To Join

• being of the age of eighteen years or over and
• a citizen of good repute in the community,
• is the lineal descendant of an ancestor
  • who was at all times unfailing in loyalty to and
  • rendered active service in,
  the cause of American independence, either as an
  • officer,
  • soldier,
  • seaman,
  • marine,
  • militiaman or
  • Minuteman,
  in the armed forces
  • of the Continental Congress,
  • of any one of the several Colonies or States;
• or as a Signer of the Declaration of Independence,
• or as a member of a Committee of Safety or Correspondence;
• or as a member of any
  • Continental,
  • Provincial, or
  • Colonial Congress or Legislature;
• or as a recognized patriot who performed actual service by overt acts of resistance to the authority of Great Britain.

No preliminary decision will be given on a line of descent, service or evidentiary value of proposed evidence. (When examined with all available evidence, such preliminary decision might prove to be incorrect and the National Society cannot accept responsibility for such a decision.)

Participation in one or more of the following types of service is required of an ancestor if a descendent is to be admitted into the Sons of the American Revolution.

• Signer of the Declaration of Independence



• Member of any of the Continental Congresses



• Rendering material aid, such as
• furnishing supplies with or without remuneration
• lending money to the Colonies, munitions makers, and gunsmiths
• any other material aid which furthered the Cause


• Military or naval service:
• service at the Battle of Point Pleasant, October 10, 1774
• service from April 19, 1775 to November 26, 1783
• furnishing a substitute for military service


• Members of the
• Boston Tea Party
• Kaskaskia Campaign
• Galvez Expedition
• Cherokee Expedition
• Edenton Tea Party


• Defenders of forts and frontiers; rangers.



• Prisoners of war, including those on the British ship "Old Jersey," and other prison ships.



• Physician, surgeon, nurse, or others rendering aid to the wounded.



• Civil service under the Colonies from April 19, 1775, to November 26, 1783, inclusive



• Member of committees made necessary by the war, such as
• Committee of Correspondence
• Committee of Inspection and Safety
• Committee to care for soldiers' families
• or any other Committees which furthered the cause of the Colonies from six months before the Battle of Point Pleasant.



• Any pledge to support the cause of the Colonies, such as signing the
  • Oath of Fidelity and Support
  • Oath of Allegiance
  • Articles of Association
  • Association Test
  
  
• Signers of
• the Mecklenburg Declaration, 1775
• the Albemarle, Virginia, Declaration
• and similar declarations.



• Signers of petitions addressed to and recognizing the authority of the provisional and new state governments.



• Persons accepting obligations or acting under direction of the provisional and new state governments, such as persons directed to hold elections, to oversee road construction, to collect provisions, etc.



• Ministers known to be in sympathy with the Colonies, either by sermon, speech, or action.

Please understand that discovering and documenting a genealogical line to a Patriot ancestor can often be accomplished with only a modest amount of effort, providing you know what to look for and where to find it.  If you have an ancestor who lived in the United States prior to 1900 chances are likely that you could to be the descendant of a Revolutionary War patriot.