Getting Started with Genealogy
La Puerta de Oro – San Francisco Chapter, NSDAR is proud to have many members who can help you find and prove you’re a descendant of an American Revolutionary War Patriot. Below you will find some useful information to get you started with your genealogy research. We would love to talk to you about other ways we can help you discover your Revolutionary history!
Contact us to ask questions or to attend a local meeting.
start with what you know
Talk with your parents, grandparents, and others in your family to find out what information they have available to share and what you can document. It is necessary to prove the direct lineage of each generation from yourself back to that Patriot. You will need your birth certificate and records linking each generation. Early birth, death and marriage links can be proven by a number of sources, including obituaries, wills, deeds, probate records, estate settlements, church records, cemetery records, Bible records, old letters, published genealogies, marriage records, and newspaper announcements.
If you have close relatives who have joined the DAR, all that you may need to do is to provide documentation that connects you to their applications.
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Pedigree Worksheet
Before you get too far along in your research, you will want to devise some manner of organizing your research material. Download the Pedigree DAR Worksheet and start filling in your family tree(s), beginning with yourself, and work towards a prospective Patriot. You can also download the Five Generation Chart to help the chapter registrar identify a Patriot for you.
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search the internet
Try doing an internet search for an early ancestor or suspected Patriot. A link is often provided to a site on which someone has uploaded original documents or posted a family tree. If documentation is not provided, you still might find a lead toward finding that documentation.