Genealogy Resources

Membership in the National Society, Sons of the American Revolution is based on genealogy, the study of families and the tracing of family lines. Specifically, SAR membership is based upon descent from Patriot Ancestors who helped liberate the nascent United States from English control during the American Revolution. (To learn more about the conditions required for membership, visit our How To Join page.)

Your first online visit should be to part of the National Society, Sons of the American Revolution Patriot Research System 🔗 or PRS. The PRS is an attempt to digitize all of the records held by the SAR, related to recognized Patriot Ancestors and their genealogies. The following are links to the four major search areas of the PRS:

Additionally, if your Patriot Ancestor is buried in Virginia, consider the state society’s grave database:

If you are new to genealogy, there are several major free resources from which you may be able to find information and supportive evidence documents – like census documents showing parents and their children – to support your membership application.

Items above marked with an asterisk (*) are often available for free at your local public library.

You may also wish to search the online records of the National Archives. The SAR was a driving force behind the creation of the National Archives, and to this day it is an excellent source of research material.

Other useful resources include those shown below.

Researching Your Family’s History from Ships Passenger Lists
https://www.hmy.com/researching-your-familys-history-from-ships-passenger-lists/

Genealogy for Kids: Building a Family Tree
https://www.aaastateofplay.com/genealogy-for-kids-building-a-family-tree/

Publication of Genealogical and Historical Articles

If you wish to submit an entry for this site, to publish and disseminate to the chapter, state, and national audiences, please contact the Webmaster.

Neither the SAR nor the George Mason Chapter are responsible for the maintenance or content of these sites, and their linking here does not constitute a statement or endorsement.