www.itowler.com - Ian's Home on the web

Some of you may know that I am an active member of the National Society Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR).  To be a member you must be able to prove direct descent from an individual that either fought for or in some other manner supported the American cause in the Revolutionary War.  I became an approved member on April 12, 2008.  The first patriot that I used to join with is Joseph Towler.  Joseph served in the Virginia Army, and also donated materials in support of the cause.  

At the end of June I had a blog entry that talked about the Partnership between the NSSAR and Ancestry.com.  Ancestry.com had announced a new collection of records, the Application files of the NSSAR members.  All applications that were made to the NSSAR prior to 1970 were digitized and added to the Ancestry.com collection.  One of the "Gotcha's" for this new collection is that you can not use the normal print or save image features that are found on Ancestry.com.  Instead, you are directed to the NSSAR website to request a Record copy of the application.

The Collection had free access from June 30 2011 through July 4th 2011.  As SAR webmaster I was very interested on how the potential for a large number of visitors from Ancestry.com would affect the SAR website.  In my previous post I indicated that I would let you know how it went, so here we are.

So I have to admit, I knew this was coming, but today, Ancestry.com made it official.  NSSAR applications and lineage documents have been digitized by Ancestry.com and are now included as part of Ancestry.com's extensive collection.  For a short period of time (Until July 4th), there will be "Free" access to the records.  What is not really advertised is that this is not all of the applications, but rather all of the applications up to about 1970 or so.  I am not sure on the exact date, but you get the idea.

The documents are not what I would consider "primary sources" but they can offer some great clues.  To become a member you must be able to trace your family tree back to a point of having an ancestor who supported the cause of American Independence during the years 1774-1783.  You then will need to "Prove" each generation with a document (Census record, Family Bible etc.) and list those "Proofs".  This information is included on the applications, so they are a great source of information and could potentially identify a new source for you.

Some of you may know that I am an active member of the National Society Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR).  To be a member you must be able to prove direct descent from an individual that either fought for or in some other manner supported the American cause in the Revolutionary War.  I became an approved member on April 12, 2008.  The patriot that I used to join with is Joseph Towler.