SAR Genealogy Committee

Marking-up Documentation for Submission

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Your application package will be reviewed by several people at the chapter, state, and national levels. To make it easy for the reviewers to keep the documents in order and to find the required information on the documentation that you submit, you should mark them up in the following way: 1 -- Submit only copies, DO NOT SUBMIT ANY ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS!! The copy does not need to be a notarized "official" copy; a photocopy (or "xerox" copy) is fine. Obviously it must be legible. If it is fully handwritten (such as a will) it is helpful to make a typed transcription of the relevant sentences and to include this with the handwritten copy. 2 -- Specify the application to which each document refers: Use a PENCIL to write on the back top center of each document being submitted -- the surname of the applicant, -- the surname of the ancestor, and -- the chapter and state through which the application is being submitted. This will help sort out documentation in case documents from several applicants accidentally get mixed up while being reviewed. 3 -- Specify the generation to which each document refers: Use a RED PEN to write on the front top right corner of each document -- Gen 1 (or Gen 2-4, etc.) for the generation of the chid whose descent from the lineage parent is being documented. For example, on the copy of your grandmother's birth certificate (showing her parents' names) write Gen 3. In cases where there are several generations on a document write Gen 2 next to the lines that support the parent-to-grandparent relation and Gen 3 next to the appropriate lines, etc.

4 -- Draw attention to the data that you are using. Use a RED PEN to underline on each document the data that you have included on the application form, such as names, dates, and places or phrases showing relationship -- such as "to his son", "spouse", and "was the father of". If the location of the red underlining is not readily apparent, put an arrow in the margin or write Gen 3 (for example) in the margin. Note: The SAR REQUIRES that you submit acceptable documents that support the line of descent (to document the parent-child relationship for each link). The SAR ENCOURAGES you to fill in other lines (such as death date and place) that may be helpful to provide more details of the lives of your ancestors and thus distinguish them from others with similar names. You are ENCOURAGED, but not REQUIRED to submit documents that support this information.

5 -- Include the source of each document For a book submit a copy of the title page showing author and date. For a census page use a photocopy of the handwritten original. Transcriptions are in general not acceptable. If you use a partial census image (to get a magnification that permits reading the relevant information) be sure to include one or more (overlapping) printouts that show the page identifiers (the census year / state / county / page / township / enumeration district / sheet). For a county will book, etc. from a county record center write on the copy of the document enough information to allow a researcher to find it (county and state / name of record series / volume / page / date). The clerk at the record center may help you by indicating the source using a stamp on the back of the copy Check with a reference librarian or an experienced genealogist for assistance if you are not sure what to write.

6 -- Attach a discussion of documentation, if needed. In many cases it is helpful to provide a discussion of how you have used several documents to support a parent-child relationship. For example, a father's will may mention two sons and leave out a third (the one in your lineage) who died before the father's will was written. You may have an obituary of one of the named brothers that notes this third brother, and together the documents show that the third brother was the child of the father. A discussion is also helpful when you have a county history (which may not be acceptable by itself) that makes a more coherent story than census and probate records that are acceptable documents but do not show the relationship so clearly.

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