I add these types of profiles to the American Revolutionary War project. In order for a Patriot to be in the DAR database, some female descendant has to submits lineage papers for approval. The approval process includes vital records, birth & death certificates & marriage records. It includes U S census records 1850 and after. It includes Bible records (under some conditions). There are land records, wills and perhaps an application for a American Revolutionary War Pension which could have been submitted by the Patriot, his widow or their children. Tax records are another source of information. (I am mentioning the ones that come to mind). The process of documenting the lineage is no easy task. Sometimes it may be impossible. Some records were destroyed by fire or flood or by mismanagement. There maybe ways to prove the lineage even in those cases.
So, every Patriot of the American Revolution will not be in the DAR. database. I have two cousins who were DAR members before I became one. That made it "easy" for me to join the DAR. I only had to "prove" a couple of generations. I have many other Patriots that I have identified but not yet proven. Geni.com is great for identifying the Patriots in your family tree. If I have the time and resources, or the help of other cousins, perhaps it will happen.
I enjoy so much learning about the sacrifices that these Patriots made for our freedom. There is an educational process that I have gone through, learning more about American History, learning some basic genealogy skills, discovering things about my family that very few in my family know.
I love the find a grave project & believe it is one example of the resources we have today that we did not have a decade or so ago.
living Cooley and Erica Howton Thanks for the question. I hope John Fredrick Cummins has a daughter descendant who will come forward & be able to successfully document her lineage to this DAR Patriot.
