The Sons of the American Revolution is, first and foremost, a fraternal and civic organization. But its members also are part detective who spend time tracking down clues and uncovering details about individuals who fought for this country’s independence from England.
Bill Riggan, a member of the Halifax Resolves chapter of the SAR, spoke with Bill Harris and Mark Pace on Thursday’s Town Talk tri-weekly history program.
The four-county area is steeped in history, and Riggan said his SAR chapter covers Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties, in addition to several other counties to the north and east.
“It’s a place where we should have a lot of revolutionary era soldiers,” Riggan said. He said the National Society of SAR has 140,000 names and locations of patriots’ gravesites, and a total of 732,000 names of patriots that are available for people to attach themselves to.
Being able to prove that you are a descendant of someone who supported the revolution against the Crown may prove difficult, or at least time-consuming. There are several criteria that must be satisfied for membership to the SAR: any male lineal descendant of someone who wintered at Valley Forge or a signer of the Declaration of Independence may become a member, as well as male descendants of members of the Continental Congress or those who fought in battle during the Revolution.
But civil servants during that era are also considered patriots. “There were a lot of people who helped with the war but didn’t put on a uniform and fight,” he said. Another criterion for membership is being a descendant of a signer of the Oath of Allegiance, a petition that was circulated throughout communities that disavowed the King and supported the revolution.
Although its membership is aging, Riggan said he hopes interest in preserving history will encourage younger men to consider joining.
Several grave-marking ceremonies are scheduled for October in Franklin County, and will include the state SAR color guard, as well as local Boy Scouts and the DAR – Daughters of the American Revolution. The color guard will be in period dress – “it will be very ceremonial, very traditional,” Riggan said. The dates are Saturday, Oct. 16 and Saturday, Oct. 23.
Although the SAR doesn’t maintain gravesites – it relies on families for that – Riggan said the group strives to identify as many as they can. He encourages anyone with information about possible gravesites – whether found while combing through family archives or stumbling across a random grave while hunting – to contact him and he can help with verification.
“We want to honor them,” Riggan said of those long-ago patriots, whose final resting places deserve to be cared for and remembered.
Take Harrison Macon, for example. Macon fought in the Revolutionary War and he is buried in Franklin County. The now-defunct Franklin SAR chapter bore his name, thanks to founding member Dr. D.T. Smithwick, a historian from the 1930’s.
Riggan said efforts to reconstruct the records of the former Franklin chapter have turned up details that show Smithwick ordered a headstone from the VA for Macon’s grave. ”We have evidence he did that. He put that on the grave – we know that to be a fact,” Riggan said.
But where?
To learn more about the October grave-marking ceremonies or SAR membership, contact Riggan at 919.495.0706.
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