Patriot Biography Guidance
DOs:
• Discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, and where the service was rendered, whether this was a
specific state or Continental service
o (Military Service) Private, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Militia.
o (Patriotic Service) Paid 1783 Supply Tax, Williams Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
o (Civil Service) Member of the Committee of Correspondence, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
• Use your “formal voice.” As an author of a patriot biography, you are writing not just to document the patriot’s service and circumstances
of his or her life and family for today, but also for the generations to come and for the benefit of our descendants, future SAR and DAR members
and genealogical and historical researchers.
• Conform to the rules of spelling, grammar and syntax and be free of typographical errors.
• Spell out Find-a-Grave as either “findagrave.com,” or “Find-a-Grave.”
• Add sources--While source citations are not required, they are preferred, as this assists future researchers. If using source citations, please
cite sources correctly and fully. Always cite all data available, example: Book, Volume, Page, etc.
• Be consistent with dates. Dates may be formatted as either January 3, 1943 or 03 January 1943. Mixing the two date formats in the same
biography should be avoided.
• Write about the patriot ancestor, the Revolutionary War service, and immediate family and relevant life events.
• Base a patriot’s service on a primary source, such as a pension record, tax document, correct SAR or DAR Record Copy, documents from
state archives, etc., such as would be used if attempting to prove descent from this ancestor.
DON’T:
• Copy an entire biography or parts thereof verbatim from a published or unpublished source without a citation as to where it comes from.
Failure to do so is PLAGARISM!
• Base a patriot’s service solely on what is found inscribed on a plaque or historical marker.
• Imbed images of another text in the body of the biography that is intended to be part of the written biography as this requires our
volunteers to take extra time to type the image of the pasted text into the existing body of the biography.
• Abbreviate-Avoid the use of all abbreviations - names of states, military or other service ranks, use of the ampersand, etc.
COMMON ISSUES:
• Please spell out the names of numbers zero through ten; use numerals for numbers 11 and above.
• When using quotation marks with a comma: “incorrect usage”, versus “correct usage,” This is also true of the period, question mark,
exclamation point, colon, semi-colon, etc.
• In the era of social media, it is common to use only one space between sentences because social media posts have a character limit. All
sentences should have two spaces between them.
• Always use complete sentences that have a subject, verb or adverb and object. Sentences should not begin with a verb. Example: “Served
in Spotsylvania Co. 3rd VA Bttn” is more clearly written “He served in the Spotsylvania Company of the 3rd Virginia Battalion.”
BIOGRAPHY EXAMPLE:
Zachariah Williams, P-321211, by Thomas A. Whitefield, Sr.
Zachariah Williams was born at Wales, 23 February 1760. He served as a Private in Captain Henry Dorroch’s Company of the Associators and
Militia at Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He also paid the 1780 Supply Tax at New Britain Township, Bucks County (thereby providing funds to the
war effort). He married Elizabeth Schwartzlander (1753-1836) 23 March 1780 at Milford Township, Bucks County. Their known children are
Margaret (1781-1856), Eleanor (1782-1854), Amos (1784-1853), Rhoda (1787-?), Edward (1789-1851), Elizabeth (1791-?), Hannah (1793-1830)
and Mary (1796-1839). He appears in the tax records of New Britain Township in 1782 and 1783. He was enumerated in the 1790 U.S Census at
Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. In the 1800 U.S. Census he appears at Milford Township, Mifflin County, and in 1810 at Derry Township, Mifflin
County, Pennsylvania. He died 29 May 1832 at Dry Valley, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. His final resting place is not known.
There is an anecdote told by William Nickles, a grandson of Zachariah Williams, as printed in the newspaper Ringgold Record, of Mt. Ayr, Iowa,
dated Thursday, 11 November 1880, page 1:
His [William Nickles'] maternal grandfather, Zachariah Williams, served through the Revolutionary war with Washington and lived till 1830 [sic].
He used to relate how, when he and some of his comrades were stealing green corn in New York, when orders had been issued that no foraging
should be done, Washington came on to them just as they were leaving the field with their arms full. The Commander looked them well over
said quietly, "Don't steal too much of the poor fellow's corn, my boys," and then rode on.
Service Source: Published Pennsylvania Archives, Series 5, Volume 5, Page 380. Tax and Exoneration Lists RG-4 1780 Supply Tax.
