Monday, October 26, 2015

Northern New York SAR/DAR Joint Patriot Project



This project is a joint effort of the Thousand Islands Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and three chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the LeRay de Chaumont Chapter, Watertown,  the Nihanawate Chapter, Potsdam, and the Swe-kat-si Chapter, Ogdensburg.  Between Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties there are approximately 800 burials of Revolutionary war veterans.  Some are buried in unknown locations, perhaps in family cemeteries on the original homestead.  Others are known to be buried in certain cemeteries but the stone is lost or unreadable.  A few hundred are buried in known locations with readable stones but are not marked as Revolutionary veterans and their service unknown.  The goal of this project is to find and mark these graves.

The photo above shows the marker to be used.  It serves as a flag holder, made of aluminum, approximately 5 inches in diameter.  Once the grave is marked, a photo of the tombstone and information about the patriot's service will be posted on this blog.  This will include the location of the burial, GPS if possible, and a link to the memorial on Findagrave.  There will be a page for each chapter containing the photos of the graves marked by that chapter.  A notice will be posted on the home page and the photo added to the chapter's page. There may also be pages showing the information available on the burials in each county.

Donations for the project and requests for information can to sent to coynegen@aol.com.  or NNYSARDARJPP, PO Box 245, Depauville, NY 13632. If a Patriot ancestor of yours is buried in Jefferson or St. Lawrence county, a special marking ceremony may be arranged. If your donation is for a specific Patriot, please give his name and burial place so research may be done. A minimum $10 donation would be required. All checks should be made out to Thousand Islands Chapter, SAR. We will distribute the money as required.

Marking updates should be emailed to me at coynegen@aol.com.  Please include; your contact information, Chapter name, Patriot name, name and location of cemetery, photo of marked stone, GPS coordinates and a brief, sourced bio .

Information on Patriot burials in St. Lawrence county can be found on the St. Lawrence County Burials tab.  The best source for Jefferson county Patriot burials is the Northern New York Genealogy website.  Use the "Military" drop down menu to see a list of Patriots. 

Findagrave is a free site owned by Ancestry.  I am a member and have virtual cemeteries for St. Lawrence, Jefferson and other NNY counties.