Talk:Sons of the American Revolution/Archive 1

Archive 1

Ulysses S. Grant

I put Ulysses S. Grant back on the list. The user from IP 68.0.218.214 is right; Grant died before the formal organization of the SAR. However, Grant was a member of the Sons of Revolutionary Sires, a predecessor which was incorporated into the SAR. I found a PDF on the California SAR webpage that includes Grant and explains that his membership in the parent organization automatically made him eligible for SAR membership had he lived longer. I put a link to the PDF in a footnote and summarized the anachronism. Thanks to the anonymous user for pointing out the problem. Mingusboodle (talk) 18:48, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Obama

According to an LA Times blog, Barack Obama is eligible for membership, but declined last December because he was too busy. Mingusboodle (talk) 22:34, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

History

I'm concerned that the origins of the SAR in this article is so different from the version given by the SAR on their webpage. I'd suggest this article either needs some sources cited, or needs to be changed to match the one source we have. Mingusboodle (talk) 00:17, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Churchill

I believe Churchill's ancestral relationship comes through his American born mother Jennie Jerome. I do not know the ancestral relationship of HM King Juan Carlos, but Spain was a member of the anti-British coalition, so any one of his ancestors who fought against Britain during the conflict would make him eligible, even if it was not in America. --Great Scott 4:18, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

The only reference for this is a very brief sentence in a promotional paragraph on the SAR website, and all a quick Google search can find is copies of this page and that one. Did SAR simply declare him to be a member, or are they simply implying he is a son of the American revolution in the general sense? It does seem It does seem rather unlikely he'd accept membership, being a royalist Tory prime minister of the United Kingdom, and I'd imagine if it were true such a fact would be rather more widespread... not just a few very tenuously backed words on a promotional frat webpage (i.e., this is a load of old cobblers). The name of the organisation is not merely patriotically American, but is in some sense is militarily anti-British, not leaving much room for this to have been some act of diplomacy, like his honorary US citizenship. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.185.115.52 (talk) 19:22, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

I disagree with your assessment. Sir Winston Churchill was made a lifetime member on 4 March 1964, as a descendant of a US soldiers during the revolution. Other members of his family have also been members. Churchill had to accept the membership, or it would not be valid- just like President Obama is not a member because he hasn't signed his application. It should no more surprise anyone that Winston Churchill would accept this membership than other world leaders who maintain a membership in the fraternity merely to remind the US of historic ties. A younger Churchill might have declined such things (as he did the first time he was offered the Order of the Garter), but post-WWII Churchill was keen to such things.

Churchill was very proud of his heritage through his American mother, and wrote a volume of US history in his A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. If the US and Great Britain were torn apart during George III, it could be said that they were reunited under George V and George VI, during an era when Churchill served as PM. Churchill referenced his revolutionary ancestors in a speech during his visit to Colonial Williamsburg in the 1940s, long before joining the SAR. Finally, it should come as no surprise that the reference is the SAR itself, since they are the only organization keeping the actual documentation of their membership. If you wish to challenge their claims, ask for a copy of Churchill's record and see if he signed it. Mingusboodle (talk) 16:41, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

That said, I agree that if you can document a person's membership in the SAR, the best place for that is on that person's page, not on this one. We can't possibly make a comprehensive list of SAR members here, so unless someone is truely noteworth, it's probably best not to add to this list. Mingusboodle (talk) 16:48, 11 January 2011 (UTC)