Analysis of Dawsons SAR Application

On October 7, 1942, Fred Albert Dawson prepared an application to the Indiana chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, claiming to be a lineal descendant of Timothy Church, who served as a Lieutenant Colonel of the Southern Regiment of Cumberland Co., VT, during the Revolutionary War. The application was four pages long. Click on the images below to see a high-resolution scan of each page and a full transcript for each.

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  Page 1

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  Pages 2-3

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  Page 4

This analysis is my attempt to determine the suitability of Dawson's SAR application as a source document in genealogical research.

Genealogical Claims

Nine generations of people are detailed in the Dawson SAR application. The information in the table below is all genealogical data given in the application, presented one generation per line.

8 Richard Church     (1649-1684)           married to                 Mary Churchill      (????-????)
7 Samuel Church      (1667-1737)           married to                 (unknown)           (????-????)
6 Nathaniel Church   (1704-1780)           married to                 Rachel McCranny     (????-1788)
5 Timothy Church     (12May1736-13Nov1823) married on 9Jun1757 to     Abigail Cousin      (1738-????)
4 Samuel Church      (~1765->1845)         married prior to 1821 to   Elizabeth ?         (????-????)
3 George Dawson      (~1790-7Jul1845)      married in 1831 to         Rebecca Church      (~1801-~1866)
2 Henry Lee Dawson   (28Feb1841-28Jan1923) married in 1883 or 1885 to Rhoda McFadden      (26Nov1862-27Sep1933)
1 Fred Albert Dawson (1Jul1891-present)    married to                 Helen Amanda Dawson (no relation) (????-present)
0 Martha Joan Dawson (1Apr1924-present)    and Mary Patricia Dawson (3Mar1926-present), daughters of Fred & Helen