The Thrill of the Hunt!

Last year I was proudly sworn into the Daughters of the American Revolution. Luckily for me, this was an easy task to do. My Grandmother, her sister and my Aunt, all on my Dad's family, had done all the leg work when they joined back in the 1950's. For my application all I had to do was prove my relationship to my Grandmother. It couldn't have been easier.

 

This past January, my Dad turned 95. For his birthday, I put together a family history/story. In doing all the research for this little book, I found that there could possibly be at least three more relatives who may have been involved in the Revolutionary War. But it wasn't till this past weekend that I looked into these ancestors.

 

I started with James Charles, my 5xGreat-Grandfather. Going to the DAR website, I find him listed as a Patriot but there was a problem. He has a bright red line next to his name that says: More on Back---See Comment. It seems no one has submitted proof that Sarah Halbert was his wife. This could be a problem, because I will need to prove that my 4xGreatGrandfather is the son Sarah and James Charles. So I turned to Familysearch.org to search for a marriage record or a will, anything that may list her and James Charles. I find a will that lists her as his wife and also the children by name, but it doesn't tell me her maiden name. Turning to Ancestry.com. I began by searching through other members' family trees. I find that the majority have Sarah Halbert as James's wife but they offer no proof. A few however, have that they were born and married in Virginia! How they know this I am not sure but it gave me another state to search on Familysearch.org. Sadly nothing was found.

 

Back to Ancestry.com, but instead of searching the family trees for James Charles, I started searching under Sarah Halbert. BINGO! Under one of the trees, just waiting for me to find, is an excerpt from a deed abstract book.  

Thankfully this person who posted this included the County name, Deed book and the page number. On Monday morning, I made a phone call to the Clerk of the Court office, Essex County, Virgina. I spoke with a lovely woman named Agnes. I explained that I live in PA and I was looking for a copy of a Deed and a Bond from 1754. Her only question was, “Do you have a book number?” . Thankgoodnes I did, and with that she put me on hold. Not more than a minute later she came back and said she had three pages for the Deed and Two pages for the Bond. She even read to me the part that clearly states that Sarah Halbert is the wife of James Charles.The fee for the copies would be $3.00. My total time on the phone was four minutes.

Today I received the copies and I couldn't be happier. This is the proof I was going to need:

 

I know it's a bit hard to see, but the third line down reads: "NOW if sarah the Eldest Daughter of said Joel Halbert now the wife of said James Charles...

This undeniably proves that Sarah Halbert was the wife of James Charles! The other exciting thing is, it gives me the names of Sarah's father, Joel and her younger sister Mary. I now know the name of my 6x Great-Grandfather! Looks like I have more research to do.

But for now, happily Supplemental DAR application, here I come.