Benjamin Franklin Chapter
Sons of the American Revolution

Painting by Archibald MacNeal Willard c1875.
Willard was born in Bedford, Ohio.
Painting also know as Yankee Doodle.

A patriotic fervor developed throughout the United States after the Civil War and with the approach of the Centennial of the Declaration of Independence. Many citizens realized that their personal connection with the patriots' sons and daughters were also passing unacknowledged.

A number of groups and societies were formed across the country in the 1880s, two of these being the Society of the Sons of Sires in San Francisco and the New Jersey Sons of the Revolution.

These combined to form the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1889, which also marked the 100th anniversary of George Washington's taking the oath of office of the President of the United States.

The organization's Charter was established by an Act of Congress and signed on June 9, 1906, by President Theodore Roosevelt, who was also a member of the Empire State Society, SAR.

Prominent SAR members include Winston Churchill, Juan Carlos I of Spain, and 16 U.S. Presidents-

Three U.S. presidents actually served during the Revolutionary War.

• George Washington
• James Monroe
• Andrew Jackson

Six U.S. presidents were real sons of Revolutionary War patriots.

• John Quincy Adams
• Martin Van Buren
• William Henry Harrison
• John Tyler
• Zachary Taylor
• Franklin Pierce

Five U.S. presidents were the grandsons of Revolutionary War patriots.

• James Knox Polk
• Millard Fillmore
• Abraham Lincoln
• Chester A. Arthur
• Grover Cleveland

One U.S. president was the great-grandson of a Revolutionary War patriot.

• James A. Garfield

One U.S. president was the great-great-grandson of a Revolutionary War patriot.

• Richard M. Nixon