Do you have family stories that get told again and again. In my family, most of those stories were more recent and easily proven. A couple that come to mind were stories of the flooding when my parents were married and my brother’s premature birth. These are the stories I grew up hearing.

As I’ve researched my family tree, I’ve come across stories related to the revolutionary war that I’ve yet to prove. The first was that Hiram M. Currey of Champaign County, Ohio served with George Washington at Valley Forge. The second is a story that a Crandall ancestor took part in the Boston Tea Party.

One revolutionary war story that I didn’t think I’d have trouble proving was that my ancestor, Jason Hammond, fought in the revolutionary war. After all there is a listing for Jason Hammond with a wife named Rachel Hale in the 1994 edition of the DAR Patriot Index.

My great aunt, Esther Crawford Noll, was listed in the 1980 directory for the Kansas Society of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

And, I have a partially filled out, hand written copy of an application to the DAR for my great-grandmother, Josie Hammond Crawford.

The National Archives microfilm, ‘Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army during the Revolutionary War’, contains a record for a Jason Hammond serving under Col. Wells.

However, my application to the DAR thru Jason Hammond was denied, not because I couldn’t prove my relationship to Jason Hammond, but because I couldn’t prove his service. The DAR has closed applications for Jason Hammond.

Since my application was accepted thru Jason’s father, Nathaniel Hammond, the reason for denial was not that the proof was not up to current standards.

Thus, it appears that the ‘same name’ issue strikes again. Even though I don’t have any other Jason Hammonds in my file of an appropriate age to have served, it is possible and even likely that there were other Jason Hammonds living in Connecticut at the time of the revolutionary war.

For now, this story of a revolutionary ancestor has been placed on the shelf as ‘legend’. At some point, I may try to prove otherwise, but for now, it is just a legend.