| Contents:
General
Qualifications:
If you are descended from a Confederate
veteran and wish to do your part to honor their sacrifices,
and protect their monuments and symbols, please contact the
national headquarters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. You
can also contact the camp in your area directly
Membership in the Sons of Confederate
Veterans is open to all male descendants of any veteran who
served honorably in the Confederate armed forces. Full,
credentialed membership can be obtained through either lineal
(direct, e.g., father, grandfather, etc.) or collateral (e.g., uncle, cousin, etc.) family lines.
Your kinship to a Confederate veteran must be documented
genealogically. The minimum age for membership is
12.
Associate membership is available to
anyone who is unable to document a Confederate ancestor, but
who still want to participate in the SCV's programs and
activities. Associate members have full privilege within their
home camp, but are unable to serve as voting delegates to
Division or National conventions.
Back to Top
Steps to
Membership:
The first step in applying for
membership is to locate one of your ancestors who served in
the Confederate armed forces. This probably isn't as hard as
it looks... If you have a male ancestor who
lived in the Confederate states (AL,
AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, TX, and VA) and was between the age of 17 and 45
between 1860 and 1865;
the chances are pretty good that he saw
service of some sort in the Confederate forces. The SCV has a network of genealogists to assist you in tracing your ancestor's
Confederate service. (Race or ethnicity isn't a problem or a
barrier... large numbers of blacks, Hispanics, Native
Americans, and many others served in the Confederate forces as
well. It's worth checking out.) If you're new to genealogy,
there are a number of good references to help you get started
and to discover even more about your Southern heritage. The
ones I've found most helpful are:
In
Search of Confederate Ancestors: The Guide
by J.H. Segars, Southern
Heritage Press, Atlanta, GA (1996) 112 pp. ISBN
0-9631963-4-0.
The definitive handbook on
tracing and researching Confederate soldiers. In the Footsteps of the Blue
and Gray: A Civil War Research Handbookby Brian
A. Brown, Two Trails Genealogy Shop, Shawnee Mission, KS
(1996)
An excellent reference for the
beginner, which very patiently explains how Civil War units
kept records; which records to look for; what documents are
out there as well as who has them on a state-by-state basis;
and an excellent summary of the regiments in the war, who
they were, how they were organized, and how they kept
records. Tracing Your Civil War
Ancestorby Bertram H. Groene. John F. Blair
Publishing, Winston-Salem, NC (1973) 120 pp.
This one isn't as good as the two listed above, but
you can easily find it at most bookstores. Unpuzzling Your Past: A Basic
Guide to Genealogy, 3rd Ed. by Emily A. Croom.
Betterway Books, Cincinnatti, OH (1995) 176 pp. ISBN
1-55870-396-9
After you find your
Confederate ancestor, you still have to prove you're related
to him. Croom's book is a classic to learning the tools,
skills, resources, and terminology of basic genealogical
research. SCV Confederate Ancestors Research
Guide
A
quick guide from the SCV on how to trace Confederate
soldiers and their service records
Next,
you need a copy of the membership application. The
membership application for the Sons of Confederate Veterans is
found in the SCV's pamphlet, Heritage of Honor. Contact your
local camp's recruiting contact for a copy, or you may now
download a copy here in Adobe Corporation's Portable Document
Format, or "PDF". You will need a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader (available free) to open and print the
application form. Print out the application form, fill it in,
and send it to your local camp's recruiting
contact.
In addition to your personal
information, the SCV membership questionnaire asks for your
Confederate ancestor's name, the unit he served in, his
relationship to you (e.g., "great-great grandfather"; "1st
cousin 4 times removed", or "great-great uncle") and, if
known, the place where he is buried. (This last question is
part of an ongoing effort to document the final resting places
of Confederate veterans.)
You'll also need to document your
ancestor's Confederate service. This can be in any of several
methods; the most common is to include a copy of your
ancestor's compiled Confederate service record (normally
available from your state archives or from the National
Archives in Washington, D.C.) If your ancestor happens to be
one of the many who don't have a compiled service record,
proof of service can be documented in other ways, such
as:
a copy of a Confederate pension
record or application for a Confederate pension a copy of a muster roll containing
your ancestor's name a copy of a publication (book,
newspaper article, unit history, article from the Confederate Veteran magazine, etc.) showing your
ancestor's service, etc.
Next, you'll need to prove your
relationship to the Confederate veteran by means of a family
tree or genealogical report documenting the generations and
relationships between you and the veteran.
Once this
is done, submit your application to the SCV Camp that you wish
to join along with payment of dues for the current
year (Current combined camp, division, and national dues for the The
James M. Keller Camp. Camp officers will check and co-sign the
application, and forward it to the SCV International
Headquarters in Columbia, TN for verification and the
generation of your membership certificate. This generally
takes about 3 to 4 months for your certificate and membership
badge to be returned from Headquarters.
If you find that you didn't have a
Confederate ancestor (or that your ancestors were Yankees),
you aren't shut out. You can still apply for associate
membership in the SCV, where you can participate in the Camp's
activities and events, receive the newsletters and Confederate Veteran, and enjoy all other benefits of
membership except for that certificate to hang on your wall.
There is rejoicing in the Confederation when each poor, lost
Yankee sees the light and joins the True Faith!)
Back to Top
Contact James M. Keller
Camp:
| Commander: |
Willie
James Gilbert |
| Address: |
724 Central
Ave |
|
|
|
Hot Springs,
AR 71901 |
| Home Phone: |
(501)292-3003 |
| Email
Address: |
Commander@jamesmkeller648.org |
| Adjutant: |
Donnie Loyd
Dukes |
| Address: |
117
Oakwood |
|
|
|
Hot Springs, AR
71913 |
| Home Phone: |
(501)624-2531 |
| Email Address: |
Adjutant@jamesmkeller648.org |
|
