With the availability of genealogy websites in the last 20 years, searching family history has become relatively easy. Unlike ancient cultures, early Americans did not value the importance of passing down family history through the generations while the country was young and expanding.

As the United States gained its place as an industrial nation and world power at the end of the 19th century, there was a growing pride in remembering the pioneers who built this country. This pride of country led to the establishment of organizations such as the Sons of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1890.

Neal Spooner of Iron City, Georgia, has extensively researched over 400 years of his family history and found his family’s roots branching to Wales and England, long before the colonization of America. Through his research, he found that several of his ancestors fought as Patriots in the American Revolution.

With adequate documentation of his lineage to at least one Revolutionary Patriot, Drewry (Drury) Roberts, Sr., Spooner joined the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and serves as Regional Vice-President of. Southwest Georgia’s SAR. The Southwest Georgia Chapter is the Joel Early Chapter with headquarters near Iron City in Seminole County.

Spooner recently assisted his uncles, Murry (Buddy) Hornsby of Bainbridge and Larry Hornsby of Iron City, in submitting their SAR membership applications and documentation of their shared ancestral lineage to Drewry (Drury) Roberts, Sr. Through birth certificates and other vital records, the Hornsby brothers proved that they were seventh generation descendants of Roberts on their great grandmother’s (Clara Roberts Hornsby) side.

Their ancestral documentation will make the process easier for their male descendants to join SAR in the future. Spooner and Clayton Penhallegan, SAR Chaplain for the chapter, presented membership certificates and officially inducted the Hornsby brothers into SAR during a recent ceremony.

Their Patriot ancestor, Drewry (Drury) Roberts, Sr., was born in Virginia in 1753, and died in Jefferson County, Georgia in 1820. Roberts moved to St. George Parish, Georgia (Burke County) before the Revolution and served as Lieutenant of a company of militia and also as a soldier of the Georgia line, a formation within the Continental Army. After Roberts’ death, his widow, Rachel Douglas Roberts, moved to Early County, Georgia, with her children and raised her family there until her death in 1837.

The Roberts family were early pioneers of the part of Early County that is now Miller County. Thousands of Roberts’ descendants presently live in Seminole, Miller, and Decatur Counties.

The Sons of the American Revolution is a patriotic organization dedicated to preserving American ideals and traditions, protecting the Constitution of the United States, and promoting patriotism through education and historical preservation. Its members are proven male descendants of Patriots who served in the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), or who contributed to establishing the independence of the United States.

The organization claims a membership of over 35,000 members in 550 chapters representing all 50 states in the U.S., as well as societies in seven other countries. About 175,000 descendants of Patriots have been admitted since the founding of SAR in 1890. Its sister organization, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), is open to any proven female descendant of the Revolution. Both organizations are involved in historical research, raising funds for local scholarships and educational awards, and preservation of sites and documents related to the American Revolution.