Presentation by Jessica Hilburn, Historian, at Benson Memorial Library.

1. Tracing Your
Revolutionary Genealogy
By Jessica Hilburn, Historian, Benson Memorial Library
Tuesday, July 30, 2019 @ 6:00pm
Benson Memorial Library - 213 N. Franklin St. Titusville, PA 16354
Plan of the Siege of Charlestown in South Carolina, by William Faden, New York, Bartlett, & Welford, 1845., Library of Congress.
Revisiting the Founding Era Lecture Series Presents

2. What is Revisiting the Founding Era?
Revisiting the Founding Era is a three-year national initiative of The Gilder
Lehrman Institute of American History, presented in partnership with the American
Library Association and the National Constitution Center, with support from the
National Endowment for the Humanities. The grant provides 100 public libraries
across the country the opportunity to use historical documents to spark public
conversations about the Founding Era’s enduring ideas and themes and how they
continue to influence our lives today.
For more information about Revisiting the Founding Era and participating libraries,
visit www.foundingera.org.

3. Short Overview of the American Revolution
Years: 1775-1783
● No taxation without representation
● Boston Tea Party
● Punitive measures
● Continental Congress
● Lexington & Concord
● Loyalists vs. Patriots
● Yorktown, Trenton, Bunker Hill, Long Island, etc.
● 5,000 African Americans
● Women served in a multitude of ways
● 250,000 regulars/militiamen
● 55,000 privateers (“legal piracy”)
● 5,000 Navy
● 63,000 French & Spanish Revolutionary War Montage
Battle of Trenton by Charles McBarron; Battle of Long Island by
Domenick D’Andrea; Surrender of Lord Cornwallis by John
Trumbull; Battle of Guiliford Courthouse by US Army Center of
Military History; The Death of General Warren at Bunker Hill by
John Trumbull

4. Tracing Relationships and Records
● You have 128 5th-great-grandparents!
● Don’t work forward from a possible patriot
○ Always work backward from yourself
● For each generation, document:
○ DOB & POB
○ Spouse with maiden name
○ Marriage date & place (if possible)
○ DOD & POD
● Relationships
○ 1880-1940 censuses have relationships
○ 1850-1870 must infer
● Two different levels: Continental Army/Navy & State Militias/Navies
● Service records: many burned by British during War of 1812
● Look at state level!

5. American Revolution in Pennsylvania
● Military Association (1775-1777)
○ PA Quakers
○ All volunteer reserve
○ Ages 16-60
● Pennsylvania Militia (1777-1842)
○ Compulsory enrollment
○ Ages 18-53
○ Enrolled 60,000
○ Geographic
○ Most no active duty
○ Substitutes or fine

6. American Revolution in Pennsylvania Ctd.
● Pennsylvania Line Troops
○ 6 months - end of war
○ 13 regiments plus independent companies
○ MANY land grants
■ Federal government made NO land grants in PA!
● Pennsylvania Navy (1775-1783)
○ Voluntary
○ <1,000
○ Defense of Philadelphia, protection of Delaware River/trade
○ Not eligible for land
● Some PA counties had own militias
○ Western PA too rural

7. 1840 Census
● Page 2 lists if person served in Revolution - name and age! (Ex: Pine Grove Twp, Warren Cty)
1840 Census., U.S. National Archives.

8. 1790 Census
Ex: Pittsburgh
How to read it?
● HOH Name
● # white free males >16
● # white free males <16
● # white free females
● # all other free people
● # slaves
1790 Census., U.S.
National Archives.

9. National Records
Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 (Ancestry)
Screenshot, Ancestry.com.

10. National Records
Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 (Ancestry)
Department of
Veterans A airs, U.S.
National Archives.

11. National Records
U.S. Compiled Revolutionary War Military Service Records (Ancestry)
Screenshot, Ancestry.com.

12. National Records
U.S. Compiled Revolutionary War Military Service Records (Ancestry)
Departme
nt of
Veterans
A airs,
U.S.
National
Archives.

13. National Records
Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files (Ancestry)
Screenshot, Ancestry.com.

14. National Records
Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files (Ancestry)
- 80,000+
- Multiple pages!!
Department of
Veterans A airs, U.S.
National Archives.

15. National Records
● archives.gov/research/military/american-revolution
○ Other records too
■ Ex: Continental Congress, Judicial, Prisoners, Pictures, etc.

16. PA Records: Revolutionary War Military
Abstract Card File
Pennsylvania State Archive
○ PA Militia, PA Line, PA Navy
○ After November 1783 not considered Revolutionary War service
● Tells you name, rank, active/inactive, county of residence, battalion served, record where
information extracted, if delinquent or fined
● “Active Duty” = PA militia or line saw action
● “Associators” = PA Military Association
● “Flying Camps” = Special Battalions in PA Line recruited from Association
● Rangers = long enlistment, protect against frontier attacks
http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us/archive.asp?view=ArchiveIndexes&Archive
ID=13
Screenshot, Pennsylvania State Archives Digital Archives.

17. PA Records: Revolutionary War
Pensioners Index
● Pennsylvania Archives
● Index includes:
○ Military Pension Accounts 1789-1883 (Auditor General)
○ Revolutionary War Pension File 1809-1893 (Auditor General)
○ Revolutionary War Pension Files 1785-1809 (Comptroller General)
○ Records of the General Assembly 1709-1903 (General Assembly)
○ Revolutionary War Soldiers’ Claims 1786-1789 (Supreme Court)
● Find your person → tells you which record group, container #, page, volume
that record is on
● Available at PA State Archive on microfilm
http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/RevolutionaryWarPensionersIndex/RevolutionaryWarPensionersIndex_MainIn
terface.htm

18. DAR Ancestor Search
● http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search/?Tab_ID=1
● Must enter at least 1 of the following:
○ Surname, first name, ancestor #
○ Can also enter state of service/birth/death, year of birth/death, spouse
● Record will give you:
○ State served, rank, birth date/year, birth state, death date, death place
○ Source of service info
○ Service description (who served under, what happened, etc.)
● Can see how many DAR applications are connected through
that person
● Residence is listed as was during Revolutionary time
○ Ex: Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820,
so will be listed as Massachusetts
● Avoid punctuation!
Screenshot, Daughters of the American Revolution Website.

19. Oaths of Allegiance: PA, 1777-90
● PA General Assembly
○ Required of foreigners between 1777 and 1790
○ Generally arranged by date, sometimes by name of oathtaker
○ Loyalty oaths instead of naturalization papers
● 1777-1786: gives only person’s name and residency
● 1786-after: gives name, residency, and occupation
● Requires a free FamilySearch account
● Can go through all 1,251 images (but are not searchable)
○ Scroll down to “Format” and click the little camera to see the images!
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/685500?availability=Family%20Hi
story%20Library

20. Oaths of Allegiance: PA, 1727-1775
● Oaths of Allegiance 1727-1775 with the foreign arrivals 1786-1808
○ Book by William Henry Egle
● Includes ship name, ship captain, where from, date, people who took the oath
from the ship
● Book is 800+ pages, but IS SEARCHABLE
● Free via Library of Congress on HathiTrust
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/
13960/t87h1rr72&view=1up&seq=1
Screenshot, Oaths of Allegiance by William Henry Engle. Harrisburg, PA: E.K. Meyers, 1892.

21. Thank you to our sponsors:
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
The American Library Association
The National Constitution Center
The National Endowment for the Humanities
This program is part of Revisiting the Founding Era, a three-year national initiative of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of
American History presented in partnership with the American Library Association, and the National Constitution
Center, with generous support from The National Endowment for the Humanities.
Enemy Camp at Stillwater, by William Faden, New York, Bartlett, & Welford,
1845, Library of Congress.