Rev. war Pension applications--be sure to read to the end

The Revolutionary War pension applications are either fascinating to read or blah blah blah, depending on whether you want to slog through all the battles and who led them, and the witnesses as to the identity of the applicant. I usually scan for genealogical information.

I heartily recommend that the reader read through, or page through to the last pages. Once in awhile there is a  letter there from the government to a descendant who has inquired about the ancestor.

The letter usually sums up whether the pension was granted or not, what service was held to be valid, and which family members were mentioned in the application. Since it is a typed letter, rather than the longhand of the application, it is easy to read and confirms the names the reader may have seen. But a bonus is that a more recent descendant of the family, namely the person inquiring, has been named.

By putting this person's name into the family tree, the reader may be able to confirm relationships and expand the extended family branches. The letter is, of course, dated, and provides an address for the inquiring descendant's abode. All of this can prove valuable to the modern day descendant or to a researcher of the same family.

Revolutionary Soldiers

The fourth of July is a good time to think about the soldiers of the Revolution. If you have one in your ancestry, you may be able to find out more about that soldier in one of two easy ways: The first is to look at what is available at the website hosted by the Daughters of the Revolution, an organization which recently made genealogy information about soldiers of the Revolution available to everyone at: http://www.dar.org/. You may find information about the ancestor, and if you are fortunate, there will be some genealogies to accompany the information. It is all very well documented, and an excellent resource. The second excellent option is to find a pension application by the ancestor or the ancestor's relatives. The application would only be granted if Revolutionary service was long enough, could be proved, and if the family could demonstrate need.  The applications themselves reveal a great deal of information, often including place of birth, person to whom the soldier was married, and details of the military service itself. The pensions were often not granted, due to what the courts considered lack of proof. Many of these applications are now available at ancestry.com and make riveting reading. The applicant was often impoverished. Sometimes the pension was granted to the widow, the soldier having died during the lengthy application process.