July 4th is a good time to reflect on our ancestors who were soldiers or patriot supporters during the Revolutionary War.
If you had ancestors living in the colonies at the time of the war, 1775-1781, you should try to determine, if you have not already, if they served in the military or supported the patriot cause in other ways. There are a number of sourcebooks on the subject, usually published state by state.
Robert S. Davis Jr.’s “Georgia citizens and soldiers of the American Revolution (1979)” includes examples of documentation for patriot service, such as providing beef for the soldiers. Eric Grundset, former head of the DAR Library in Washington, D.C., wrote a series of State Source Guides for the Daughters of the American Revolution on sources for proof of service. The guides for Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia are at the Georgia Archives.
Revolutionary War pensions are a great source of proof. The full pensions for the nation are on Ancestry.com and other sites. Statements by Southern soldiers can be found at revwarapps.org. David Noble and Richard Marsh published “Patriots in Georgia Revolutionary War Engagements, 1776-1782.” You can go a bit further and ask to be invited to join the Sons of the American Revolution (sar.org) or Daughters of the American Revolution (dar.org). To do so, you will have to document your ancestry. Their respective websites have information on patriots previously identified. All of this is a good way to prepare for 2026, which is the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and the founding of our nation.
1950 census access in 2022
Thomas MacEntee’s recent lecture on the 1950 census indicated that there will be no immediately available index. To find people, you need to know their address in 1950, and use the free Enumeration District guide at SteveMorse.org. The census will be released on April 1, 2022.
PINES library card
Georgia’s PINES library system has a lot of genealogy materials available and if you don’t live in a county with a PINES library. Check gapines.org to register.
Contact Kenneth H. Thomas Jr., P.O. Box 901 Decatur, Ga., 30031 or www.kenthomasongenealogy.com.
