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Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 2003-09 > 1063044603


From: "Linda Merle" <>
Subject: [Sc-Ir] Pennsylvania Revolutionary Military Info on line
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 11:10:04 -0700


Hi folks,

As some might know, when doing American Revolutionary War research, you search on both the federal and state levels. The federal records are those men serving in the Continental Line and state units transfered to the Continental command. You find those at the National Archives though due to the published indexes and abstracts you don't need to make a mad dash. You use White's various books like "Index to Revolutionary War Service Records" which indexes M860 (at NARA) and
"Genealogical Abstracts of Revlutionary War Pension Files" first (or I do).

Then you gotta do the state. "The Source" has a good bibliography of sources for each state. I like it better than the LDS military guide because the latter focuses on what is held by LDS. LDS filmed a lot of NARA records and others from state archives but doesn't have published works that may be in the library down the road. Also don't forget Saffell "Records of the Revolutionary War ... etc" published 1894.
It's resulted in a few breakthroughs for me but not alas on my own
lines. It is up the road in Boston where there are also the books
needed to "do" Virginia and most of the other states. The hours are
better than NARA, which is also up the road but not as convenient.

My discovery today is in Pennsylvania. To start, they went though the vast
collection of records in the PA Archives on REvolutionary military records and made card indexes, much as The Feds did, to make it easier for us to locate each soldier. THESE ARE FREE ON LINE. They are
the records for the Pennsylvania Line, PA militias, and PA navy.
They are at http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us/archive.asp

A little info off their website:

"Arranged alphabetically by surname of soldier. The abstract card file contains transcriptions of data extracted from original records in the custody of the State Archives concerning Revolutionary War service in the Pennsylvania Militia, Pennsylvania Line, and the Navy. Note that duty after November 1783 is not considered Revolutionary War service. Information provided is name and rank of soldier, whether active or inactive duty, county of residence, battalion in which served, and record from which information was extracted. Also noted are whether soldier was delinquent and fined or whether militia fines were abated.

"The entry "Active Duty" indicates that the soldier saw active duty in either the Pennsylvania Militia or the Pennsylvania Line while "Inactive Duty" indicates that the soldier did not necessarily see active duty. Associators were volunteers who comprised the Military Association, a civilian reserve designed to repel any invasion of Pennsylvania until the collapse of the Association in the winter of 1776-1777. The Pennsylvania Militia was organized under an Act of the Assembly of March 17, 1777 that required compulsory enrollment by constables of all able-bodied white males between the ages of 18 and 53 to repel invaders."

That's COMPULSORY ENROLLMENT for the militia, so most of our ancestors
in PA should be listed.

I'll be there the rest of the day.....

Enjoy!

Linda Merle

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