Category Archives: Military

Today, 18 June 2012, marks the bicentennial of the War of 1812.  Two hundred years ago America was once again at war with Britain in what some refer to as our “second war of independence.”  In honor of all War of 1812 patriots, I thought I’d post about two of my ancestors who participated in the war. Aaron Webster – Aaron Webster, son of Ashbel and Rachel (Price) Webster, was born 28 August 1775 in Hartford, Connecticut.1  He married Sarah Norton, presumably the daughter of Solomon and Sarah (Rexford) Norton, […]

Back in April I wrote Are You Up for the Challenge? discussing the project that FGS is working on to digitize the War of 1812 pension files. In that post I reported that Indiana Genealogical Society stated a matching program where they will match contributions they collect up to $10,000.  I am happy to report that as of today, they have raised $9,700, just $300 shy of their goal!

Ancestry has a new collection, just in time for the 4th of July.  You can now search the Sons of the American Revolution applications, which are indexed by all of the names found in the lineage of the application.

In my last post, Are you Good At Reading Bad Handwriting, I asked for some assistance in deciphering a pension application.  With the help of some great genealogy friends (Randy Seaver, Darlene Sorenson Bittaker, and Kimberly J. Sawtelle), I was able to fill in most of the blanks. So I’ve decided to post the transcription as it stands right now.  Hopefully within the next few days I will be writing a post about Solomon Norton and the research done on him so far. I’d also like to give a shout […]

I am working on transcribing the pension application for Solomon Naughton/Norton, Revolutionary War soldier.  There are about 20 words across 5 pages that I am having some trouble with.  If anyone would like to try to decipher these words, I’d appreciate the help.  All of the words are highlighted.  If you click on the link, it will open the document in Sribd for easier viewing and options to enlarge.  A big thank you in advance for anyone wishing to help. NORTON, Solomon NORTON Pension Application UPDATE:  See new post, Bad […]

As many of you know, the Federation of Genealogical Societies is working to raise money in order to digitize the War of 1812 pensions.  The goal is to raise $3.7 million and to have the digitization of records completed in 2015. You can help by contributing to the fund.  A $25 donation will digitize 50 images…a $500 donation will digitize 1,000 images.  No amount is too small, even $5 will digitize 10 images.

Weekly column sharing genealogy-related things that I’ve learned or found.

In honor of Independence Day, I thought I’d write a post about my ancestors who are Revolutionary War patriots.