With the 250th arrived, many are digging into their ancestors’ activities during the American Revolution. This topic has been a popular one for research since the late 19th century, so there’s a lot of material available to help. How do you know what you’re reading is right?
These four common issues can throw off your Revolutionary War research. Pay close attention if you see them.
- Service is claimed without a source. With the formation of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Sons of the American Revolution, families had a reason to want Revolutionary ties and claims of service increase in frequency. Not all of these claims are true; many cannot be easily verified. Plan to do a deeper dive. (Sybil Ludington’s story provides a prime example of this issue.)
- You see both Loyalist and American service. This did happen. Some families supported the Americans up to the Declaration of Independence but viewed a formal separation as too far. If you see a family show up in both sets of records, pay attention to timelines.
- Service doesn’t match residency. Just because the person has your ancestor’s name, it doesn’t mean that’s your ancestor. In general, Revolutionary War service occurred where the person lived. The rare exceptions seem to be in border towns.
- Service doesn’t match profile. While there are exceptions, the ancestor’s age, race, and income drove their service. That means that a 72 year old probably wasn’t serving in the Continental Army.
There are always exceptions, but paying attention to these issues will help you avoid misidentifying your ancestor or documenting the wrong service.