Thursday, August 6, 2009

War of 1812 Records

As if you needed another reason to join the National Genealogical Society? The current (April-June) issue of its NGS Magazine includes a detailed how-to article by Marie Varrelman Melchiori, CG, CGL, on how to find relevant War of 1812 veterans' records in the National Archives. I do mean nitty-gritty: "When using the microfilmed indexes for the 1812 pensions, there are pages that appear to be blank . . . [meaning that] the film needs to be turned," because applicants under the "Old War" pension act have jackets with a stamped form at the very bottom of the envelope. Don't even think about working these people without this article in hand.

Some of these veterans received bounty land warrants for portions of land in what is now more than a dozen counties in western Illinois -- between the Illinois River and the Mississippi, AKA the "Military Tract."

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