Thank you so much for the post, I just wish it had helped on my Puckett and
Chapman line.
Margie
-----Original Message-----
From: Pat murray
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 10:35 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] In Their Own Words: Searching Revolutionary War
Pension Declarations
Thanks for the information.
Patrick H. Murray
SAR Nat'l No. 94310
-----Original Message-----
From: Tammy
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 8:05 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: In Their Own Words: Searching Revolutionary War Pension
Declarations
Great information! Thanks for sharing!
On Fri, Apr 22, 2016 at 2:04 PM, Wm <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Most of you are aware that the http://www.revwarapps.org/ website has
> transcriptions of thousands of pension declarations made in response to
> the
> Revolutionary War Claim Act of 7 June 1832. Since I have an ancestor and
> three of his brothers who were involved in various phases of that war, I
> have spent dozens of hours searching for declarations of their militia
> comrades to learn more details of their service. Thus I offer some
> suggestions for using the website’s Google search function which
> specifically searches only this website.
>
> Obviously, when one knows a veteran’s name, it may be found in the
> alphabetical listing at the bottom of the page. But as the site clearly
> states: “You need to use the Search feature to access the power of this
> database”. For example, I was able to find a family member who was not
> known to have served in any capacity during the Revolutionary War. Indeed,
> he died in 1780 so he personally had not filed a pension declaration.
> However, no less than five Revolutionary War pension declarations from
> comrades in Captain Charles Gwatkin's Bedford County militia company
> mentioned a Lieutenant John Milam as an officer at Boonesborough in
> Kentucky County, Virginia.
>
> I found these 5 declarations by using the Google search function:
> https://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:http://revwarapps.org
>
> I first searched for my family’s last name, “Milam” , which yielded 25
> results of which 3 mentioned a Lieutenant John Milam – not in the title
> but
> in the descriptive sentences below the title. When I realized that I was
> on
> to something, I then searched for “John + Milam”. Each time he was
> associated with Captain Charles Gwatkins and Ensign David Crews on a
> mission to protect the settlers at Boonesborough from Shawnee Indian
> raids.
> It turns out that 20 settlers and militiamen under Colonel Daniel Boone
> were captured at Blue Licks while collecting salt, taken to Ohio and even
> to Detroit where they were held until of the peace treaty of 1783. Then by
> searching for “Blue Licks”, I was able to find nine veterans who survived
> to record the details of their captivity or escapes in declarations. Those
> make fascinating reading and add detail and color to a family member’s
> life. You may see how their story unfolded here:
>
> http://www.milaminvirginia.com/Links/John%20MILAM/John_milam_history.html
>
> Another use of this Google function is to learn more details about a
> veteran’s service experience. I found this useful for my ancestor, Rush
> Milam, who was drafted from the Bedford County militia three times during
> the final turbulent year of the Revolutionary War, 1781. His pension
> declaration didn’t provide much detail of the events, just locations to
> which he was marched. Since he was at the battle of Point of Fork at the
> junction of the Rivanna and James Rivers, I could search for “Point of
> Fork” to find colleagues’ declarations which provided more detail. And
> since he was a member of Captain Alexander Cummins’ company, I could
> Google
> “Alexander Cummins” to find the declarations of comrades who mentioned
> Cummins name and served at the same time. On another tour, he was with
> Colonel Thomas Meriwether and Major Christian De Klauman. So I Googled:
> “Christian De Klauman” .
>
> In general, the results will be more specific if one Googles the name of a
> lower ranking officer, preferably the company’s captain. Likewise, the
> search results are more pertinent if one Googles a small battle, like
> Point
> of Fork or Blue Licks, rather than a large one like Guilford Court House
> or
> Yorktown. And it helps to have an uncommon name like “Milam”.
>
> William Milam, MD
> <http://www.milaminvirginia.com> www.milaminvirginia.com
>
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