> That would explain not pension record being > found. I think I missed the beginning of this thread, so if I'm repeating info, I apologize in advance. The usual reason a pension isn't found is because most pension records have been long ago destroyed. Most of the records of the American Army in the custody of the War Department were destroyed by fire on November 8, 1800. When the British burned Washington in 1814 most of the remainder were destroyed. It wasn't until 1873 the Army started collecting the surviving records, which were by then scattered among several government agencies, and it wasn't until 1889 that the Army started a pension and record division, and not until 1892 that Congress gave them any money for record keeping. Best regards, Ed For Revolutionary War Info on the Internet, your first choice should be: www.AmericanRevolution.org

Wow, I didn't know all that about the lost pensions. I might add one thing - a pension claim (i, e. "I served with Col Cross in 1778 and marched to Fort Dawson") is not primary evidence, despite many believing otherwise. It is especially nice when contemporary documentation can be found to support the info given in the claim. Here in WV we were dealing with the "Lewis Speculating Gentry", a group of hucksters who were hunting down old, illiterate pioneers and drawing up false pension claims for them and having them sign them, the operator then getting a portion of the proceeds. They finally sent a federal investigator in here to break up the ring. So if you are looking at West Virginia pension records BE CAREFUL. Best Regards David ARmstrong Elkins WV ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed St.Germain" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 11:08 PM Subject: [AMER-REV] Re: no pension >> That would explain not pension record being >> found. > > I think I missed the beginning of this thread, so if I'm repeating info, I > apologize in advance. > > The usual reason a pension isn't found is because most pension records > have > been long ago destroyed. > > Most of the records of the American Army in the custody of the War > Department were destroyed by fire on November 8, 1800. When the British > burned Washington in 1814 most of the remainder were destroyed. > > It wasn't until 1873 the Army started collecting the surviving records, > which were by then scattered among several government agencies, and it > wasn't until 1889 that the Army started a pension and record division, and > not until 1892 that Congress gave them any money for record keeping. > > Best regards, > Ed > For Revolutionary War Info on the Internet, your first choice should be: > www.AmericanRevolution.org > > > ==== AMERICAN-REVOLUTION Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from the AMERICAN-REVOLUTION list, send the command > "unsubscribe" to > [email protected] (if in mail mode) or > [email protected] (if in digest mode.) > > ============================== > New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors > at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: > http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429 > >