From: Scrapcat2@aol.com To: AMERICAN-REVOLUTION-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [A-REV] Oaths of Allegiance Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 15:16:24 EDT How would I find out if particular individuals took the Oath of Allegiance during the American Revolutionary War period? Are there lists of people in a specific book? Or an online resource? Would women have taken an Oath as well as men? Thanks, Carol ------------------------------ R. Belair <<< belai_1@hotmail.com Carol: I am not an expert at this, but from my experience in New Hampshire each locality (town, county, etc.) handled it diferently. In the particular case of Rockingham county, NH. there is an online listing of those who signed at the NH GENWEB site I believe. Other states and counties might have online lists, but you'll have to search. I think women were mostly excluded. Certainly in NH it was men only. In fact women, blacks, idiots, and the insane were specifically excluded by the language of the declaration from the requirement of signing the oath in NH. Also paupers were not exactly encouraged to sign, they wanted "men of substance" only. Our ancestors had a different conception of "freemen" than we do today. Not a crticisim, just the facts of what was the assumed truth at the time. In NH at least, those who didn't sign the oath, were not treated well. Some lost their property and status for failing to sign. That wasn't always the case, but it happened. It justs so happens my NH ancestors were leaders in signing the oath. Never forget however, that it was an act of rebellion and considered treason by the legally constituted authorities at the time. Many honest and loyal men just couldn't bring themselves to go against the established government at that time. Bob B. _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

One can safely assume that the oath was also based on whether an individual could become a citizen and vote, male to be exact and since women were considered property and merely an appendage of their father or husband, they won't qualify to take the oath. Rhonda Houston -----Original Message----- From: robert belair [mailto:belai_1@hotmail.com] Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 3:26 PM To: AMERICAN-REVOLUTION-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [A-REV] Oaths of Allegiance From: Scrapcat2@aol.com To: AMERICAN-REVOLUTION-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [A-REV] Oaths of Allegiance Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 15:16:24 EDT How would I find out if particular individuals took the Oath of Allegiance during the American Revolutionary War period? Are there lists of people in a specific book? Or an online resource? Would women have taken an Oath as well as men? Thanks, Carol ------------------------------ R. Belair <<< belai_1@hotmail.com Carol: I am not an expert at this, but from my experience in New Hampshire each locality (town, county, etc.) handled it diferently. In the particular case of Rockingham county, NH. there is an online listing of those who signed at the NH GENWEB site I believe. Other states and counties might have online lists, but you'll have to search. I think women were mostly excluded. Certainly in NH it was men only. In fact women, blacks, idiots, and the insane were specifically excluded by the language of the declaration from the requirement of signing the oath in NH. Also paupers were not exactly encouraged to sign, they wanted "men of substance" only. Our ancestors had a different conception of "freemen" than we do today. Not a crticisim, just the facts of what was the assumed truth at the time. In NH at least, those who didn't sign the oath, were not treated well. Some lost their property and status for failing to sign. That wasn't always the case, but it happened. It justs so happens my NH ancestors were leaders in signing the oath. Never forget however, that it was an act of rebellion and considered treason by the legally constituted authorities at the time. Many honest and loyal men just couldn't bring themselves to go against the established government at that time. Bob B. _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx ==== AMERICAN-REVOLUTION Mailing List ==== ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237