Hi Charles, You can get the scoop on PA genealogy by using the free LDS state guides, downloadable for the most part at their website: www.familysearch.org . But you would also want to start by checking for them in IGI. The IGI source may lead you to actual records. Even a patron sheet suggests that 'someone' might be 'working on' these people, meaning you can find clues fast. Check the Internet too. A search of the FHL catalog for the surname may uncover documents written on them. SOmetimes you can tell if the family history is relevant from the brief description. Also I use www.usgenweb.com ALL the time. Each state has links and each county. There are archives -- all free, free free. It varies with the state and county as to what's available. For your area of PA A LOT. However you should also check www.iarchives.com -- the published series of key records from Pennsylvania: the warrants, miltary records, etc. To find information on the Brandywine, use google. Here is a page: http://cfpms.ucf.k12.pa.us/uhistory2/BrRiver/ If an adult male was living in PA at the time of the Revolution he SHOULD appear on the militia lists. SHOULD being the critical word. SOme lived just too far out in the wilderness though most of them didn't survive to leave descendents.... Some hid under rocks (I really think so). Most served in the militia or ran off from the militia or were courtmartialed, etc. I just did a search at Iarchives and got: F Series Series 3 Collection The Pennsylvania Archives Volume Volume XXVIII Page 331 Relevancy* 100% 2 Return Of State Tax For The County Of Fayette. 1785 Series Series 3 Collection The Pennsylvania Archives Volume Volume XXII Page 582 Relevancy* 34% 3 Minutes Of The Susquehanna Company Claimimg Lands In Wyoming. 1753-1801. Series Series 2 Collection The Pennsylvania Archives Volume Volume XVIII Page 99 Relevancy* 34% 4 Return Of State Tax For The County Of Fayette. 1786 Series Series 3 Collection The Pennsylvania Archives Volume Volume XXII Page 591 Relevancy* 23% 5 Transcript Of Property With Number Of Inhabitants In The County Of Westmoreland, 1783 Series Series 3 Collection The Pennsylvania Archives Volume Volume XXII Page 372 Relevancy* 23% 6 Pennsylvania Archives. Series Series 9 Collection The Pennsylvania Archives Volume Volume I Page 94 Relevancy* 23% 7 Minutes of Board of Property Series Series 3 Collection The Pennsylvania Archives Volume Volume I Page 740 Relevancy* 23% 8 Muster Rolls Of The Pennsylvania Volunteers In The War Of 1812-1814 Series Series 2 Collection The Pennsylvania Archives Volume Volume XII Page 522 Relevancy* 23% 9 Effective Supply Tax of the City of Philadelphia. 1780 Series Series 3 Collection The Pennsylvania Archives Volume Volume XV Page 335 Relevancy* 23% 10 Sixteenth Division, Beaver, Butler, Crawford, Erie, Venango and Warren Counties. Series Series 6 Collection The Pennsylvania Archives Volume Volume VII Page 801 For page one. Search for all the variants you can think of and then use my webpage to find the militia lists and search them front to rear, or at least the F's. You can also check for the militia index cards on the website of the Pennsylvania archives. Sorry dont' recall the URL, just google for Pennsylvania Archives and you'll find it with no trouble. ...or go to the PA page of www.usgenweb.com . I have books that I can consult on PA geography, etc, but frankly it's faster to use www.usgenweb.com!! Ancestry has the DAR lineage books on line and the primary index to federal service records for Revolutionary soldiers (M93). If he was a pacifist he may show up in various court records in the county. If he was a loyalist he will show up in the court records! Plus genealogy.com has a CD on that has about 15 books on loyalists. If you join for a month you will get your money's worth in 15 minutes-- ie you can do a semi decent search to determine if he was a loyalist or not. 1/3rd of the folks were with George W, 1/3rd were neutral (in PA many pacifist Germans) 1/3rd were loyalist Not spread out evenly all over like margarine in bread. Very unevenly spread out. Many think there were no Loyalists in Mother Cumberland, but they are wrong. I have found cases where individuals lost estates in Bedford due to loyalism -- and they had Mc name too, suggesting they were Ulster Scots. In that area at that time 95% of the people were of Ulster descent. The rest were ENglish, Scots, Germans. Oh and Indians. Lets not forget themselves. Best of luck!! Linda Merle ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: "Charles.Clark" <Charles.Clark@xtra.co.nz> Date: Fri, 06 May 2005 13:39:52 +1200 >As I start in to contemplating doing a little bit of Pennsylvania >research, this all sounds both promising and scary at the same time. >There's a lot to find, and many haystacks to hide a needle in. Or at least >that's how it feels to a beginner. >I'm looking for FORSYTH, said to have been "living on the Brandywine River >in Pennsylvania at the time of the War of Independence" >Well, perhaps I'd better start at the beginning and work back. We start >with Dame Dehra Parker (previously Chichester, nee Kerr, her daughter >married my cousin James Clark who changed his name to Chichester-Clark, >and their son Jimmy Chichester-Clark was prime minister of Northern >Ireland 1969-1971), who was a Minister at the Stormont for much of the >time between 1920 and 1960, and who between 1935 and 1956 had a lease on >Clonmore, the house at Upperlands which my grandmother and her brother >lived in from then until they died in the late 80s. She's a somewhat >mysterious figure, and seems to have covered her tracks well. But I like a >challenge.... > >Dehra Kerr's parents were James Kerr Fisher, said to have emigrated from >co Derry as a young man and made his pile as a financier around Chicago >and Indianapolis, and Annie FORSYTH (married ca 1881-1882), whose >grandparents "were very early settlers, living on the Brandywine River at >the time of the War of Independence." I have no more than that, in fact I >even had to educate myself on the fact that there was a battle of >Brandywine River in 1777 during said war of independence, but the phrasing >seems to suggest that these Forsyths were living there rather than >fighting. > >Charlie > > >Linda Merle wrote: > >> Hi Bill, >> >> I do genealogy professionally. That means I've had >> training in how to do research. I not only own but have read >> a number of books/articles on researching in PA. Also I've >> actually DONE the work, analyzed the results, etc. Not only >> for my family but a number of others. > > ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.fea.net