Sons of the American Revolution  Revolutionary War Graves Committee Land, Grave, and Other Documents of Patriotic Service

Latest Changes: 07Jul28 - link to Footnote.com / 07Oct16 - split from service records / 07Nov04 - list books with 87,000 records searchable on Ancestry /

Government Service | Military Service | Prisoners of War | Pension Applications | SAR/DAR Archives

Bounty Land | Gravesites | External Web Sources | Ethnic & Social Groups | Roster Home Page

See also our Single-State Resources for Documenting U.S. Service

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Bounty Land  (see also single state resources) The U.S. Congress and many states granted bounty land to veterans of the Revolutionary War as a reward for their service. The land grant records often verify and provide a description of the military service. There are three types of record: A warrant gave the soldier the right to acquire a tract of land in a specified area, but described in vague terms. The size of the bounty depended on how long the soldier had served and his highest rank. The soldier could sell the warrant to someone else before the deed to the land was granted, and he had to get a survey of the land before a deed would be granted. The survey described the boundaries of the land in the detail needed for a deed. The grant of the deed was made after the owner of the warrant presented it and the survey to the military land office. The Continental Congress provided bounty land in the U.S. Military Tract of the Northwest Territory (now within the state of Ohio). The National Archives (NARA) Web site describes collections of Bounty Lands in U.S. Military District of Ohio and Related Papers. See Pensions The Official Federal Land Records Site provides image access to more than three million Federal land title records for Eastern Public Land States, issued between 1820 and 1908. Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants, by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck (TXSSAR) [Genealogy.com] describes the use of bounty land to reward military service and tells where to find the records. See Land Survey Systems [RootsWeb], by Gary Lee Phillips is a brief explanation of the typical township and section land descriptions found on homestead and bounty land patents under the Congressional Act of 1796. Revolutionary War Bounty Warrants [Library of Virginia database] lets you search for images of the records for officers, soldiers, and sailors who served in a Virginia unit or in a Continental unit. See FreeSurnamesSearch The following books may be searched on Ancestry.com You may find them by clicking "Search", scroll down to and click "Military" and then scan down that list until you find the book. "Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants" (10,812 records) and "U.S. War Bounty Land Warrants, 1789-1858" ( 76,126 records) PRINT RESOURCES: ------------------------------------------------ Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants (#4001-488 from www.ancestorstuff.com)

Many states also offered bounty land in their western districts, some of which later were split off into separate states. Some states had little unsettled land and thus did not offer bounty land. The table below indicates which states granted land and where. State land offered? within current boundaries? outside current boundaries? Connecticut YES YES YES Delaware no no no Georgia YES YES no Maryland YES YES no Massachusetts YES YES YES New Hampshire no no no New Jersey no no no New York YES YES no North Carolina YES no YES Pennsylvania YES YES no Rhode Island no no no South Carolina YES YES no Vermont no no no Virginia YES no YES

A Revolutionary War soldier's grave marker in Pennsylvania TAKE A PHOTO: If your patriot is not listed in our database, but you know where he/she is buried, take a photo of the grave and file a Patriot Grave Registration Form Detailed suggestions have been posted for Documenting Cemeteries in the Digital Age [PDF file] using digital photography and computer databases, as well as an example for several cemeteries in Broward County, Florida SAVING GRAVESITES provides a list of State Historic Preservation Officers (by state). These offices can help you find the laws that apply to desecration and destruction of gravesites due to vandalism, farming activities, roadwork, cemetary maintainance, and home or commercial construction.

Grave-sites of Patriots  (see also single state) Most Revolutionary War battlefields and historic sites are within the thirteen original states, but many patriots moved west and are buried as far away as Texas and Oregon. Grave-sites provide memorable settings for family gatherings that commemorate the sacrifices made to achieve liberty. It is also an occasion to recognize and thank those who sacrificed to maintain our liberty in later wars and social struggles. NOTE: The following are resources listing graves in many states. Many excellent resources (often with photos and additional information are listed on the SINGLE-STATE pages. In the years 1900-87 the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) conducted surveys of Revolutionary War patriot graves and provided the U.S. Senate with an annual listing. The results are now available on-line. Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots [Ancestry.com] The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) has a program to locate, tabulate, and mark all Revolutionary War patriot graves. The 2002 CDROM edition of The SAR Revolutionary War Graves Register, with information for about 96,000 patriot grave-sites and 35,000 grave-sites of spouses. It is available from Progeny Software, Inc. You may do a search for these patriots and the locations of their graves using our PATRIOT LOOK-UP page. You may be interested in the SAR's Revolutionary War Patriot Grave Marking Program Find-A-Grave may help you get a photo of one of your ancestors' tombstones or gravesite. First check to see if it is already listed -- click on “Search for a cemetery”. Maybe you will be lucky. If there is no entry click on “Add burial records” and add your Patriot Ancestor's information. You will have to register to use this service. If you don’t want to use your regular e-mail address for this, go to Yahoo and get an Email address that you use only to get Email responses. After you have registered the burial information click on the “Request a Photo” icon. Find-A-Grave will E-mail you a note indicating that the request has been sent to about ten people who have volunteered to get grave photos in the cemetery area. You will be notified when a photo is posted on the Find-a-Grave site.

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External Sites to Search / View / Print Many Archives  Millions of pages of original Revolutionary War documents or certified transcriptions have been digitaly copied and are available on-line. state muster rolls National Archives (NARA) Revolutionary War Service Records NARA Revolutionary War Pensions NARA Records of the Continental Congress and much more from state archives and other sources. Page images and search-by-keyword are available through Footnote.com. See RSAR suggestions for using Footnote Online Military Indexes and Records has a Revolutionary War area that lists many Web sites which require payment in return for providing the records you seek from specific databases. [In general the RSAR site has not linked to such sites directly.] Catalogs of Major Genealogical Repositories You may be able to identfy a published resource with information (rosters, town histories, tax lists) about your ancestor's patriotic service by searching the on-line catalogs of major genealogical collections. Once you have identified a book from these catalogs you can ask your local librarian to see if it is available at a nearby library. Catalog for the SAR Library (Louisville KY) or the Catalog for the DAR Library (Washington DC) The DAR is sometimes confused with the Daughters of the Revolution of 1776 (DR1776), a similar organization (no longer active) whose ancestors gave civil, military, or political aid to secure American independence. The Family History Library (see below) has the Suffolk County, New York, Historical Society's card index (as 85 microfilms) to 8,800 application papers and 2,700 Junior Auxiliary papers for the DR1776 (as of 1969). Search Engine for The Family History Library [Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Salt Lake City UT] The SAR Genealogy Committee's Web site has links to many genealogical resource sites, which often include resources for finding documentation of Revolutionary War service. In addition, Heritage Quest -- a subscription site with many genealogical resources -- is available on public-use terminals at many libraries and archives. Printed Guides to Print Resources There are thousands of resource books in print, and these guidebooks may help you find just the right print resource if you can't find what you need on-line. U.S. Military Records -- A guide to Federal and State Sources, Colonial American to Present, by James C. Neagles, (Ancestry Incorporated, 1994) -- A 441 page bibliography of the military records held in all states at public, military, and private instutions. Fighters for Independence: A Guide to Sources of Biographical Information on Soldies and Sailors of the American Revolution, by White and Lesser -- they estimate that the sources cited have information on over a million patriots.

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