Project to digitize pension records of War of 1812 veterans resumes

In 2010, Preserve the 1812 Pensions Project began to digitize and make available the U.S. pensions for soldiers who served in the War of 1812.

This was cosponsored by the National Archives (NARA) — where the pensions are housed in the Washington area — Ancestry.com and the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS). Many groups and private donors raised the needed funds.

The project was able to digitize a good percentage of the pensions before it stopped in 2020 during the pandemic.

On April 26, the National Genealogical Society (NGS), which merged with the FGS in 2020, announced that the project had resumed. A new contract was signed between NARA and Ancestry.com.

There are 7.2 million records involved and a single pension can contain a wealth of information for researchers. The records digitized so far are available for free at Fold3.com, a subsidiary of Ancestry.com.

To find out if a relative got a pension, check Virgil White’s “Index to War of 1812 Pension Files (1989)” at the Georgia Archives or other libraries. Those that are digitized are on Fold3 under “War of 1812 Pension Files” and are arranged by state, and then alphabetically therein, so it’s better to check a central index first.

For example, my relative William Humphries, who applied in 1871, lived in North Carolina but had service in South Carolina, so he was listed under that state. His 62-page file is full of original statements, witnesses, his wife Elizabeth McCraw’s maiden name and where they married in 1815. He also applied for Bounty Land in the 1850s, so another record exists. Just lots of juicy bits of information. So don’t overlook these important records.

The Sleepless Genealogist

The Sleepless Genealogist, Linda Debe, has an interesting website (thesleeplessgenealogist.com) and does a lot of genealogy lecturing as well as YouTube videos and other formats. Check her site to see the subjects covered in case some interest you in your research.

South Carolina Genealogical Society workshop

The annual South Carolina Genealogical Society workshop will be held July 7-8 in Columbia, S.C., at the state archives.

For speakers and registration information, see scgen. org. The lead lecturer will be Diana Elder, with others speaking on DNA.

Contact Kenneth H. Thomas Jr., P. O. Box 901, Decatur, GA 30031 or kenthomasongenealogy.com.