| Essential Record Collections for Researching the War of 1812 |
| For the first time in its short history, on June 17th, 1812, the United States declared war on a foreign nation (Britain). The War of 1812 lasted for two years and eight months, during which some of the veterans of the American Revolution fought alongside their own sons against the British forces. While it is perhaps remembered as more of a minor conflict for the United States and Great Britain, this war figures prominently in the history of Native Americans and Canadians. Researching your ancestors' involvement in the War of 1812 is not without it challenges, but thanks to the digital age we are able to access a variety of resources online. Here are a few to add to your toolbox: Service and State Records Over on Fold3 you can find the War of 1812 Service Record Index. Keep in mind that these records do need to be acquired from the National Archives directly. Another notable collection is the US Army Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914. Also on Fold3 are separate service records for Lake Erie and Mississippi, as well as the Creek and Chickasaw. Ancestry is another website that offers several helpful collections, including US Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958. A separate payroll abstract for the New York State Militia, 1812-1815 is also available from Ancestry.com. Also of note are the Over 70,000 US Navy vessels are starting to be digitized at the National Archives. Pension Records It wasn't until after the end of Civil War and the Pension Act of 1871 that veterans of the War of 1812 could acquire a pension from the government. Pensions for the War of 1812 have become scanned as a “Free” collection from the efforts of The Federation of Genealogical Societies on Fold3.com (as of June 2022 there are 1,305,010 records and is 82% complete). The pensions for the veterans and widows of the US Navy and Marine Corps can be also searched on Fold3.com. For records on Bounty Land records and further details on researching your War of 1812 veteran consult my article "Star Spangled Genealogy: Discover the stories of your ancestors who preserved American Independence in the War of 1812," Family Tree Magazine, July/August 2012, 42-47. (Find the digital version here.) |
