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"Along Those Lines ..."
by George G. Morgan

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A Package From The National Archives

There's nothing like the thrill of receiving a package from the National Archives! I recently wrote about how to write an effective letter of inquiry and about using a correspondence log. With the National Archives and Trust Administration (NARA), you use forms to request information. There are forms for military service records, forms for ships passenger lists, and forms for a variety of other types of records. In order to obtain copies of your ancestor's records, you simply follow the instructions, fill out the appropriate form and mail it in. After a number of weeks, you will receive either the copies you requested or a notice that NARA was unable to locate any records. This week in "Along Those Lines ...", I want to describe the contents I just received in response to a request for copies of records for my great-great-grandfather's Revolutionary War records. Background and Ordering the Search In July of this year, I vacationed in South Carolina. Like any other genealogist, I planned my vacation trip to include some genealogical research. In fact, I did quite a lot of it. During the course of a visit to the South Carolina Archives in Columbia, SC, I discovered some records of my great-great-great-grandfather, John SWORDS, and his service in the Revolutionary War. All of these, however, were South Carolina records, and many dealt with his application for a government pension. I decided that I must see what other records of the Continental Army, if any, were held at the National Archives. In early August, after I had returned home and studied the copies I had obtained from the SC Archives, I filled in a NARA form -- NATF Form 80 to be precise -- to order copies of veterans records. (Forms are available free from NARA. In my article of 15 May, I described where to write by mail or E-mail for copies of the forms.) The form asks for lots of information. On mine, I included every piece of information I knew about my ancestor. That included his name, branch of service, the state from which he served, war in which he fought or dates he served, unit in which he served, whether he was an officer or enlisted man, the date and place of his death, the name of his widow (or other claimant), and the places he lived after his service. Although the form asks you to specify which of three types of records you want searched (Check one box only), I checked the one for Pension records. The other two choices are Bounty-Land Warranty Application (for people who served before 1856 only) and Military records. I mailed the form off to the National Archives and went about my business. The Package Arrives By some coincidence, the package from the National Archives arrived on 28 September 1998 -- 160 years to the day of John SWORDS' death. (We all know about those coincidences, don't we!) Inside the fat envelope were 28 11" x 14" photocopied pages of microfilm records of John SWORDS' pension jacket # W8773. The contents could not have been more astonishing! They included: The yellow copy of my order form, on which the searcher had checked off in red ink every item of information I had supplied on the form. This tells me that he/she used each piece of information I supplied to make certain that the correct file was located. A letter from NARA was also enclosed indicating that the cost of copying each page is $1.75, with a minimum mail order fee of $10. The 1819 pension application jackets, which show name, regiment, dates of service, commander, date of pension application, and the name and location of the judge who reviewed the application and accepted depositions. Affidavits of persons acquainted with John SWORDS and who attested to their having known or served with him during the Revolutionary War. The judge and court clerk both certified these affidavits as accepted. The deposition of John SWORDS describing his entire Revolutionary War service, including the date and place of his enlistment in 1777, and the name of the man who enlisted him. The deposition states the company and division in which he began his service and his commanding officer. In particular, however, the deposition describes in detail the chronology of his service, the places where he was marched, and the battles in which he fought. John SWORDS served in the Snow Campaign and was, in fact, taken prisoner by the British during the Siege of Savannah as he and another soldier tried to carry their slain commander, Captain Boyce, away from the fighting front. Prisoners were not fed or sheltered from the weather. After a short time, John SWORDS was able to escape and travel home, where he rejoined the army in a different company. The details of the remainder of his service are also described. The application for widow's pension benefits filed by John SWORDS' wife, Eleanor, following her husband's death on 28 September 1834. In order to prove her claim, she had to present evidence of her marriage and relationship to John SWORDS. The application of the SWORDS' children for survivors' benefits following the death of Eleanor SWORDS. In order to prove their descendency from John and Eleanor SWORDS, eldest son John S. SWORDS presented pages from the family Bible showing the dates of John SWORDS and Eleanor SWANCY's marriage, the dates of birth of their children, the children's marriage information, the dates of death of John and Eleanor SWORDS, and deaths of other members of their family. The most amazing content of the entire package from NARA is the inclusion of these copies, which indicate that the originals of the Bible pages are in the possession of the National Archives, and not in the family Bible itself, wherever it might be today! The deposition of John S. SWORDS regarding the location and condition of each of his siblings. He indicates that the U.S. pension granted in 1819 was discontinued shortly afterwards, and that his father made application to the State of South Carolina for and was granted a pension there. Another full description of his John SWORDS' Revolutionary War service record was documented in 1847 to accompany the childrens' pension application. Affidavits of persons swearing to having known the SWORDS family for many years, and attesting to the personal integrity of John S. SWORDS who was representing himself and his surviving siblings' claim for entitlement to the pension. A typewritten letter dated October 17, 1929, to a woman in Catlettsburg, KY, describing the contents of the NARA pension file. (This was before the microfilming of the NARA records.) The letter details the entire contents of the family Bible listings. The detailed contents of this pension file provide a tremendous biographical picture of JOHN SWORDS' life between 1777 and 1780, the three years for which he originally enlisted in the Continental Army in South Carolina. The file also gives evidence of the family's financial situation from the time of John SWORDS's military service until the mid-1840s. I now have copies of family Bible records, certainly great primary records in the handwriting of someone in the family -- probably Eleanor, because John SWORDS signed with his 'X' mark. What a wonderful addition to my knowledge of the SWORDS family. Together with the pension records and other documents I located in the SC Archives, I have an intensely detailed picture of a period of John SWORDS' life and a great deal of information about his children and their spouses. Why Don't YOU Do it? Does this sound like the kind of information you'd like to discover about your ancestor? Veterans records exist for all eras and can be a great source of information. Granted, the contents of pension files and military files and other NARA holdings vary tremendously. Some files will be thick with papers and full of detailed records. Others may have very little in the way of content. Still others may be nonexistent. You will never know what's there unless you try to find out. For more information, certainly check the NARA Web site at http://www.nara.gov. Happy hunting! George Click Here for George Morgan's Archive Copyright 1998 George G. Morgan All Rights reserved "Along Those Lines ..." is a weekly feature of the Genealogy Forum on America Online (Keyword: ROOTS). This column originally appeared in the Genealogy Forum on America Online. You may send E-mail alonglines@aol.com. George Morgan would like to hear from you but, because of the volume of E-mail, is unable to personally respond to each letter individually. He also regrets that he cannot assist you with your personal genealogical research. Copyright 1998, 1999, Ancestry.com Inc. and its subsidiaries. Terms and Conditions | Privacy Statement