The “Forgotten War”

The War of 1812, also known as the Second Revolutionary War, produced many records that are valuable to genealogists. It is also known as the “Forgotten War” because it is not studied much at school and is all but unknown. Unfortunately, the War of 1812 pension records has been at the bottom of the stack to be digitized. These pension records have 7.2 million pages contained in 180,000 files (www.preservethepensions.org)

In 2008, the National Archives approached the FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies) to save these vital records. These frequently requested pension records are not microfilmed and are in bad shape because they are deteriorating from age. The FGS bided out the digitizing process, and Fold3.com won the bid. The FGS also needed $3 million to pay for this project, and more than 4,000 individuals and 115 genealogical societies contributed the amount required to do this preservation. They have digitized A – P of surnames in this project so far. They are free on Fold3.com and will remain that way indefinitely!

If you have an ancestor born between 1752 – 1799, they may have served in the War of 1812. Statistics show that there were 60,000 members of the U.S. Army and 475,000 state militias or volunteers that served. Your ancestor may not have been in the war but wrote out an affidavit to help support a claim. (www.familysearch.org/blog/en/war-1812-pension-files/)

To find these records, you need to go to fold3.com – browse military records by war- War of 1812- War of 1812 Pension Files – browse- choose state ancestor lived in – choose the letter of the last name. I went to New Hampshire – Johnson – Jeremiah (my 2nd Great Grandfather). There are 64 pages of documents in his file. You can save these records to your tree at ancestry.com. I found a marriage certificate, my 2nd Grandmother’s signature, a document written by Jeremiah’s sister about his first wife’s death, a description of Jeremiah (6ft tall, black hair, black eyes, dark complexion). There were letters written by family members verifying that he existed and served in the war. To me, this was a treasure trove.

Check out the War of 1812 pension records and see if treasures are waiting for you there! I had no idea that Jeremiah had served in the War of 1812 and he only did so for a few months. I am so glad I checked out these records. Don’t forget the “Forgotten War!”