Ancestry Opens Its Vault of Revolutionary War Records To Search for Continentals in Our Family Trees

For America’s 250th anniversary, Ancestry.com is opening to the public for 250 hours its Fold3 database of over 34 million Revolutionary War records. It’s a way for citizens today to trace connections back to the first patriots and follow long-forgotten relatives on the nation’s march to independence.According to Ancestry, “approximately 7.2 million Americans, or about one in 40, have a direct ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War.” Among this group, the company says, “roughly 6.3 million descend from Patriots, while the remainder trace their lineage to British soldiers.”Ancestry told The New York Sun that “nearly a third of Americans say the semiquincentennial,” the Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary on Saturday, “is making them more interested in their family history or their ancestors’ impact on their community.”To make rifling through Fold3’s enormous volume of artifacts easier — and faster, as the paywall goes back up at midnight Mountain Time on July 6 — a new, AI-powered search helps users scan everything from pension files to furloughs granted by President Washington.A Revolutionary War-era discharge record. Courtesy of Ancestry.com and Fold3Handwriting, cursive, and even typesetting of the era were long hard to decipher. A “transcribe” option now renders manuscripts a “game changer for researchers.” Beyond bureaucratic documents and muster rolls, the archive includes firsthand battlefield accounts, marriage records, letters, wills, family Bible pages, and more.Ancestors who didn’t serve in the war often pop up in searches as spouses, witnesses, neighbors, and other family members of those who did. These discoveries, Ancestry said, make “connections and contributions to the country’s origins that may have been hidden for generations.”The opportunity for Americans to trace their roots comes as many citizens lament declining patriotism and increased factionalism. E. Pluribus Unim — “out of many, one” — the motto proposed for the Great Seal of the United States in 1776, seems out of date with millions feeling alienated on Independence Day.‘Portrait of George Washington,’ by Gilbert Stuart, 1803. Detail. Via Wikimedia Commons“They’re going to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country July 4th,” Reverend Al Sharpton said in April, urging black Americans to skip America250, “but that’s not our celebration.” Mr. Sharpton’s boycott, rather than fulfill the promise of “all men are created equal,” exacerbates divisions.As this columnist wrote for the Sun in April, Mr. Sharpton’s boycott “will perpetuate the injustices being done to Americans of African descent by erasing their contributions to the Revolution.” Between 5,000 and 8,000 “served with the Continental Army,” writes the Museum of the American Revolution, along with thousands more “in state militias and at sea.”Documentation and recollections of that service are waiting to be discovered at Fold3. Carrying a musket or otherwise serving the patriot cause was a path to freedom that changed the lives of black veterans and their heirs down through the generations.Ancestry shared the story of a black Massachusetts man, Private Prymus Tyng, who enlisted three times throughout the eight-year conflict. At the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey, he wrote that “General Washington commanded in person.” Tyng also witnessed the British commander, General John Burgoyne, surrender at Saratoga, New York.Tyng shared details including that “his father’s name was Jack and his mother’s name was Ancillia Crowningshield and was a native of Guinea in Africa.” This type of record, Ancestry said, “builds a bridge back to Africa for anyone doing family history with enslaved ancestors.”Another soldier, Private Dan Mallory, offered rare details in his pension: “The names of all his former enslavers.” The 49-page file on Mallory also documents the efforts of his wife, Alice, to collect a Revolutionary War widow’s pension after his death in 1835.Details like these are rare for black Americans because they crack genealogy’s infamous “Brick Wall.” Prior to the 1870 United States Census, the first after emancipation, enslaved people weren’t recorded by name. Military service put them on par with citizens, at least on paper.The Fold3 database offers a chance for Americans to find out if the roots of their family trees extend into the nation’s founding. “The times that try men’s souls,” Thomas Paine’s phrase for the Revolution, may be 250 years ago. Yet ancestors who fought for independence may be just a few clicks away.

Ancestry Opens Its Vault of Revolutionary War Records To Search for Continentals in Our Family Trees

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