How to Research Pre-Revolutionary War Ancestors

Excerpt: How to Research Pre-Revolutionary War Ancestors, 2016

Finding Family Before 1776
When genealogists hit the colonial period, many suddenly feel the trail goes cold. There is no 1easy civil registration. Few family stories survive. Records may be scattered, damaged, or hidden in places researchers never think to look. But your ancestor did not appear in America in 1776.

They lived, worked, married, bought land, went to court, paid taxes, served apprenticeships, worshipped, migrated, and sometimes got into trouble long before the Revolutionary War. The key is learning where early lives were documented.

So where were they documented?
For pre-Revolutionary ancestors, success often comes from looking beyond birth, marriage, and death records. Here are 12 record sets, the basics that should be reviewed if extant:

1. land grants and deeds
2. tax lists
3. church registers
4. probate files
5. petitions
6. militia lists
7. shipping records
8. indenture contracts
9. apprenticeship records
10. court minutes
11. merchant account books
12. newspapers
13. cemetery and churchyard records

Was Your Ancestor a Sailor, Pirate, Merchant, or Convict?

When genealogists hit the colonial period, many suddenly feel the trail goes cold. Have you considered that your ancestor may have gotten into trouble long before the Revolutionary War?

One overlooked source for colonial-era research is maritime court records. If your ancestor worked at sea, traded goods, was accused of piracy, transported cargo, or arrived as a convict laborer, records may appear in British Admiralty or colonial Vice-Admiralty courts.

Check out the Proceedings of Vice-Admiralty courts in North America, the West Indies and Africa.

These courts handled maritime disputes, seizures, wages, smuggling, and other sea-related matters across the colonies. Colonial vice-admiralty courts existed in several regions, and jurisdiction sometimes crossed colony lines.

That means an ancestor living in one colony may appear in records held elsewhere.

Unexpected Women
Don't forget the women. They were not so squeaky clean. Women appear in colonial records more often than many assume.

Check out these 9 record sets:

1. widow petitions
2. dower claims
3. probate distributions
4. church discipline cases
5. guardianship records
6. poor relief requests
7. newspaper notices
8. runaway servant advertisements
9. court complaints and testimony

Reminder: A woman may be the key to proving an entire family line.

Smart Tip: 

Remember that podcast on One Place Studies? This is a perfect chance to research by the community, not just name. If records are sparse, study the community.

Ask:

• Who were the neighbors?
• Who witnessed deeds?
• Who appeared in the same tax district?
• Who married into the family?
• What church served the area?
• What migration route did families use?

Sometimes your ancestor is hiding inside the records of relatives, neighbors, or associates.

7 Smart Places to Search Pre-1776 Ancestors
1. State Archives
Many colonial court, land, and legislative records are preserved at the state level.

2. County Courthouses
Especially for deeds, probate, and local court minutes.

 
3. Historical Societies

Local collections may contain manuscripts, family papers, maps, and cemetery transcriptions.

 
4. University Libraries
Many hold digitized colonial collections and regional papers.

 
5. British Repositories
Especially for emigrants, convicts, merchants, and military matters.

 
6. Church Archives

Baptisms, marriages, burials, pew lists, and vestry records can be gold.

 
7. Digitized Databases
Search modern collections repeatedly. New material appears all the time.

Lost Records
Some colonial records were destroyed by war, fire, weather, and time. However, a burned courthouse does not always mean a dead end. Search for the following in your state archives and repositories: 

• tax rolls
• neighboring county records
• church records
• newspapers
• land transfers
• probate heirs
• militia lists
• court references in later cases

The trail may be faint, but it is often still there.