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My Blackfoot ancestor was supposed to have been born in Beaver County, Nancy Agnes McLane. she marries into my Ralston line, John Ralston, Jr. who was born in WA County, Greenburg
.I have been using my tree on Ancestry and Fold3 to try to prove a patriot who dropped into Westmoreland/Washington/Fayette County for a few years like 1780 to 1785, long enough to participate a bit and get fined for non-participation, making it tough for me to prove him with the DAR. They have rejected him, so now i am trying to find evidence that will work. (Interesting for you, this ancestor goes to Nelson County, KY where his descendents marry into my Morton line. I suspect that ought to be of interest to several people here :).
Anyway, what I have found is that the records for that part of PA are a mess! PA and VA fought for control of that area during the latter part of the Revolution. VA seems to have been strongest initially and were slow to tell settlers when the negotiations to extend the Mason-Dixon line would put them in PA. Some settlers bought their land in VA; some in PA. Some, usually from VA, were already settled there, and others were sold the land, resulting in double claims. Part of the negotiations resulted in no tax list in 1782, as demanded by VA. What records there were are who knows where? You can find militia lists in the PA Archives online (I believe they are free through Fold3, but I also found them elsewhere. Try archive.org).
The mess between VA and PA resulted in court officials being jailed, militia missing their tours, and fignts between the pro-PA and pro-VA factions. The VA people sent petitions to their gov’t saying that they were not going to be loyal to PA until VA came out with a proclamation, which VA was slow to do. Finally, they began a push for their own state. Those petitions have a lot of names on them.
The census begins in 1790.
Good luck. I keep ploughing through these records myself. If you run across Gideon Walker, let me know. He is listed as fined by Westmoreland County Militia, drafted by WA County militia, and as signer of a couple of petitions, no official records of living there until after the war which is too late.
Techteach
Land records here: http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-185DepreciationLands/r17-185LotListingInterface.htm
I don’t know if these cover Beaver County though.
TT
Thanks! I will let you know if I run across anything 🙂
I have been meaning to learn more about the DAR.
My ancestor Frances Weeks Dingman had done work with the DAR making up lists of people in old cemeteries.
It was neat that I found information on one of my ancestors through one of my ancestors who had recorded it.
So I assume her father must have been in the Rev War. I need to find her parents also.
She was born 1792 in Virginia. Ive run across her surname a lot lately, and some hopeful leads.
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