What with the thirteen American Colonies and their territories being mostly east of the Appalachian mountains in the late 1700s, it should come as little surprise that no Iowa soldiers fought in the Revolutionary War.
But that doesn’t mean that our ancestors didn’t fight—or that our Special Collections Center doesn’t have resources that can help those Davenporters, or anyone else, find information on those ancestors.
Some of these resources are books and microfiche, including the DAR Patriot Index, compiled by the Daughters of the American Revolution and Known Military Dead during the American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783 by Clarence Stewart Peterson. We also have some published lists of soldiers from Massachusetts, Ohio, and other areas.
Our two genealogical databases have much to offer the Revolutionary researcher:
AncestryLibrary has several military record databases pertaining to the Revolution, nationally, or by state. There are plenty of local histories and other records available, too.
HeritageQuest has a search engine dedicated to selected Records from Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files, not to mention a substantial searchable book collection, the Periodical Search Index (PERSI) and the U.S. Serial Set. Plus, residents of Davenport with home Internet access don’t have to wait to access this database—just plug in your library card number!
So after the fireworks of Fourth of July are over, why not come in and learn something about the ordinary people who fought for our independence?
We’ll be open July 6th to help you!
