Researching Your Colonial War Ancestors

Key points and insights

This webinar traces the sweep of North American colonial conflicts—from the Pequot War through Lord Dunmore’s War—to show how each era’s battles generated records that can illuminate an ancestor’s life. Rather than treating these wars as disconnected skirmishes before the Revolution, the presenter frames them as a continuum of land disputes, imperial rivalries, and frontier violence that shaped settlement patterns, migration, and economic opportunity. Throughout, detailed case examples demonstrate how colonial laws, military structures, and postwar land policies can open new pathways in genealogical research.

• A clear roadmap to colonial conflicts and where to look for ancestors
  The webinar lays out the major wars between 1636 and 1774 in chronological order, explaining who fought, where, and why each conflict matters for researchers. By linking events such as King Philip’s War, King William’s War, and the French and Indian War to specific colonies and frontier regions, it helps genealogists identify which clashes might have involved their families and which repositories—state archives, colonial assembly records, or British records—are most likely to hold relevant material.

• Colonial records that function like “early” pensions, service files, and case studies
  Attendees see how petitions to colonial courts, pay lists, muster rolls, substitute service receipts, and local militia laws can substitute for the later military files genealogists may be used to. Examples such as a wounded militiaman’s plea for compensation or a record of one man serving in another’s place illustrate how to interpret these documents, extract genealogical details (residence, movement, social status), and cross-check them with diaries, newspapers, and published rosters.

• Land, maps, and lineage societies as powerful military evidence
  The presentation highlights bounty and donation land grants as a key—yet often overlooked—source for proving colonial military service, especially when combined with modern published indexes and original survey maps. It also introduces manuscript collections and lineage societies devoted to colonial wars, showing how their applications, membership files, and manuscript holdings can confirm service, extend pedigrees, and add historical depth to family narratives.

Genealogists seeking to place colonial-era ancestors in their proper historical context—and to move beyond bare names and dates—are encouraged to view the full webinar. The complete presentation walks step by step through examples, visuals, and research strategies that cannot be fully conveyed in summary, offering practical guidance for tackling difficult pre-Revolutionary research problems. After watching, viewers are invited to explore the additional resources listed in the accompanying syllabus, where curated books, record sets, and online tools provide further direction for uncovering colonial war service and integrating it into a richer family history.