As we continue moving toward our nation’s semiquincentennial, I’ve been focusing on the related contributions and connections of folks of the Fork, the Knox County lands between the French Broad and Holston rivers.

How do I find this stuff? Better yet, how can YOU find information about your own ancestors who were awarded land in Tennessee for their service in the fight for independence? If they actually ended up here, there’s a great resource for starting your own research on your ancestors’ journeys.

For a few years, I served as an “advising educator” for the Tennessee State Library and Archives. It was a great experience where I worked with fellow teachers from across the state to help create educational resources, such as lesson plans, videos and traveling boxes that can be checked out for classroom use. While there in Nashville, I learned about Patriot Paths, which is an interactive map with information about Revolutionary War veterans who applied for a pension while living in Tennessee.

The data was compiled from pension applications that were first available to veterans in 1818. At that time, pensions were only offered to soldiers who had fought in George Washington’s official Continental army, but in 1832, it was extended to soldiers who had participated in the Patriot militia. Beginning in 1838, widows of Revolutionary War soldiers were allowed to apply.

Because it wasn’t a particular form of blanks to complete, applicants were able to include details that might not have otherwise been recorded. Not all files are complete, but many include places of birth, where they enlisted, who they fought under, and the movements of their units, as well as children’s names, etc.

The Patriot Selector tab might look like just a big orange blob at first glance, but you’ll see that the orange blob is actually comprised of individual orange lines that connect each Patriot’s points of interest, in terms of where they enlisted, were discharged, and where they resided. If you click on the dots, a box of information will pop up with details. The S or W that prefaces the pension number indicates whether the application was made by the Soldier or the Widow, respectively. The Patriot List allows you to search for an individual name. You can then find the actual application in Fold3 and Heritage Quest online databases. You’re welcome.

The site might be a little clunky, but if you’re patient, you can zoom in to better see map locations and individual names on the lines. I’m including a screen shot of what I was able to drill down to for our area. Of the more than 1,200 veterans who applied for a pension while living in Tennessee, 151 of them were in Knox County at some point. Unfortunately, the points are generalized, which means that a Patriot who has been forgotten in the Fork might have a line that simply ends in Knoxville, the nearest major city.

Revolutionary War veterans’ names whose pension papers indicate that they ended up in Knox County. The lines converge at Knoxville.

Jan Loveday Dickens is an educator, historian, and author of Forgotten in the Fork, a book about the Knox County lands between the French Broad and Holston Rivers, obtainable by emailing ForgottenInTheFork@gmail.com.

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