How to Use HeritageQuest Online

Pension and bounty-land warrant application files from the revolutionary war era.

• Elected genealogical Revolutionary War-era pension records and bounty-land-warrant records from the U.S. Veterans Administration.
• Over 81,000 pension files listing over 138,000 American military, naval, and marine officers, enlisted men and dependents.
• Records average 5-8 pages; Some are only one page, some are upwards of 30 pages, so look for the Page information on the page view each time you view a record.
• Get more info here. 

• Given name and Surname are separate fields.
• Boolean operators are not supported.
• Truncation and wildcard symbols are not supported.
• Only the first page (file identification card from the U.S. Veterans Administration filing system) of each record has been indexed.
• First and Last names of the serviceman are always indexed.
• State of service is index, rather than the state in which the application was filed. Use caution when selecting "Service" as a search limit, because branch of service was not always indicated on the first page file card and was only indexed if listed there.

File Desigantions

• Ff file is a Widow's file (e.g., W.8844), the first and last names of the serviceman and the widow are indexed, and therefore searchable.
• Pension files are indicated with a letter and file number: S for servicemen (e.g., S.39566), W for widow's applications (e.g., W.8844)

Bounty Land Warrants

• Bounty Land Warrant applications are indicated with a B.L. Wt (e.g., B.L.Wt. 39108-160-55). The numbers indicate the warrant number, the number of acres of land granted, and the year they were granted, thus the above Bounty Land Warrant #39108 granted 160 acres to the serviceman in 1855.
• Rejected Bounty Land Warrant claims are listed as B.L. Reg or B.L.Rej followed by the file number and year (either whole year or partial [1855 or 55]).
• Widow's Bounty Land Warrant files are listed as W. B. L. Wt. followed by file number, acreage, and year granted.
• If multiple applications exist for the same individual and/or dependents, the files were combined by the U.S. Veterans Administration and have thusly been indexed.