NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee State Library & Archives has launched a digital project that uses pension records to map out where soldiers lived before and after the Revolutionary War.
State Librarian and Archivist Chuck Sherrill announced the Patriot Paths online initiative at the National Genealogical Society's recent annual convention. It helps researchers study migration patterns of soldiers born in the colonies and Europe who ultimately traveled to Tennessee.
About 2,000 pension files exist for the thousands of veterans who came to Tennessee after the war. Most soldiers weren't eligible for pensions until they were in their 80s, so it's a smaller subset of those who served.
Library workers used the records to find dates and places where soldiers were born, married, enlisted and died. The information was coordinated with GIS mapping.