Military Monday: VanHorns in service

Are you looking for a specific military record for your ancestor? Maybe you are just searching for ancestors in a specific war, such as the Revolutionary War. Have you checked out the Card Catalog on Ancestry.com yet? I went to the Card Catalog, selected Military and then typed in VanHorn for the surname, realizing that Van Horn may or may not show up in this search so I may well have to do it again using that spelling. Ancestry.com, by default, shows the results by “record.” To simplify things, I selected the results be shown by “category.”

Over 29,000 records

There are 29,642 entries for VanHorn included in the Military category.

By setting the results to categories versus records, I can focus on ones that have a better chance of including MY VanHorns. To my knowledge my early (i.e. pre-Civil War) VanHorns resided in Pennsylvania and maybe New Jersey. Hence, I can skip over the four VanHorn results in the “Alabama Civil War Muster Rolls, 1861-1865.” Two VanHorns appear in the “Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution: battalions and line, 1775-1783” database.

Revolutionary War

An Abraham Vanhorn (note the H was not capitalized and it was printed as all one word) is listed as a Private in the Continental line, fourth regiment artillery. There is note in first volume under Continental Line, Sixth Pennsylvania which states an Issac Vanhorne (notice the spelling – now I have seen it spelled numerous ways for various people) was promoted to 1^st Lieutenant!

The database “Pennsylvania Women in the Revolutionary War” shows a single result. It gives an account of Rachel Marx Graydon – a “Matron of the Revolution.” She goes to the quarters of the general who is in charge in Brunswick. She was to deliver to him a “letter of introduction she had received from Mr. Vanhorne, of Boundbrook, to a gentleman in Brunswick.” The source also states that “Five of the Misses Vanhorne, his nieces, were staying at the house, and with them Mrs. Graydon became well acquainted, as they avowed Whig principles.”

Another database, “Pennsylvania Revolutionary War Battalions and Militia Index, 1775-1783,” includes 41 VanHorns.

War of 1812

There are 10 results in “Pennsylvania Volunteers in the War of 1812.” However there are 31 results in the “Pennsylvania War of 1812 Pensions, 1866-1879.”

Civil War

Over 80 results can be found for VanHorns in the “Pennsylvania in the Civil War.” There are 96 VanHorn results in the “US Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865.” My Uncle – Benjamin Franklin VanHorn – was one of those men.

Spanish War

Four VanHorns are included in the “Pennsylvania Spanish War Compensation, 1898-1934.” They are: Robert H VanHorn and Orville VanHorn, both of Ellsworth, Kansas; Elmer Jerry VanHorn, of Hughesville, PA; and Joseph Feaster VanHorn, of Newton, PA.

Later wars are clumped together. For example, the US Navy Cruise Books collection includes 1918 through 2009. The US Military Burial Registers includes 1768 through 1921.

Military Monday is a genealogical prompt of GeneaBloggers.

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