-~ THOSE OF THE VANCE SURNAME IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR DOCUMENTS Of THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES by Rev. Paul J. Weckle Rt. 1, Box 210 Hickman, Nebraska 68372 for The Vance family Association 1455 Union Cross Road Kernersville, NC 27284 . February, 1988 ADENDUM "Vance Revolutionary War Records from the National Archives" by Paul J. Wecl<le, February 1988 Note: Rev. Paul Weckle was kind enough to make his book available to all Vance Family Association Members. His specific suggestion was to make "copies of the book in either loose form or bound form could be made available for general distribution to libraries and member/non-members across the U.S." With the advent of the Internet, the VFA has an opportunity to fulfill Rev. Weckle's wishes by posting a digitized copy of his book on its website. Rev. Weckle did not have access to the Internet in 1988. Today, Fold3 is a provider of Revolutionary War records in digitized format from the National Archives that can be accessed in seconds on-line. Rev. Wecl<le only had access to microfilmed documents when he prepared this manuscript. His work was painstaking, but thorough and he combines a great deal of information on many Vance patriots of the Revolutionary War. In fact, this book in many instances contains more than can be found on Fold3, but Fold 3 has found a few missing records since 1988 and an addendum is needed after 26 years. page 23: For Joseph Vance #37, there are now nine muster and pay "cards" (records) for his service in the 4, 8, &12th Virginia Regiments. These cards are labelled as "4, 8, & 12 VA" He may not have served in the 4th VA, but there are two separate cards for Pvt. Joseph Vance in the 8th Virginia Regiment. In some instances, there were reorganizations of the Continental Line that reassigned regimental numbers to certain units and merged some units into others that had suffered heavy casualties. page 23: For Joseph Vance #38, regimental cards are listed here that are not from the 7th Virginia Regiment. Specifically, the first through the sixth cards were available on Fold 3 and they are labelled as the 11th Virginia Regiment. Only the last card was from the 7th Virginia Regiment; nonetheless, all these cards are for the same soldier. page 23: for Joseph Vance #39, five pay roll cards and 4 muster cards from the 8th VA Regiment are available on Fold3.com. page 25: For Joseph Vance #40, it is stated that there are "no cards," from the 11th VA and the reader is asked to "see also 7th VA" However, Fold3 now has eight cards for Pvt. Joseph Vance in the 11th VA page 25: For Joseph Vance, it is stated that there are no cards from the 12 VA; however, Fold3 now has 11 pay roll and 12 muster cards from the 12 VA for Pvt. Joseph Vance. Based on Rev. Weckle's work and family trees developed since 1988, soldier #35, #38, and #40 can be identified as Joseph Colville Vance (b. 24 Oct 1759 d. 16 May 1809), son of David Vance Jr. He would have been about 18 years old when he enlisted. He married to Sara Wilson in 1781 and they had nine children. He is acknowledged as a patriot by the Sons of the American Revolution. Soldier #37, #39, and #41 are the same Joseph Vance who settled in Kentucky after the war. He applied for and received a pension from the government in 1818. His muster roll cards show he was at Valley Forge from Feb. 1778 through May 1778. He married while living in Kentucky, but the censuses show no children. WAVAug2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 - MILITARY RECORD CARDS {pages 1-31} 1. List of Soldiers• Names and Roll on which their record appears. {pages 1-3} 2. SUMMARY {pages 4-8} a. Soldiers matched in various Rolls 3. ABSTRACT of MILITARY RECORDS {pages 9-31} CHAPTER 2 - MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS {pages 32-38} 1. LIST of PERSONS. This is not strictly a list of soldiers, but a list of any Vance who contacted, or corresponded in some way with the Army; person is identified to Roll on which they appear. {pages 32-33} 2. StmARY of POTENTIAL Identification with a soldier in Chapter 1. {page 34} 3. ABSTRACT of MANUSCRIPTS. {pages 35-38} CHAPTER 3 - PAPERS OF CONTINENTAL CONGRESS {pages 39-51} 1. List of Vances who appear in the hard bound index, identifying Roll on which they appear. {page 39} 2. Full Quotation of Document wherever possible. {pages 40-51} CHAPTER 4 - PENSIONERS WITH THE SURNAME VANCE {pages 52-74} 1. List of Soldiers, plus Roll on which they appear; includes a brief sulliTiary. {page 52} 2. Abstracts of data found in Pension Series: M804, roll # 2441. {pages 53-74} INDEX - By name and by location l _ _ INTRODUCTION The reader will find the Table of Contents a very helpful guide to finding the category of document that you want to examine. There are the Military Cards which lists the name of each soldier, the company they served, frequently the time they served, occasionally the amounts they were paid, then in some cases special "Description Lists" can be found for a s~ldier, especially if they deserted. The second Chapter is a record and summary of manuscripts of those with the surname Vance. Those listed were not necessarily soldiers, but certainly they had contact of some kind with the Army during the Revolutionary War period. The third Chapter is a record and summary of the papers of the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War. This list is not limited to persons who served in the Army, but is a record of anyone by the surname Vance who corresponded with Congress during the Revolutionary War period. Tne fourth Chapter is a record and summary of those of the surname Vance who served in the Revolutionary War and received a pension. There is one soldier who served by the name Vance, but later changed his name to Smith by act of Vermont Legislature. NO OTHER VITAL RECORD OR FORMAL DOCUMENT HAS BEEN RESEARCHED AND INCLUDED HERE. This is stri'ct1 y taken from the data that the Nati ona 1 Archives has available. I recommend you glance at the summary for each class of document first. Each class is a different microfilm, and therefor is information independent of the other Chapters. Kindly rememberI that there was a fire in Washington D.C. that destroyed the majority of the Revolutionary War documents. Therefore we are very fortunate that we have what we do. That also will explain why the Pension documents cannot necessarily be "proved" by the remaining military record cards that are in existence {and included here.} I have chosen to "abstract" the information for all four categories of information. The only exception to that, is that MOST of the data in the 3rd Chapter on PAPERS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS have been quoted in their entirety because they are letters, which reveal a better record of the person and their "situation" complete, as opposed to being abstracted. HOW TO USE THIS DOCUMENT This 74 page document has been compiled utilizing the microfilm at the National Archives. The procedure I followed is as follows. First, soldiers with the surname: VANCE were looked up in an Index Roll. That roll stated a first name, the company he served, and the# of another roll to find more information. What you see on pages 1-3, 32-33, 39, and 52 are exact duplicates of that first Index Roll for each kind of document. Secondly, each specific Roll # was found and the VANCE data photocopied. Then, a 11 brief, 11 11 Condensed 11 form of the information found there was entered into the computer. What you see on pages 9-31, 35-38, 40-51, and 53-74 is that condensed information. It is called an ABSTRACT. When done entering ALL this VANCE data into the computer, it became clear that there were some interesting connections that could be drawn from all that information. Sometimes, a relationship is specifically stated, such as a brother who served out the remaining portion of his brother's term of service. Other times, the data infers a conclusion, such as two Vances who entered and were discharged from the same company on the same date, suggests a father­ brother combination or two brothers who served together'~ Whenever this kind of information, or conclusion can be drawn, it has been gathered together into a SUMMARY, so a person can quickly find some answers. Undoubtedly, you will find other conclusions worthy of being included in the SUMMARY as well. Lastly, I find it offensive when a reference document has not been indexed. That is why you will find not only a surname index, but also a place or location index at the very end of this document. All of these structures: LISTS, ABSTRACTS, SUMMARIES and INDICES, are here to make your research easier and more thorough. I hope this clearly introduces you to the structure and process I used and makes the use of this document easier and more enjoyable as you continue your search for your ancestors. FROM: Paul J. Weckle Rt. 1, Box 210 Hickman,NE 68372 REVOLUTIONARY WAR PROJECT INVENTORY LIST TO: Vance Voss Smith, Maurice M. Vance and Kathleen .Corley Mason I felt it would be very helpful if everyone knew just what it was that I was sending to Kathleen for the Vance Family archives today: Feb.