Federation of Genealogical Societies

The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS), the National Archives and Records Adminsitration (NARA), and the genealogical community have undertaken a monumental project to digitize the War of 1812 pension files—a fitting beginning to the bicentennial commemoration of a war which has been called our nation's "Second War of Independence." These images will be available to genealogy researcers and the public for free. Contributions to this project have already made these files available.

Why Are The War of 1812 Pension Records So Important?

FGS is committed to projects such as the Preserve the Pensions – War of 1812 Pension Digitization Fund that link the genealogical community by advancing the cause of preserving records and making them more accessible to the public.

FGS is proud to be leading the national fundraising to support this project and is actively seeking donations from genealogical and historical societies, patriotic and military heritage societies, as well as interested corporations and individuals. Ancestry.com and Fold3 are providing a dollar-for-dollar match of each donation through a provision of services.

Preserve the Pension Partners

In conjunction with the National Archives & Records Administration (NARA), Fold3 and Ancestry.com, FGS is helping to digitize 180,000 pension applications representing an estimated 7.2 million pages of War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files. The collection will be available for free on Fold3’s website at http://go.fold3.com/1812pensions/.

The multi-year project consists of scanning the pension files at the National Archives in Washington D.C. and creating a searchable index to the digital images. FGS has targeted the War of 1812 Pension Applications as a high priority project based on the value of the content for genealogists as well as the importance of preserving the fragile records.

How You Can Help

A $25 donation will digitize 50 images -- a $500 donation will digitize 1,000 images! These generous people have helped by donating to the Preserve the Pensions fund!

Spread the Word!

Preserve the Pensions may be focused on saving historical records, but we're totally up-to-date with social media! Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/1812pensions and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/1812pensions.

Contact Us

Email us at 1812@fgs.org for more information about the Preserve the Pensions project and to find how you can get involved.