ISGS War of 1812 Pension Match Challenge

ISGS Announces the $10,000 War of 1812 Pension Match Challenge

The Illinois State Genealogical Society is proud to support the Federation of Genealogical Societies' "Preserve The Pensions" campaign, with the goal of raising $3.7 million to digitize the War of 1812 Pension Application Files held at the National Archives and make them freely accessible online. The digitized pension files will be available for free on Fold3.com - see http://go.fold3.com/1812pensions/ to view the files that are available so far.

In recognition of the importance of this digitization effort, the Illinois Genealogical Society has issued the ISGS $10,000 War of 1812 Pension Match Challenge. ISGS will MATCH any donation up to the first $10,000 that is made before January 31, 2015.

• This means that if you donate $100, ISGS will match your contribution for a total of $200! 
• The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) has agreed to MATCH the combined contribution (up to $20,000) for a total of $400.
• In addition, Ancestry.com will also match the combined contributions for a total of $800!

Any contribution you make will actually be EIGHT-FOLD!  Any size contribution is welcome! A $100 contribution equals about 1776 pages of Pension files digitized as part of the "Preserve the Pensions" project.

War of 1812 Pension Application Files - A Valuable Resource

The National Archives has over 180,000 of these pension application files, containing more than 7.2 million pages. These files are among the files most frequently requested by genealogy and family history researchers. Pension application files contain valuable information - not just about the day-to-day life of the applicant while in military service, but also information on the applicant's widow, family members and even neighbors.

Illinois and the War of 1812

Often referred to as "The Forgotten War" or "America's Second Revolutionary War," the War of 1812 was a defining event for what was

then the Illinois territory and helped lead to statehood for Illinois in 1818. For more information on Illinois and the War of 1812, see the Illinois War of 1812 Bicentennial Committee website at http://illinoiswarof1812bicentennial.org/.

Remember, donations of any size will help - even a $10 donation means 80 more pages of War of 1812 Pension Application files will be digitized as part of the Preserve the Pensions project.

How To Donate to the ISGS $10,000 War of 1812 Pension Match Challenge

Donate online using the link below or send a check (made payable to Illinois State Genealogical Society - please indicate "War of 1812" on the memo line) to: Illinois State Genealogical Society, P. O. Box 10195, Springfield, IL 62791-0195. You may also click here to make your donation using our online form.