Friday, May 7, 2021

Follow Friday -- The Patriot War -- a bright shiny object

Well yesterday, I succumbed to what Brenda Wheeler from National Institute of Genealogical Studies calls  a BSO -- bright shiny object --- something that takes us away from our planned genealogical task.  I was on the Clayton Library's microfilm catalog,  which was what I originally planned to write about for Follow Friday.  I was looking to see whether they had NY Civil War or 1812 service record microfilms for  one of my ancestors to use as an example .... and I noticed they had a listing for
 INDEX TO COMPILED SERVICE RECORDS OF VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS WHO SERVED DURING THE WAR OF 1837-1838 IN ORGANIZATIONS FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
and
  INDEX TO COMPILED SERVICE RECORDS OF VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS...PATRIOT WAR, 1838
State: NEW YORK

Now I know most conflicts and military sources, but this was a new one for me. 1837-8 ?  Too late for War of 1812, Too late for Texas Independence, too early for the Mexican War, and too early for the Civil War....uh oh,   I was hooked!   So I started to Google the war of 1837, got  Patriot War, followed it, and I learned a lot!
The Wikipedia listing is here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_War and
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Canada

    I knew nothing about the Canadian Rebellions of 1837 and 1838 or the Republic of Canada formed by William McKenzie  and his followers in the US and Canada.  This was a failed attempt for the prospect of a declaration of independence and secession of Canada from Britain !  And on  "Navy Island " between Ontario and New York!
     And volunteers from the State of Louisiana?    Now I can't wait to get to the Clayton library and check out the names on the microfilm!!!! Perhaps it will help with finding info for members of my DAR chapter from Louisiana!!! But I obviously didn't have what I intended to post today.
    So I guess it is a great lesson that checking the microfilm catalog for things other than just surnames is a great idea to find unusual records and history!!!