I recently attended the NGS annual conference in Raleigh, NC and learned about the Revolutionary War pension files now on line at Footnote.com. I did a quick search and found a reference to a Capt. Christopher Riddick from Nansemond and Suffolk Counties in Virginia. The pension file actually belonged to another veteran who was applying for benefits after the Congress passed a law in 1832 offering benefits to militia soldiers from the War.

Reference:

“Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files,” digital images,Footnote.com (http://www.footnote.com : accessed 19 May 2009), Pension Number S.16966 William Miltear; citing National Archives microfilm publication Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, M804.

Capt. Christopher Riddick was one of this soldier’s unit commanders during a six week tour. The really neat part of this is that I have never been able to find any references to Christopher Riddick, other than his will in the North Carolina State Archives. Riddick lived in Gates County, NC after the War. Gates County and many others in NC and Virginia were “burned” counties. That is, their courthouses were burned during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, or the Civil War.

I had pretty much given up trying to find a direct link to a patriot ancestor to support an application to the Sons of the American Revolution. Now I have to verify that this Christopher is my ancestor. That will be a challenge since there are few surviving records for this area. The one advantage I have is that Christopher was a sheriff in Gates County for a few years and there may be documents referencing him. As more documents are scanned and placed on line, I have a greater chance of seeing his name pop up.

I’ll post search results as I find them.