New Database: U.S., Revolutionary War Burial Index, 1775-1875
Ancestry.com has launched a fresh genealogical resource: the U.S., Revolutionary War Burial Index, 1775-1875. This collection documents burial locations for American Revolutionary War servicemembers who died during a century-long span following the conflict's start. Information appears on individual index cards for each veteran, though researchers should note the compilation doesn't encompass every soldier who fought in the war.
The database description indicates that digitized records may contain up to eleven categories of information:
Name
Death date and place
Birth date and place
Burial date and place
Cemetery name
Age at death
Race
Marital status
Enlistment date and place
Change of rank dates
Relationship to head of household
This archive serves as a springboard for deeper family history exploration. Information discovered here can point researchers toward military rolls, service files, vital records such as birth and marriage documents, census data, and estate records. Historical newspaper obituaries may yield additional layers of information about military service or civilian life. Spouse and children's names appearing in these records provide opportunities to build out family trees with new branches.
The physical card images deserve close examination beyond the indexed fields. A designated "service and additional facts" area typically appears on each card containing narrative details about wartime experiences. When space runs short, this section sometimes continues onto a second card.
Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library provided these index cards to create the collection. Library personnel and volunteers assembled what's known as the "DAR Burial Index" during the early 1980s, drawing from burial location lists that the Daughters of the American Revolution published in their annual Senate reports spanning 1900 to 1982, plus additional DAR lists issued between 1982 and 1987.
The American Revolutionary War secured independence for the colonies from Great Britain. Fighting erupted at Lexington and Concord in April 1775 and ended with Yorktown's surrender in October 1781. The Treaty of Paris brought official closure in September 1783. Throughout the war years, roughly 231,000 men served in Continental Army ranks, though no more than 48,000 served simultaneously at the army's height. Colonial militia forces added at least 145,000 more soldiers to the independence effort.
Bibliographic sources from the record page includes:
American Battlefield Trust. "American Revolution Facts." Last modified August 21, 2025. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/american-revolution-faqs.
Darby, Jill. "How to Use Grave Markers to Trace Your Family Tree." Trigard Memorials. Accessed August 28, 2025. https://www.trigardmemorials.com/blog/grave-markers-to-trace-your-family-tree/.
Everett, Joseph B. and Carson Robb. "DAR Revolutionary War Grave Indexes." Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, December 2021. Accessed August 28, 2025.
Gethsemane Cemetery and Memorial Gardens. "How Cemeteries Support Genealogical Research." Accessed August 28, 2025. https://blog.gethsemanememorial.com/how-cemeteries-support-genealogical-research/.
Wallace, Willard M. "American Revolution." Encyclopedia Britannica. Last modified August 27, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Revolution.
