War veterans

I was looking for war veteran records, as our family history indicates 4 ancestors who were in the Revolutionary War and at least one, but probably 3, from the Civil War. I started with the D.A.R.

Now I was only familiar with the Daughters of the American Revolution from the song in "The Music Man" about the Wells Fargo wagon coming: "The D.A.R. has sent a cannon for the courthouse square." But it seems that there is quite an organization of proud Americans happy to let the world know that their ancestors are American Patriots from the founding of our great country. To be a member, you must submit miles of documentation supporting your claim to being a 'daughter' but the rewards must be considerable. Suffice it to say I won't go that far (although my husband, who always claims that his family were all either philanderers or horse thieves - sorry Lil - thinks it would be cool.) In any case, the D.A.R. will, upon receipt of an emailed request, do a search for your particular 'patriot' to see if he is, in fact, included in their records. And sure enough, my request for verification of John George Dissinger's service to his new country was charmingly answered by "Patriot Lookup Volunteer," Marilyn:

DISSINGER, George

Birth: GER 1747

Service: PA

Rank: Ens

Death: PA 1816

Patriot Pensioned: No

Widow Pensioned: No

Children Pensioned: No

Heirs Pensioned: No

Spouse: (1) Judith Louser Spouse: (2) Catherine Schweitzer

(I didn't know he had a second spouse!)

For those keeping track, John George Dissinger (1748* - 1816) begat Henry Dissinger (1780 - ?) who begat Michael Dissinger (1810 - 1886) who begat John W. Dissinger (Civil War veteran, 1836 - 1919) who begat Harry Dissinger, who was my mother's grandfather.

Since it obviously requires some effort on the part of Volunteers, I didn't actually submit requests to the D.A.R. for the others on the family tree with asterisks for the Revolutionary War, since my aunt had obviously already done the background work years ago, but I did find another website that provided a little information on them in the Pennsylvania State Archives. So, the 4 ancestors who are American Patriots are:

George Dissinger (1748 - 1816)
Conrad Reinohl* (or Reinoel) (1769 - 1832)
John Pfeifer (1730 - 1798)
Jacob Schneider (1760 - 1842)

The information is disappointingly sparse and, not knowing much about military organization, I really can't make sense of the abbreviated references to battalions and companies. Inquiring minds want to know more. So I moved on to the Civil War, and came tantalizingly close to something...



* You will find that dates and name spellings are a moving target in this stuff. One website explained that there was a lot of 'unsure' and outright untruths in the records, so you have to go with 'close enough.'