My gr-gr-gr-gr-great grandfather (5th), Samuel TENNIS, served in the Revolutionary War in the 3rd Battalion, Philadelphia Associators (1775), according to DAR records.
He is my ancestor through the MCNARY line, and I am related to him via three different branches of the MCNARY family (pedigree collapse).
The 3rd Battalion, Philadelphia Associators (1775)
Samuel’s “3RD BATT, 1775” service places him with the Philadelphia Associators, which were Pennsylvania’s volunteer militia organizations that were the de facto armed force for the colony before the Continental Army was fully organized. The Associators were an all-volunteer military body pledged to the defense of Pennsylvania, organized in a colony whose leadership, a coalition of Quakers, German pacifists, and merchants, foreswore military preparedness on religious and ideological grounds. We know that he descended from one of the original settlers of Germantown, PA, Abraham TUNES, so this fits well with what we would expect from this family line.
The Philadelphia Associators were organized into several numbered battalions. Given that Samuel was born in Philadelphia County circa 1745, his placement in the 3rd Battalion fits his geography perfectly. At the outbreak of hostilities in 1775, activist elements organized local volunteer “associations” that were eventually formed into fifty-three battalions, although though these voluntary Associators never represented more than a fraction of the state’s population.
His rank of Private in Patriotic Service is consistent with Associator service. These were local men mustering in place, not enlisting in the Continental Line. The 1775 date suggests he was among the earliest wave of volunteers, mustering before the war’s full scope was known.
His service sources, PA Archives 2nd Series Vol. 14 and 3rd Series Vol. 13, are exactly right for this. Pennsylvania Archives 2nd Series, Vol. 14 covers muster rolls and papers relating to the Associators and militia of Philadelphia, Chester, Bucks, Berks, and other counties. These are the precise records where a Philadelphia Associator would appear.
Paid Supply Tax, 1781–1783
This second entry referenced in the DAR material is actually significant for genealogical purposes. Pennsylvania Supply Tax lists from this period provide evidence of Patriotic Service for organizations like the Sons of the American Revolution. The Supply Tax of April 1779 onward was specifically levied for Congress to use to prosecute the war. Congress needed a money supply to fund the ongoing conflict and wrote resolves for the states to collect accordingly.
Only entries between April 6, 1781 and November 26, 1783 are considered valid for Patriotic Service purposes. Samuel’s supply tax payment in exactly that window is a clean qualification.
What this tells us biographically: by 1781–1783, Samuel was a taxable property holder in Pennsylvania. He had land, livestock, or other assessable assets. He was paying into the war effort financially even if his active militia service had concluded. Supply taxes were levied specifically to help pay debts from the Revolutionary War.
The Bigger Picture
Samuel would have been approximately 30 years old in 1775 which is essentially the prime age for militia enlistment. He mustered with local Philadelphia Associators at the very outset of the war, then remained a documented contributing resident through its conclusion. By circa 1820 he had relocated to Washington, Mason County, Kentucky. It was a common migration pattern for Pennsylvania families moving down the Ohio Valley in the post-war decades.
Digging Deeper
- Fold3 has the Pennsylvania Revolutionary War Battalions and Militia Index, 1775–1783 — his muster roll entry should be there
- Pennsylvania State Archives Record Group 4.61 holds the original tax and exoneration lists where his supply tax payments would appear
- The specific PA Archives citations on the record (2nd Ser. Vol. 14, pp. 164, 172; 3rd Ser. Vol. 13, pp. 115, 117, 290, 293, 404, 407) are worth pulling directly — multiple page references suggest he appears on several muster rolls, which could give you company, dates of service, and potentially physical description
The multiple PA Archives 3rd Series Vol. 13 citations are particularly promising — that volume contains the alphabetical list of soldiers and the Philadelphia County muster rolls, and hitting six pages suggests he’s documented in some detail.
Sources
- Daughters of the American Revolution Genealogy Records – Ancestor A113525
- US Pennsylvania Revolutionary War Battalions and Militia Index, 1775-1783 – Fold3
- US Pennsylvania Revolutionary War Battalions and Militia Index, 1775-1783 – Ancestry
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania
- The Pennsylvania Associators 1747-1777 by Joseph Seymour