Names of persons who took the oath of allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania, between the years 1777 and 1789, with a history of the "Test laws" of Pennsylvania
Oaths of allegiance, Allegiance Book #1, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1777 : copy of oaths of allegiance taken before justices of Bucks County, Pennsylvania as recorded in the above named book in the office of the Register of Wills at Doylestown, Pennsylvania
"Reprinted from the Pennsylvania genealogical magazine volume XXIII, number 3, 1964."
Index compiled by Duncan Cairnes Ely.
Summary
"The organization of the Pennsylvania militia, as established under the act passed 17 March 1777, has never been adequately explained or fully understood. Complete records pertaining to the militia have not survived. Those which have been published in the various series of the Pennsylvania Archives are, in many instances, incorrectly identified and arranged in a confused manner. Too often, as a result, the fact that a man's name appears in those records has been accepted as prima facie evidence that the man was a patriot who served his county faithfully and diligently. The dual purpose of this study, therefore, is to render intelligible the meaning of those records, and then to relate them to the actual operation of the militia, with particular reference to the first year of its operation under the act." [from the text]
"The organization of the Pennsylvania militia, as established under the act passed 17 March 1777, has never been adequately explained or fully understood. Complete records pertaining to the militia have not survived. Those which have been published in the various series of the Pennsylvania Archives are, in many instances, incorrectly identified and arranged in a confused manner. Too often, as a result, the fact that a man's name appears in those records has been accepted as prima facie evidence that the man was a patriot who served his county faithfully and diligently. The dual purpose of this study, therefore, is to render intelligible the meaning of those records, and then to relate them to the actual operation of the militia, with particular reference to the first year of its operation under the act." [from the text]
