www.itowler.com - Ian's Home on the web

I am not sure that I have ever mentioned it, but I descend from several individuals that fought in the American Revolution.  I actually share a surname with one: Joseph Towler (click on the name to view my genealogy data).  Using some online Genealogy resources, I discovered that Joseph Towler Fought with the 7th Virginia Regiment.  I have even found a few images of Muster Rolls from the unit (see the image on the right, click to enlarge).  I find these records really fascinating, as they provide more insight into the lives of the people that are included. 

To date, I have only found 2 Muster Records for Joseph Towler, and they are both when he was stationed at Fort Pitt.  The area around Fort Pitt would become the modern day Pittsburgh, PA.  One of the things that I find interesting is that Fort Pitt would have been about 340 miles away from where Joseph lived (or Bedford, VA).  This is a long way to walk.....

During the American Revolution, Fort Pitt was considered a Frontier fort.  We can find evidence that Joseph Towler was there from at least Oct 1782 through June 3rd 1783, as these are the dates that we find on the Muster Rolls.  The first Muster Roll is titled:

"Muster Roll of Captian Benjamin Bigg's Company of the 7th Virginia Regt. in the Service of the United States of America Commanded by Col. John Gibson for the month og October 1782."

You can click on the Image above to get a closer look, but you can clearly see the "Fort Pitt, November 4th 1782" near the top of the image above.  The rest of this image is pretty clear and it lists Joseph Towler as a Private.  It is interesting to note that it is listed as Towler and not Toler. 

The next Muster Roll that I found was titled:

"Muster Roll of Capt. Benjamin Bigg's Company, a detachment Virginia Line in the Service of the United States of America for the month of May 1783."

This Muster roll is a little more difficult to read, but still readable.  Joseph is again listed as Towler and not Toler.  He is still a Private.  The muster roll refers to the unit as a detachment of the Virginia Line, but the first on did not.  If this is to be belived, then Joseph was part of the Continental Army, and not a Militia Member.  If you click on the image above, you can see a larger version, and read that they are still at Fort Pitt on June 3rd 1783.

To me, these are pretty cool records, and I am sure that I will come back to them to look at them again in the future.