I read a recent article in Time magazine about how Americans are cozying up to Revolutionary War-era politicians like never before. Supporting that theory is the popularity of books like David McCullough's John Adams (Simon & Schuster, $18.95) and Joseph Ellis' Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (Vintage, $14).

When, in 1774, John Adams wrote his wife Abigail, "We live, my dear soul, in an age of trial. What will be the consequence, I know not," he certainly couldn't have imagined what lay in America's path. Thousands and thousands of patriots took up an unheard of cause-the dissolution of a bond of "ownership" between an empire and its possession.

For today's genealogists, tracing their heritage back to a Revolutionary War patriot is an act of pride, and oftentimes a step toward joining a lineage organization like the Daughters of the American Revolution.

I found my first patriot ancestor a number of years ago. Since then, as I've discovered more branches, I've come up with a half-dozen Revolutionaries. It seems that the broader my research becomes, the more soldiers I find. I'm willing to bet you'll find the same.

To learn more about your Revolutionary War ancestors:
• Revolutionary War Genealogy Books
www.cswnet.com/~sbooks/html/revolutionary_war.htm

• Revolutionary War Military Records
www.genealogy.com/genealogy/24_myra.html?Welcome=995229930

• Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants
www.genealogy.com/genealogy/24_land.html

• Sons of the American Revolution
www.sar.org

• American Revolutionary War Soldiers & Their Descendants
www.rootsweb.com/~ars/index.htm

• Loyalist Genealogy
www.royalprovincial.com/genealogy/gen.shtml