County archives hold historical treasures

The Cape Girardeau County Archive Center is a treasure trove full of historical tidbits just waiting to be uncovered.

Case in point:

A few folks at the center recently stumbled across several Revolutionary War documents while helping search for information on a veteran of that war who is buried near Fruitland.

The three-person archive staff -- Steve Pledger, Cathy Stoverink and Jane Jackson -- came across a county court book that had the words "Rev appls" on it. It was a list of Revolutionary War pension applications.

In all, 13 applications were found in the court books last month, which brings the total to 21 similar applications that have been uncovered in the archives.

It may not sound exciting at first, but the requests from the Revolutionary War veterans included a wealth of information, such as what battles they were in, where they were living and facts about their personal lives and what they went through in the war.

This information will help paint a better picture of the role Cape Girardeau County soldiers played in the war. While Cape Girardeau already has a rich history, new information like this makes it all the richer.