Civil War Pension Files for Union Soldiers and their dependents- Requesting Civil War Pension Files

Life has certainly changed over the past couple of weeks. There are typically a couple of ways in which to get a copy of a civil war pension file.

Electronically request one from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). According to NARA’s website, this is currently the only way to request records. The current cost is $80 for the first 100 pages of the record. If there are more than 100 pages, you will be notified regarding the cost for the remaining pages. I have had a response since they have been closed about a records request that I had put in.

When things are working as usual, you can also request the records in person at the NARA location in Washington, DC and view them for free in the records room. There is a minimal charge for making copies. As with any archive, check with the staff regarding how copies can be made.

If you are not in the area and have a large number to request, it can be cost effective to hire a professional genealogist to review and copy the records for you. The Association of Professional Genealogists has a directory of individuals by location.

Civil War Pension Files for Union Soldiers and their dependents- How to find them

I was fortunate to work at a large scale research project at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, DC and the National Records Center in Suitland, Maryland for 18 months in which I daily handled Civil War Pension Files and Medical Records and Military Service Records. It was a treasure trove of information on the soldiers and their families.

United States Civil War and Later Pensions is an enormous record group at NARA and the National Records Center. Pensions began to be issued to disabled veterans in 1862 with laws making major changes to the qualifications being made in 1872, 1890, and 1906. According to the Social Security Administration, by 1910, 90% of living Union veterans were receiving a pension.

There are indexes to Union Pension Records with nearly 2.5 million Index Cards. There are several ways to search the index files; Family Search has United States Civil War and Later Pension Index, 1861-1917 and United States General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934; Ancestry’s Index is the same as the latter from Family Search ; and Fold3 has Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900. I recommend that you look at all three.

Each of the databases yielded a different card on the same person, which will give you the necessary information in order to request their full pension records; however, they also give important information regarding the veteran and their families. We find out not only the service information for David N. Dague within the index cards, we find his wife’s name- Matilda J., the mailing address in Perry, Oklahoma (if the name sounds familiar watch Far and Away with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman), the monthly pension amount- $15-50, and David’s date and place of death.

From United States Civil War and Later Pension Index, 1861-1917

From United States General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934

From Fold3’s Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900, Indiana, Infantry, Regiment 155, Company A

If you do not have subscriptions to Ancestry.com or Fold3, you can access them at Family History Centers or your local library. Many community libraries have the databases available at the library or remotely with your library card number. Family Search can be accessed through any computer; however, you will have to create a free account.

Next: Requesting Civil War Pension Files

Doppelgangers

It seems to come up far too often when I am doing family history research, two individuals are confused within genealogical records as the same person, doppelgangers in a sense.  A few years ago, I was working on the family of John Marsh and Catharine Leavell of Ohio and Indiana. They had several children, one son was named Henry C Marsh, who was born about 1844 in Indiana.  

On Ancestry.com I found a family tree with Henry C Marsh, son of John Marsh and Catharine Leavell.  Henry was from Indiana and listed as being in a Private in the Civil War. I looked at the Civil War Draft Registration Records, 1863-1865, and there is a Henry C Marsh, born about 1862 in Indiana.  Henry served in the 12th Indiana Infantry. He was from Clark County, Indiana, which is on the southeastern part of the state. He is also listed as a wagonmaker.

U.S. Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865, Indiana, 2nd, Vol 4.  Ancestry.com

The Marsh family I was looking at were farmers and lived in Cass County, Indiana.  Henry’s two brothers served the 20th & 99th Indiana Infantries in the Civil War, which had soldiers from Cass and surrounding counties.  

So something is not quite right that Henry, who is fairly young, takes up an occupation different from his father and brothers and joins a regiment in a county almost 200 miles away.

A quick check of the U.S. Census records shows two Henry Marshes in Indiana in 1860.   One in Cass County (farmer) and the other in Clark County (carpenter). Two men with the name name, born about the same time in the same state.  

1860 U.S. Census, Utica, Clark County, Indiana, p 37. Ancestry.com

1860 U.S. Census, Adams Township, Cass County, Indiana, p 215.  Ancestry.com

It can really tangle up your family tree if only take a quick glance at a record and assume it is referring to a person you are researching.  The distance between the two counties and the occupations listed should have raised a red flag even though the names matched and there were similar dates of birth.

Note: I do not use other’s posted family trees as evidence in family history research.  I use this example as a point of reference that people can be too quick to judge that a document refers to an individual.  The owner of the tree did want that military connection to his family, but it just wasn’t there.