Are you taking advantage of the Civil War Pension Index over on Findmypast? And did you know it
doesn't just have Civil War pensioners? Today we're gonna help you find the records and learn
more about them. Since the early days of the United States, Congress has established
pension programs to provide compensation to veterans of different military conflicts.
In 1792 Congress passed a pension to provide compensation for disabled veterans of the
American Revolution. By 1818 surviving veterans were able to receive some compensation. By 1862
Congress passed an act to provide compensation for disabled veterans or to provide money to
widows and dependent children who lost their loved ones in the service of the Union Army.
Now Findmypast has this collection available for you to research through a subscription. But I also
want you to know a couple of things before we keep going. And this threw me for a loop when I
first started. The Civil War Pension is a little bit of a misnomer, meaning there are other wars
included in this pension file. And that's why the the range for the Civil War Pension Files
Index is from 1861 to 1934. So be sure that you're also coming to this collection if you have
individuals who may have served in the Indian Wars the World War I.
What you will not find in this collection is this Civil War Pension Files for the Confederate
Army, just the Union Army. The Confederate pensions will be found in the state archives for
states formerly part of the Confederacy. Be sure you check out the Show Notes for this video
because there will be some links to direct use to those resources. Now before we dive into the
actual documents, I want to give you a little bit of historical nuggets. Compensation for
pensions all depended on rank and the severity of the disability. So a totally disabled private
could receive about eight dollars a month in compensation. Now that equates to about a $160
a month, which has a purchasing power in 2020 about a $1000 - 1500 a month. So for
farmers who are disabled, who served their country, this might came in handy to help them
provide for their families. So over on Findmypast, to access the Civil War Pension Index, you need
to first click on Search. And then go to All Record Sets. Now, this was formally called
the A to Z collections. The A to Z Record Sets. But now it's just All Record Sets,
now to access the Civil War records, type in "Civil War."
and then you will get 23 recordsets. Now I highly ... Encourage you to explore these record sets
as well. Some of them are specific to states and medals of honor. That would be great. We want to
focus on the pension file. And if you ever want to ensure that you get the correct pension file, then
type in "pension" in the search bar. And you'll be able to access it right there. Click on that
record, and now you have several options. I'm just going to type in one surname. And I make it going
to ignore the date. And I'm going to type in Ohio. There's one result. Now this record is kind of fun
because it says first names, Townsend Jackson. Jackson Townsend. I'm going to look at the
index to the image. And here I could see. I'm not entirely sure whether Townsend or Jackson is the
first name or the last name. But this pension was started in 1880, and the beneficiaries was named
Hannah Jackson in Ohio. That's about all you're going to find on this record. So what you're
going to do is you're going to actually go in and view the image. Now that we're here, we can see
some of the reasons why the name- it was a little bit confusing. It appears that Jackson Townsend
often is known as Townsend Jackson, and that's why both names are here. This is a fantastic field for
the known names as well as any other "also known as" names that may appear. Then you will
see the list of dependents. This is Hannah Jackson. And then occasionally, you'll see
the minor children also listed here. do not presume there are not any additional individuals
if they are not included on this record. You will always want to go to the original documentation/
now one of the identifying pieces of information for your ancestors. To differentiate them from
other individuals that served in this military is their unit. Now C 12 USC Infantry. This is
great because what this is really saying. If I go over to the National Park Service, their Soldiers
and Sailors Database. I actually found out that this is the 12th Regiment United States Colored
Infantry. So this is an African-American soldier serving in the military. So
here is his name in that database. So we can match it up. I'll be sure to put a link to this
database in the description below so you can find it. So that was really great. We've got the right
gentleman, and now I have his unit. But how am I going to get his pension file? Well, that is
when this information comes in. So notice I have invalid. That invalid applies to the veteran. He
is disabled or somehow incapacitated. And he filed his pension on the 30th May
1880. Now here is his application number. He died sometime before April 20th, 1900. And his widow
filed a widow's pension petition. And here are her numbers. Occasionally you're going to see
an attorney's information as well as some other remarks. Make sure that you are recording all of
the information. This is where the widow filed the petition, but that doesn't mean that is where they
are from. So be very careful when you put in the state because your ancestors might be in places
you hadn't thought of. Now I highly recommend that you capture the number for the pension file
and then go obtain a copy of the full case. Let me share with you just a couple of things that
might be in the documents. Where you're going to have an application, a petition by the veteran for
funding. They're going to articulate where they served, when they served, and so on. There. There
will be a validation statement coming from the War Department saying, "yes, they actually served
in this unit." Then you'll have a personal history questionnaire and a family questionnaire. And the
two of those put you in better understanding of relationships, birth dates for children,
marriage dates of the spouse. So if you're lacking birth, marriage, and death dates, it
could be in the pension file. Which is why these are so great. You will also have affidavits from
fellow unit members so they can talk to the War Department about the individual's service. And
they actually saw them serving, and so they need to receive this compensation. Friends
of friends and neighbors will attest to the living conditions of the veteran, as well as
widows following the death of their qualified veteran. And then finally, where applicable,
medical personnel will provide affidavits of the condition of that soldier when they got injured
during the war and then maybe a physician who cares for the soldier many years after the war.
Chock-full of great information. And sometimes... Sometimes marriage certificates and copies of the
family bible will be in the pension files! So you want to track these down. If you are not on our
newsletter, you are not being informed of when we are releasing new videos. We release a lot!
And when we are releasing new blog posts. We have a lot! So make sure you sign up for our
newsletter, so you never miss another episode or article. So now we're going to look for a more
modern war pensioner. Because remember I said it's not just the Civil War Pension. So we're going to
leave the name blank, and we're just going to have fun. 1924 is when I want them to begin
filing for a petition. That means after the World War I and before the last date in this record.
And I'm going to type in Virginia. And I'm going to go ahead and see there's 981 results. So this
is the state they're living in when they file the position, not where they are actually from. So be
very careful with that. So I want to go ahead and look at Richard A Alexander in Virginia.
Once again, we have the index to get a quick sense of what's going on. It's not very helpful, but if
you find this card applies to your ancestors, you can click add to tree. And follow the process of
attaching a record to your tree. You can print it off as well. But we're going to go ahead and view
the image. And once again, even though the first one I showed you for was from 1880, and this one
was actually being filed in 1926. The record is pretty much the same, so Richard A Alexander.
No minor or widow is listed. We have the unit that he served in. And when he made the filing
and the application number. And where he was when he filed it. So he did serve in Virginia Infantry
and is filing from Virginia. So it's probably from Virginia but don't always make that assumption.
And then there's some other remarks that you want to record. Now once you have that file number,
the next thing you want to do is to obtain the full document. don't just stop at that index
because it really didn't give you that much information. Well, the first thing you could do
is you can get the file number and then go to the National Archives in Washington DC
and access the files as soon as a place is open to the public. You can also place an order with the
NARA and for a fee, and if you're willing to wait lots and lots of months, then you can also obtain
it that way. There's two other ways that you can access the file. One of them is Fold3 is beginning
to digitize and make these records available online. At the time of this recording, the people
I was looking for- I could not find them in Fold3. So then the last alternative is to consider hiring
somebody to go do a lookup. I have found that they can do it in a fraction of the time that you would
wait for the National Archives to digitize your image. And sometimes you can get it for much, much
cheaper. So consider using our friends over at Legacy Tree Genealogists or finding someone from
the Association of Professional Genealogists who do lookups when the archives are open.
So be sure to explore the military veterans that you have in your family tree using Findmypast as
your gateway to the actual record cases. If you want more tips and tricks on how to use
Findmypast, be sure to check out this playlist up here. And if you're ready for something else,
try this playlist right here. So check out all of these resources on van fine