On 12/3/2012 4:45 PM, PJ Achramowicz wrote:
> Hi Margie:  Re your query (below) on the VA-roots list.  Whether a widow
> received a pension depends on her circumstances:  was she indigent, infirm,
> could she prove her marriage and her husband's service, whether she
> remarried, and also of course where she lived.  If the soldier was Union,
> then a pension application might be on the NARA site (or fold3.com) and
> some records about trying to procure pensions might be in individual G.A.R.
> and Sons of Union Veterans organizational records as they sometimes helped
> veteran members in the process of procuring pensions.  If he was a
> Confederate then you would have to turn to the individual Southern states
> to see if a pension application was filed.  If the latter, most are indexed
> and the indexes are online at each state archive or state library.  Some
> state archives have digitized the pension applications and are also
> online.  If for instance, the soldier served out of Virginia but he or his
> widow lived elsewhere afterwards, you might want to check the state of
> later residence.  My 3rd great-grandfather served the Confederacy out of
> Mississippi, but he and his 2nd wife eventually moved to Texas.  His widow
> then applied to the state of Texas for a Confederate widow's pension, which
> was granted.  In regard to the pension applications themselves, usually the
> widow's pension has more genealogical information since she was asked for
> more proof of his service and her relationship to the deceased soldier.
> Hope this helps.
>
> Patricia
>
> Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2012 18:54:13 -0500
> From: Margie Barton<[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: military records
>
> Question: If my great grandfather died in the camp hospital in 1863 would
> his wife received a pension?
>
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>
Another possible quirk- if you have an ancestor who fought in the 
Western campaign and may have been captured and taken to Fort Douglas in 
Chicago- look to see if they served in the Union army on the frontier.  
My husband has an ancestor from Tennessee who joined up from prison and 
was sent to Fort Leavenworth- He applied for a Union pension which was 
initially granted then taken away then he complained to his congressman 
and got it - long story short the pension file is about  2 1/2 inches 
thick and the fight continued until his widow died in the 1930s.  These 
soldiers are sometimes referred to as galvanized Yankees.  He did not 
apply for a pension from Tennessee.

I initially found him in the 1890 census schedule for veterans.

Marilyn

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