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| Captain Charles E. Pearse, Company D 16th NYHA |
Well, we've finished viewing Ken Burns' Civil War documentary, but I'm still thinking about the Civil War. I've exhausted most of the online sources for my cousins George Hackett and William H. Lead and I have to say, finding information about the 16th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment was a royal pain. George wound up in Company H of the 16th, while his cousin William, with whom he joined the army in1864 when both were 18, found himself in company D. I'm sure the boys, who grew up together, planned on serving together and were disappointed when they found themselves assigned to different companies. Keeping track of their movements was problematic because a large group of the later enlistees in this regiment were "detached", that is they were loaned to other regiments.
From what I can gather, the summer of '64 found George outside Petersburg, Virginia during the long siege, while William was stationed at Fort Magruder also in Virginia. Ironically, it would be William, posted in the relative security of the fort, who would become ill with "congested lungs" and perish that fall, while George in the midst of the struggle survived.
While looking for any bit of information that might add to my understanding of William and George's experiences, I came across a pension application for William filed in 1880, sixteen years after his death?? William never married, but upon opening the link I found the claim was filed by his mother. I hadn't realized a parent could file such a claim, but it was not uncommon.
Called "mother's pensions", they could actually be filed by either parent or by a minor child. The really interesting element for genealogists is the pensions were granted to parents only if they could prove they were dependent upon their soldier's income. The necessary proof was a letter or letters from the soldier to his parent mentioning the money he sent home. Those letters remained with the soldier's case file, now residing at the National Archives in Washington.
William's mother filing at the time she did is also a clue that William's stepfather had probably recently passed away, and sure enough he does not appear in the 1880 census, though I couldn't find him in the mortality schedule either.
So, today's tip is -- check pension applications even if you're sure your ancestor was killed, and or unmarried. Someone may have filed for his pension.
Is there a central location for Pension Files. It's hard to find info on Colored Troops during that time period?
ReplyDeleteFamily Search has a pension index. Ancestry and Fold3 have images of the index card that give the name of the person who filed the claim. I don't know that either one gives the race of the soldier-- unless you knew it was a colored regiment or the soldier's name I don't know that you'd be able to tell, these are all just indexes. Ancestry does have "US Colored Troops Military Service Records 1861-1865" http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1107 Thanks for reading. Ellie
DeleteWhat great advice! I have an ancestor whose wife filed for a pension 20+ years after his death, and it was filled with page after page of letters and other correspondence - an unbelievable treasure trove of data I never would have known any other way. I did not realize that mothers could file for a pension - I need to re-examine my research on a couple of Civil War ancestors that were not married. Thanks for an informative post!
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome Karen! Those pension files are wonderful things, so much personal information. Thank you for reading and letting me know the post was helpful to you. Always nice to hear.
ReplyDeleteEllie
great site and I have a question; I have the pension file for my ancestor but at the time of his death (Union) he was married and had a small child. His wife had remarried in 1871 and then she died in 1874; it dawned on me while checking the card that it did not have a widow's pension mentioned but it did have the word minor written and also a certificate number so would she have received a widow's pension and the date 1871 but she would have still been living ; and then at her death the stepfather would apply for guardianship with the government to receive the child's money. The child would not have been 16 years old as yet. I am trying to figure out how to find out if there would be records at a state level about the guardianship that would have been sent to obtain the child's pension. I hope I made sense here and you can help me as obtaining one like this could open some doors for me. The way the card is written is a little confusing; it is the first one I have ever seen like it.
ReplyDeleteThank You,
RJ
I would think there would be guardianship papers especially in relation to his receiving government funds for the minor. In my experience, such papers were kept at a county level, not state. Check with the courthouse or try contacting a local historical or genealogical society, they should know where to find them. Best of luck.
DeleteRJ one other thought, the guardianship papers would probably be included in the pension application, the Mormon church has filmed the apps, and Fold3 has some of the files online.
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