Titles Are Not Always What They Seem

      I sat down today determined to find more information on my 4th great-grandfather Johann Fiedler.  Johann, after immigrating from Germany in about 1775 at age fifteen, promptly took up arms in the New York State Militia during the Revolutionary War.  Years ago while visiting the Ontario County Archives Center in Hopewell, New York I copied his application for a military pension.  More than that, I held the actual document in my hands!  Now, I wanted to find a death date and more about his life and time in the military. 

     John, as he became known, was living in Victor, New York in 1840 where he appeared in the Veteran's Schedule that year, he was 78 years old and blind. He also was enumerated in the Pensioner's Census the same year, living with his son-in-law Henry Lash, (misspelled in the index as Trask).  His name does not appear in the general census since 1840 was a head of household only census, but that's okay, the other one is much better!  The general census does not include the information that John was blind, his exact age, or with whom he was living.  In that census he's just a nameless tick mark in a column.  At the Archives Center I also got a look at the Ontario County copy of the Veteran's Schedule which differs from the Washington D.C. copy found at Ancestry and Family Search.  Theirs, the D.C. copy, made no mention of John's blindness.  Local copies are worth seeking out, they are after all the originals and it's not unusual for there to be differences.

     Checking the Family Search site I found John Fiddler of New York in the Revolutionary War Pension Payment Ledgers. A much under-used database that can tell the researcher the ancestor's pension amount, his general location, and an approximate death date. Sometimes the actual date is penciled in. There was a problem however, the description of the entry said it was for New York City. That wasn't right, John lived in Victor in Ontario County, New York-- part of the Northern District. I clicked on the link regardless, and I'm glad I did. The entry wasn't for New York City at all. Look...

    The entry was for "New York, City of Albany".  That comma between York and City means something.  Talk about a rookie mistake Family Search indexer!  I have other ancestors who lived in Ontario County and their pensions also came through Albany. For instance, another 4th great-grandfather, Silvester Worden; he lived about ten miles from John and his pension too was through the Albany office. The place named on the ledger isn't the soldier's address, it's his nearest pension office.  In this case, Albany was closest.

    Pension payments were made every six months, the first one in March and the second in September. From the ledger I could see John's payments ended with the September 1842 payment, narrowing his death date considerably. I can assume he likely passed sometime between September of 1842 and March of 1843. That's some worthwhile information, even though nothing new about his military service turned up, every clue helps.

     By the way, the Revolutionary War Pension Ledgers database also contains some War of 1812 pensions.  The widow of yet another 4th great-grandfather, John Vincent, wife Mary Vincent Howland, nee Clements, appears in the ledgers, originally through the Albany agency, but on March fourth in 1864 her account was transfererred to Canandaigua.  Apparently, a new office was opened in that city. 

     These two examples demonstrate that wording of database titles, like "New York City", and "Revolutionary War Pension Ledgers", can sometimes be misleading.  Had I looked no further than the title, and not clicked on the link, I would have missed out on some great information.