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

A brief narrative history

I just finished this brief 16 page history for a client, delivered just in time for Christmas. Discovered that the grandparents may have met working at a doughnut company in Chicago.

Women's History Month- The Hidden Half of the Family: A Sourcebook for Women's Genealogy

Christina Kassabian Schaefer has created a wonderful resource for finding information on women in family history research in her book, The Hidden Half of the Family: A Sourcebook for Women’s Genealogy. While the book was originally published in 1999 the book remains relevant to current research in family history.

Find a copy using Worldcat.org

She begins by going through various resources in the United States that are relevant to researching women. Then she describes laws that affected women over the past 1500 years and how those laws affected the everyday lives of women and the records that contain information on women. She then describes each states’ history, the location of records, laws affecting women, and a reference list.

While so many records have been digitized, the information that is contained in this book gives detailed information on how to access the information. Conveniently, she gives NARA record groups and FHC film #s of various records which greatly reduces the amount of time needed to access those records. Family Search’s film library can be accessed by film number on their website.

If you want a copy for yourself, it is available as an ebook, new, and used from online retailers.

October is Family History Month

October is Family History Month what are you going to do to discover more about your ancestors?

Contact me for a free consultation to get started, work on a problem, organize your documents, or start a medical family history.

Copy of Paper lasts longer than digital?!

It seems odd to think that digital photos and files would not last as long as paper or would need more maintenance.

Technology is changing so quickly and we do not often maintain our files, so that they are still accessible. My father-in-law was an English professor for 30 years. It was not infrequent that he would have a student once and then a couple of years later have that student again (he was a very popular professor) and he pointed out how once how a student had some papers saved on a 8” floppy disk, but a couple of years later could no longer access them because the new standard was a 5-1/2” floppy. Throughout my own education, I started with 5-1/2” floppies and technology advanced to 3” floppies, CD’s, flash drives, to various sizes of SD cards. My current laptop has an SD card slot and USB access, but no disk drive.

In regards to photos, when someone passes away, do we sort through albums and boxes and bins of photos or do we get on their digital devices and sort through the digital photos that they have?

Another problem with these digital archives is access. I have Amazon Prime Photos which backs up the photos taken on my phone; however, my children do not have my Amazon password (they are far to tech savvy to have access to my Amazon Prime account) and my husband cannot remember the password. My husband uses Google Photos and I do not know his passwords. My cell phone has a password, which my children also don’t have. (As a photo organizer, I do have back-up copies of files and photos.)

Lastly, digital files can be vulnerable. Computers crash, files become corrupt and it horrific cases ransomware can hold files hostage.

I have four children and it takes a while after the arrival of each one for a new normal to be achieved. Downloading photos was not high on the priority list when sleep deprived with an infant. Probably around the time my youngest was a year old, I wanted to go through the photos we had of her and make an album. When I got the card out of the digital camera it was corrupt and I could not access the photos. The only photos I have for October 2011 were those taken on my cell phone and not our nice digital camera, since I wanted nice quality photos taken of the day we got her, I had only used our digital camera. So no pictures of “gotcha-day” or any of her first month with us.

My girl after trick-or-treating. The only photos I have of her first month with us.

Protecting your photos

While magnetic or “sticky” albums were a quick and easy way to make photo albums, they used an acidic adhesive to attach photos and mementos to the pages. The acid in the adhesive on the pages damages the photos, while they are so sticky that it can be difficult to remove photos and papers without damaging the document and the plastic page protector adds to the damage further by helping to contain fumes given off by the pages.

To remove photos from the albums use a piece a waxed dental floss and carefully slide under the photos, starting in one corner to separate the photo from the album page.

Metadata in photos- Save your photos month

Metadata is information embedded in your digital files and it stays with the file when you e-mail it or give a digital copy to another person.  It can convey information about copywrite, the type of camera used to take a photo, the type of scanner used to digitize a photo, and location of where a photo was taken.  However, you can also add information to a digital photo, this can help you by making it easier to find photos of a certain person or place and document the story about the picture.

Adding metadata to a digitized photo in Windows:

• Right click on a file
• Click 'Properties'
• Click on the tab named 'Details'
• Click next to Title, Details, etc. and enter information about the file
• Use the 'Tags' to list location of the photo and individuals in the photo
• Use 'Comments' to describe the photo and enter narrative information about the photo

Below is an example of metadata added to a photo file.

Below is some basic information I added to describe the photo.

Subject- I described the photo. 

Rating- I rated is 4 stars because it is not a terrific photo, but I do have information about the photo. 

Comments- 'Aline visiting her parents, William Klatt and Florence Dean in Medford, Oregon at their Sewing Machine Store.'

Date taken- '1/1/2018', as I know it was taken in 1938, but I do not know the exact date

For more information on metadata and photos see my Pinterest board.

#saveyourmemories

Save Your Photos Month & Photo Tips

September is here!  It is Save Your Photos Month.  

The Association of Personal Photo Organizers has helpful tips all month long on keeping and preserving your photos.

TIPS-

• Store your photos in conditions that you like to live in: relatively dry (30-40% relative humidity) and room temperature or below.
• Protect them from light, dust, and wide temperature swings (away from vents or radiators)

Give me a call and I can give you a free consultation on storing and organizing your photo collection.

#saveyourmemories

Finding Death Records & Indexes in Illinois

Before 1916

Some counties in Illinois began keeping death records in 1877.  An index to some of these records are available online in the  Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre-1916, a listing of the counties included and the date ranges can be found here.  These records are housed within the county where the death occurred; a copy of of the record can be obtained from the county in which the death occurred.  Many counties offer a genealogical copy, which is less expensive than a certified copy.

Index of Deaths 1916-1947 & 1916-1950

There are two different indexes of death records for time periods after 1916.  Family Search hosts the Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947.   The Illinois state archives hosts the index, Illinois Death Certificates, 1916-1950.

Records after 1916

The state of Illinois offers a genealogical version of death records that are less expensive than certified copies of the record.  Currently, a genealogical version is $10, while a certified copy is $19.  Counties can also be contacted for the certificate and may be less expensive than contacting the state, for example, Dupage county only charges $5.