Hello, Vance I believe we have spoken to each other in the past. Your soldier listing his name with an alias was not uncommon. There are a number of reasons for it. A teenage boy who wanted to run off and join the Union Army against the wishes of his parents would often give the enlistment officer an alias, so that the parents couldn't have him released later on for being too young. I don't know if your soldier was underaged or not. For boys under the age of 18, the father was supposed to sign the enlistment papers giving consent. Many boys lied and gave an alias, and the Union Army didn't ask too many questions about it. Another reason for the alias might be if your soldier lived in AR, but enlisted in IL in order to join the Union Army. An alias name may have helped him escape persecution (or worse) in Arkansas. According to the pension index card, he applied for his pension in AR (though I can't read the date). Upon his death, his widow applied for pension in 1899 in AR. It looks like she later remarried, because there is a Sarah with a different name listed as guardian for the minor children. The widow's pension would have ended when she remarried, and she would have had to reapply for pension for any children of the soldier who were still minors. Peggy Reeves -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re:[ARPOPE] rollcall From: [email protected] (Vance Wiley) To: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 1:35:15 AM > Hi, Pat - > My Bakers are from Isaac Newton Baker m. Sarah Nichols - children were > Charles Henderson Baker, brothers Riley Jaffe, Benjamin, and others - when I knew them they lived near Robertstown in Conway County - just over the line from Pope Co. > Isaac Newton Baker was supposedly from Illinois and a Doctor in the Union army, but Sarah applied for a pension with the application "aka Isaac Dickens" - I have no idea what that is about. > > Vance >