> I always order the full file. I do too. A cousin in my husband's line located us, and the rest of her REAL family through her ggf's Civil War pension file! Her entire family thought their last name was PECK throughout their lives. They ran into such brick walls researching that name that she & her mother even hired a professional genealogist, who came up with an entire multi-generation Peck family tree for them,! Lo and behold, when the file came, GGrandpa John Peck's parents names were given as William & Maria BECK -- & they had to start over at square one. We will probably never know why he changed the spelling. We also learned that another Civil War veteran's wife died of Typhoid Fever -- we had always assumed she died in childbirth. That one also had his physical description, & correspondence about the pension in his own handwriting. Of course there was also a lot of useless (genealogically speaking) pay records, but what we received was certainly worth the $37.50 -- I've spent more for some books & CDs and gotten a lot less! It is a "crap-shoot", however -- you never know if it will be treasure, or mostly trash. Virginia "Virginia Beck" <ginia2@san.rr.com>

In one of my Civil War packets was a certified copy of the family Bible showing the soldier and his siblings birthdates and parents marriage and birthdates as proof of his birth date. This was a sibling of my ancestor, who was one of the daughters of the family. Pays to go after siblings info too. In another family I sent for the records of the two sons who went to war. My ancestor was in his early teens. There were letters describing the family life, the measles that killed one of the boys and the father, when he went to pick up his son, brought back the measles which killed one of the younger children at home. The paperwork said everyone got the measles and all were much weaken by them. There was a lot of genealogical info also but the picture of the family's life after the civil war was of great interest. Joan B "Joan Best" <joanbest1@earthlink.net>

> In one of my Civil War packets was a certified copy of the family > Bible showing the soldier and his siblings birthdates and parents > marriage and birthdates as proof of his birth date. This was a > sibling of my ancestor, who was one of the daughters of the family. > Pays to go after siblings info too. > > In another family I sent for the records of the two sons who went to > war. My ancestor was in his early teens. There were letters > describing the family life, the measles that killed one of the boys > and the father, when he went to pick up his son, brought back the > measles which killed one of the younger children at home. The > paperwork said everyone got the measles and all were much weaken by > them. > > There was a lot of genealogical info also but the picture of the > family's life after the civil war was of great interest. > > "Joan Best" <joanbest1@earthlink.net> Can someone on this list tell me whether or not Confederate veterans received pensions? Jean

> > In one of my Civil War packets was a certified copy of the family > > Bible showing the soldier and his siblings birthdates and parents > > marriage and birthdates as proof of his birth date. This was a > > sibling of my ancestor, who was one of the daughters of the family. > > Pays to go after siblings info too. > > > > In another family I sent for the records of the two sons who went to > > war. My ancestor was in his early teens. There were letters > > describing the family life, the measles that killed one of the boys > > and the father, when he went to pick up his son, brought back the > > measles which killed one of the younger children at home. The > > paperwork said everyone got the measles and all were much weaken by > > them. > > > > There was a lot of genealogical info also but the picture of the > > family's life after the civil war was of great interest. > > > > "Joan Best" <joanbest1@earthlink.net> > > Can someone on this list tell me whether or not Confederate veterans > received pensions? > > "Jean Snyder" <jsnyder@ix.netcom.com> The Confederate veteran in my husband's family served in Georgia but I found his pension records in OK, where he lived and died.

> > I always order the full file. > > I do too. A cousin in my husband's line located us, and the rest of > her REAL family through her ggf's Civil War pension file! Her > entire family thought their last name was PECK throughout their > lives. They ran into such brick walls researching that name that > she & her mother even hired a professional genealogist, who came up > with an entire multi-generation Peck family tree for them,! Lo and > behold, when the file came, GGrandpa John Peck's parents names were > given as William & Maria BECK -- & they had to start over at square > one. We will probably never know why he changed the spelling. > > We also learned that another Civil War veteran's wife died of > Typhoid Fever -- we had always assumed she died in childbirth. That > one also had his physical description, & correspondence about the > pension in his own handwriting. Of course there was also a lot of > useless (genealogically speaking) pay records, but what we received > was certainly worth the $37.50 -- I've spent more for some books & > CDs and gotten a lot less! It is a "crap-shoot", however -- you > never know if it will be treasure, or mostly trash. > > "Virginia Beck" <ginia2@san.rr.com> Virginia, My experience has been, unless you know for sure there is something specific in a particular book or CD or whatever, you will end up with trash. Very few of the books I have purchased have had anything helpful in them. Books and CD's are a crapshoot. Perhaps my experiences have not been the norm. The pension files have been an exception. Roberta "Wohlgemuths" <fredroby@adelphia.net>