Hi all. My gr-gr Grandfather fought in the Civil war, and I have just recently started to look into how to go about finding records for him. Unfortunately I don't even know what state he enlisted in. It's most likely IL, or IN. He also has a common name which isn't helping. I'm not exactly clear how the Civil War pensions worked. Were pensions given to all soldiers, or just to the family of men that died? We know my g-g-grandfather was wounded. He was shot in the soldier, but lived and was able to still work and support his family. My Mother has said he died of lead poisoning from shrapnel that wasn't removed, but I don't know how accurate that is. I have been able to get ahold of the death cert. for his wife, and on it is her exact house address. Is there anyway to find the civil war records from knowing where the pensions were last being sent? (That is if she even received it.) If so, where can I send for this info? debs

Hi Debs, They will probably have the records where the pension was applied for. You dont mention what their names are and if you can reply back with them would be a good idea. Many people own different database's on CD and I am sure would be willing to look them up for you. Also on Ancestry.com you can look up pension files under the wife's name. My GGrandfather's fought for Indiana and Kansas but applied for their pensions in Illinois because that is where they lived at the time. Take care, margaret debs wrote: > Hi all. My gr-gr Grandfather fought in the Civil war, and I have > just recently started to look into how to go about finding records for > him. Unfortunately I don't even know what state he enlisted in. It's > most likely IL, or IN. He also has a common name which isn't helping. > I'm not exactly clear how the Civil War pensions worked. Were pensions > given to all soldiers, or just to the family of men that died? We know > my g-g-grandfather was wounded. He was shot in the soldier, but lived > and was able to still work and support his family. My Mother has said > he died of lead poisoning from shrapnel that wasn't removed, but I don't > know how accurate that is. > I have been able to get ahold of the death cert. for his wife, and on it > is her exact house address. Is there anyway to find the civil war > records from knowing where the pensions were last being sent? (That is > if she even received it.) If so, where can I send for this info? > debs

Debs, If you can pinpoint around when he died, the county and state in which HIS WIFE lived/passed away in that might give you a window to look through to pin him down. There are city directories for the areas in which these people lived, and according to an article published by the Houston (Texas) Public Library online, Clayton Library for Genealogical Research, authored by Trevia Wooster Beverly who said that "Directories are among the most valuable tools available for urban research, especially for the period 1780-1860, when cities like Baltimore, Boston, New York and Philadelphia became magnets for immigrants newly arrived from Europe and for rural families seeking employment in urban industries." These directories were created up until the turn of the century for most towns and these old directories are kept within the public libraries and often the genealogical/historical societies who reside within the library or nearby take great pride in perserving and sharing the information within these. If you know the county in which his wife lived, you could go back some years and look for their residence. These genealogical/historical societies frequently have volunteers who will assist with this task. Rhonda Houston -----Original Message----- From: debs [mailto:DEBSTER13@webtv.net] Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2001 10:37 PM To: IL-CIVIL-WAR-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [IL-CIVIL-WAR] new to group Hi all. My gr-gr Grandfather fought in the Civil war, and I have just recently started to look into how to go about finding records for him. Unfortunately I don't even know what state he enlisted in. It's most likely IL, or IN. He also has a common name which isn't helping. I'm not exactly clear how the Civil War pensions worked. Were pensions given to all soldiers, or just to the family of men that died? We know my g-g-grandfather was wounded. He was shot in the soldier, but lived and was able to still work and support his family. My Mother has said he died of lead poisoning from shrapnel that wasn't removed, but I don't know how accurate that is. I have been able to get ahold of the death cert. for his wife, and on it is her exact house address. Is there anyway to find the civil war records from knowing where the pensions were last being sent? (That is if she even received it.) If so, where can I send for this info? debs