--part1_6b.1c0e676.25df453b_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello Everyone, A very knowledgeable Jeanne Bloom shared this information with me and said I was free to share it with others. I thought that in order to collect a pension you had to be destitute, that is not true according to Jeanne and there is lots of information available. I am so pleased to pass this along. It was wonderful news for me and I hope it helps others too. Bonnie Briggs Brewer << Subj: Re: Military Pensions Date: 2/18/00 12:40:17 PM Pacific Standard Time From: jebloom@mcs.net (Jeanne Larzalere Bloom) Reply-to: <A HREF="mailto:jebloom@mcs.net">jebloom@mcs.net</A> To: BPBREWER83@aol.com Hi Bonnie- It is different. Bounty lands were used to encourage enlistment or to reward previous service. The lands were used as a substitute for wages. One did not need to be destitute nor have any type of injury. So the number applying for bounty lands far exceeds those that applied for pensions. The federal government used military land for military service until 1855. According to The Source, the National Archives has an estimated 450,000 bounty-land claims on file. State governments also gave bounty lands and have files. I usually "expect" to find any veteran I am researching filing for bounty land. The laws governing pensions changed over time and changed for sometimes changed for each military conflict. An act of Congress in 1832 made all veterans eligible for a pension. As I recall this was in response to lobbying by the veterans of the War of 1812, but it covered veterans of the Revolutionary War.. Again, any veteran or his widow that lived until 1832 I "expect" to find a pension application. My strategy for any veteran that I identify is to request a copy of the pension and bounty-land warrant file. The request does not cost anything. If a file is not found, I make a note in my research records and know that at least I have checked that possible avenue. So even though your ancestors were not flat broke you should make the proper inquiries. Jeanne Larzalere Bloom Chicago, IL jebloom@mcs.net >> --part1_6b.1c0e676.25df453b_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: <jebloom@mcs.net> Received: from rly-yc03.mx.aol.com (rly-yc03.mail.aol.com [172.18.149.35]) by air-yc03.mail.aol.com (v67_b1.24) with ESMTP; Fri, 18 Feb 2000 15:40:17 -0500 Received: from Kitten.mcs.net (kitten.mcs.com [192.160.127.90]) by rly-yc03.mx.aol.com (v67_b1.24) with ESMTP; Fri, 18 Feb 2000 15:40:07 -0500 Received: from mcs.net (jebloom.pr.mcs.net [204.137.244.134]) by Kitten.mcs.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA35838 for <BPBREWER83@aol.com>; Fri, 18 Feb 2000 14:40:05 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from jebloom@mcs.net) Message-ID: <38ADAE2B.3734E11B@mcs.net> Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 14:40:11 -0600 From: Jeanne Larzalere Bloom <jebloom@mcs.net> Reply-To: jebloom@mcs.net X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.02 [en]C-DIAL (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: BPBREWER83@aol.com Subject: Re: Military Pensions References: <dd.179dd6f.25def16a@aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Bonnie- It is different. Bounty lands were used to encourage enlistment or to reward previous service. The lands were used as a substitute for wages. One did not need to be destitute nor have any type of injury. So the number applying for bounty lands far exceeds those that applied for pensions. The federal government used military land for military service until 1855. According to The Source, the National Archives has an estimated 450,000 bounty-land claims on file. State governments also gave bounty lands and have files. I usually "expect" to find any veteran I am researching filing for bounty land. The laws governing pensions changed over time and changed for sometimes changed for each military conflict. An act of Congress in 1832 made all veterans eligible for a pension. As I recall this was in response to lobbying by the veterans of the War of 1812, but it covered veterans of the Revolutionary War.. Again, any veteran or his widow that lived until 1832 I "expect" to find a pension application. My strategy for any veteran that I identify is to request a copy of the pension and bounty-land warrant file. The request does not cost anything. If a file is not found, I make a note in my research records and know that at least I have checked that possible avenue. So even though your ancestors were not flat broke you should make the proper inquiries. Jeanne Larzalere Bloom Chicago, IL jebloom@mcs.net --part1_6b.1c0e676.25df453b_boundary--