Tim and Cindy, Not unless you go there and view the file in person. The National Archives personel will not look it up just to tell you how many pages there are (unless you have a friend who works there and will do it on their lunch hour). They "do not have time" as "our staff is overloaded with requests" for file infomation. This was the shortened reply when asked if they could tell you how many pages were in a pension file before it was ordered. Bre ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim Bryant" <tpbryant9@yahoo.com> To: <ILLASALL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2005 2:49 PM Subject: RE: [ILLASALLE] ROBINSON Delos and the 1890 Special Civil War Pensioners > Cindy, > > I haven't done anything with the national archives myself. I wonder > whether > there's some way to see what the holdings consist of before you shell out > the dough--like a notation of how many pages are available. Thanks for > sharing your experience. The more discussion of the subject on the list, > the > more it will benefit people with like interests. > > Best wishes, > > Tim > > -----Original Message----- > From: Cynthia Mac Suibhne [mailto:barkupthetree@yahoo.com] > Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2005 2:16 PM > To: ILLASALL-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: RE: [ILLASALLE] ROBINSON Delos and the 1890 Special Civil War > Pensioners > > > Thanks again Tim, whether to pay $37.00 for the complete pension file is > the tricky part. I sent for one and it was only five pages not much for > $37.00. My vet served only a few months in one regiment before he must > have > been sent or joined another regiment. His records for some reason didn't > follow him and I haven't found the other troop he was with. But I have a > friend I do genealogy with and she has several files none under 50 pages > long. I was so jealous the day she came to me with a new binder and 100 > poly > sheets for one file. That's worth $37.00 because it was full of > information. > Her vet married two women during the war and it wasn't until he died and > both were widowed that they applied for their loving husband's pension > only > to find out there was another woman. Another one of hers was in Anderson > Prison and wounded and the file came with drawings of the location of his > wounds. That would be an extreme but something more lengthy then 5 pages > would be nice, for pensio! > n a vet > has to prove his place of birth, maybe testimony of another family member > as to where, place of marriage, children ect. anyway > Thanks for the muster roll site I'm going to request that. > Cindy > > > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx >