My friends - One area in which we may sometimes be less than active in pursuing our ancestors' trail is that of the Old Wars Pension Files. The "Old Wars" include claims for military service between the end of the Revolutionary War and the first year of the War Between the States in 1861. The claims are generally based on disability or death incurred while on military duty over this 78 year period. The services covered include the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. The claims cover the period of the War of 1812, the various Indian wars, the Mexican War and there are some that reference service in the War Between the States. The information that may be found in these files can include such things as the name of the veteran and any aliases used, name of the widow or contesting widow, names of previous and subsequent husbands, names of minor children and occasionally, names of married children, minor children and children of age, certificates, files, state from which the claim was filed, the date of the claim, name of war(s), and, in some cases, the names of the father and/or mother of the veteran may be given, as well as others, such as a dependent sibling who may have filed a claim. Our good friend, Virgil White, transcribed the essential information from these files some years ago and published them in his work, "Index To Old War Pension Files". Some larger libraries have this item in their collections. I have this publication in my own resources, and, given the fact that we may not have worked this research area as well as some others, I am offering to check the Index for a name of an ancestor or family member who may have applied(or his widow may have applied)for a pension that falls into this category. A few caveats, though: I need the complete given name and surname of the individual(for example, "John Parkenfarker"), not just a request to "check all Parkenfarkers". If you have solid reasons to believe that an individual did *not* serve in any of these conflicts, please do not request that his name be checked. I would ask, too, that the number of individuals to be checked not exceed *two*. The chances of an ancestor or family member(or widow or dependent)having applied for a pension under this grouping is naturally limited, since 90% of them deal with soldiers who were killed or disabled in some capacity during their time in service. Those who applied claiming disability from service related problems who did not serve on the battlefield had a much lower chance of receiving such a pension, since many disabilities were caused by non-service related illnesses or accidents. Obviously, then, a man who did not die in service and lived out his life without disabilities would not be found in this pension file group. These pension files are held by the National Archives and can be ordered online in the same fashion as Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, and War Between the States files. It is important to indicate that the file group, "Old War Pension Files - 1815-1926" be shown on the request. -B ===================================================================