Jim; Your best source of documentation on a Civil War ancestor is to apply to the National Archives for two things; (1) his service/military record and (2) any pension applied for under his name. But, in order to be assured you will get that information, you should first have a description of what unit (Regiment number) and company in which he served. The process is long and sometimes frustrating if you work through the archives (see the webpage at _www.nara.gov_ (http://www.nara.gov) ) but I would certainly recommend you contact Norman Peters, who has been recommended on this list before, and see if he can help you. The military information is very good to have for your family files, but the pension information can be invaluable as far as family and genealogical input is concerned. Contact Norman Peters at _NathJ@aol.com_ (mailto:NathJ@aol.com) . Good luck. Ann Bergelt Florida

I'd like to add my recommendation about Norman Peters and the service he provides - I contacted him a few months ago about getting a copy of a Dawes Roll application on someone that I thought was my gg-grandfather. He found the file, and it had noted on it a few more application numbers that were connected with the one I was requesting. He notified me and let me make the decision if I wanted him to check them and report back to me, or what I wanted him to do. I asked him to get copies of them, too. Several days later I received the package from him - it contained the applications, which were a treasure of new information. The application I had requested wasn't my gg-grandfathers, but a g-uncle's (son of the gg-grandfather by the same name). The other applications were all marked with the connection to a "central" applicaton. After going through them carefully, I was able to piece together 4 generations and at least a dozen collateral lines more than I had previously. Noted on the applications was that a "family investigation" had been done during the application process. (Also included on these applications were the numbers of over 150 more applications.) I ordered copies of all of these others, too, and received them all just before Christmas. What I ended up with was a formal investigation (including all of the notes) that was done by the Dawes Commission, personal interviews with all of these folks and signed affidavits of them and many others from the communities. (The majority of these folks no one in the family had never heard of.) Having said that, I corresponded with him a few weeks ago, inquiring about another research project. He'll be unavailable for lookups for a few weeks as he is out of town. I'd still recommend him, but just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't be discouraged when you didn't get a quick reply from him. Sherri -----Original Message----- From: AnnBergelt@aol.com [mailto:AnnBergelt@aol.com] Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 7:10 AM To: OHHAMILT-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [OH-HAMILT] Help Finding Information About Civil War Ancestor Jim; Your best source of documentation on a Civil War ancestor is to apply to the National Archives for two things; (1) his service/military record and (2) any pension applied for under his name. But, in order to be assured you will get that information, you should first have a description of what unit (Regiment number) and company in which he served. The process is long and sometimes frustrating if you work through the archives (see the webpage at _www.nara.gov_ (http://www.nara.gov) ) but I would certainly recommend you contact Norman Peters, who has been recommended on this list before, and see if he can help you. The military information is very good to have for your family files, but the pension information can be invaluable as far as family and genealogical input is concerned. Contact Norman Peters at _NathJ@aol.com_ (mailto:NathJ@aol.com) . Good luck. Ann Bergelt Florida ==== OHHAMILT Mailing List ==== ~*~*~*~ The Resources in the USGenWeb's Parade of States Awaits! ~*~*~*~ -- Table of all States: http://www.usgenweb.org/statelinks-table.html ============================== 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