Thought of a couple of special files I found so perhaps you should order the whole file. 1. One file had the fact that the man had married 4 times and each wife only knew of one wife before and 3 of them tried to collect his pension. The poor 1st wife never knew he was alive and she remarried and had another family and probably never knew anything about him not coming back. 2. Another one had a long letter sent by a mother who needed the pension and in the letter she named all her children and all their birth dates. She also sent the last letter she had from her son before he was killed and he told her about the battle he had been in. She asked the government to send the letter back, but obviously they didn't. 3. I have found pictures, wedding certificates, death certificates - actual ones as no copies in those early days. I think that it might depend on who decided what was important and what was not. I had ordered one on one of my great grandfathers and had the smaller file sent. When I went to DC to pull the whole file, it really didn't give me any more information, but you never know. 4. I also found a situation where it looks like the man scammed a bunch of people in his home town and went out west and the wife applied for pension, but in the end she really knew he was alive and she lost her money. 5. Another one had tried to get his pension and it was funny as he claimed to be in one town and ill and the people in the town said he wasn't ever there. 6. Another person filing for pension said if he died he didn't want his wife to get a penny of it as she had left him for another man. I could go on with the stories, but would be boring. They are really interesting reading. Most are very sad as everyone came home with bowel problems even if they weren't wounded. It is the bickering that went on for some of them trying to scam the government that makes the interesting read as well as getting a really good picture of the war and how so many signed up for only 30 or 60 days so their family could have some money. I did look at a few that were denied. One happened to be someone from my home town and the county has him listed in the book as a Civil War Veteran, but when he applied he was denied as there was no record of him ever having served and he didn't appeal. Thus did he just make it up or did they lose the file. I would think that if he really did serve he would have fought it more. Also, did you all know that they had special attorneys to plead their case. It looks like they had to have an attorney to file - perhaps not always, but all the ones I looked at did. Later I found a relative in the census for 1900 and his occupation was pension application attorney. Enough of my rambling. Enjoy whatever you choose to do. Jerilyn **************The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards. Go to AOL Music. (http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565)

I want to thank everybody for responding. I got some very good suggestions and ideas from many of you. One question as to why I am spending so much, I'd rather not get into that on the list but would be happy to correspond off list if anyone wished. spearson55@chartermi.net Thanks again! Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: <Jlktrees@aol.com> To: <ohmiami-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, February 15, 2008 11:36 AM Subject: [OHMIAMI] Pension Files > Thought of a couple of special files I found so perhaps you should order > the > whole file. > > 1. One file had the fact that the man had married 4 times and each wife > only knew of one wife before and 3 of them tried to collect his pension. > The > poor 1st wife never knew he was alive and she remarried and had another > family > and probably never knew anything about him not coming back. > 2. Another one had a long letter sent by a mother who needed the pension > and in the letter she named all her children and all their birth dates. > She > also sent the last letter she had from her son before he was killed and > he told > her about the battle he had been in. She asked the government to send > the > letter back, but obviously they didn't. > 3. I have found pictures, wedding certificates, death certificates - > actual > ones as no copies in those early days. > > I think that it might depend on who decided what was important and what > was > not. I had ordered one on one of my great grandfathers and had the > smaller > file sent. When I went to DC to pull the whole file, it really didn't > give me > any more information, but you never know. > > 4. I also found a situation where it looks like the man scammed a bunch > of > people in his home town and went out west and the wife applied for > pension, > but in the end she really knew he was alive and she lost her money. > > 5. Another one had tried to get his pension and it was funny as he > claimed > to be in one town and ill and the people in the town said he wasn't ever > there. > > 6. Another person filing for pension said if he died he didn't want his > wife to get a penny of it as she had left him for another man. > > I could go on with the stories, but would be boring. They are really > interesting reading. Most are very sad as everyone came home with bowel > problems > even if they weren't wounded. It is the bickering that went on for some > of > them trying to scam the government that makes the interesting read as > well as > getting a really good picture of the war and how so many signed up for > only 30 > or 60 days so their family could have some money. > > I did look at a few that were denied. One happened to be someone from my > home town and the county has him listed in the book as a Civil War > Veteran, but > when he applied he was denied as there was no record of him ever having > served and he didn't appeal. Thus did he just make it up or did they lose > the > file. I would think that if he really did serve he would have fought it > more. > > Also, did you all know that they had special attorneys to plead their > case. > It looks like they had to have an attorney to file - perhaps not always, > but > all the ones I looked at did. Later I found a relative in the census for > 1900 and his occupation was pension application attorney. > > Enough of my rambling. Enjoy whatever you choose to do. Jerilyn > > > > **************The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy > Awards. Go to AOL Music. > (http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565) > tdn-net.com/genealogy > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > OHMIAMI-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >