Pensions
Portal:United States Military Records
The federal government and some state governments granted pensions or bounty land to officers, disabled veterans, needy veterans, widows or orphans of veterans, and veterans who served a certain length of time. Pension records usually contain more genealogical information than service records. However, not every veteran received or applied for bounty land or a pension. Veterans who did not qualify under the pension laws may have received benefits by special acts of Congress. The appropriate federal or state agency maintained a pension file for each applicant. These files contain the application papers and any further correspondence or documents.
In a person’s pension application papers you may find his name (and sometimes his wife’s maiden name); rank; military unit; period of service; residence; age; date and place of birth, marriage, and death; and the nature of his disability or proof of need. To prove that he served in the military, he may have included documents such as discharge papers or affidavits from those with whom he served. Widows or heirs had to prove their relationship to the veteran with marriage records and other documents, and the file may list the names of dependent children under the age of 16.
- Pension files for 1775 to 1916 are available at the National Archives in Record Group 15, Records of the Veterans Administration. Only those for the Revolutionary War have been microfilmed.
- Lists of federal and state military pensioners have been published for the years 1792 to 1795, 1813, 1817, 1818, 1820, 1823, 1828, 1831, 1835, 1840, 1849, 1857, 1883, and 1899. Most of these lists are found in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, available at federal repository libraries and major university libraries. See Angela McComas, Congress and My Family History (12 minute online video)FamilySearch Research Classes Online, and Mid-Continent Public Library Midwest Genealogy Center, 2010. The lists can provide the soldier’s name and his heirs, age, death date, and service information. Some have been reprinted including:
- The Pension Roll of 1835. Four Volumes. 1835. Reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1968, 1992. (FHL 973 M24ua; fiche 6046995.) Entries contain name, rank, annual allowance, sum received, description of service, when placed on the pension roll, commencement of pension, age, and so on. Includes many death dates.
- List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883. . . Five Volumes. 1883. Reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1970.) (FHL CD no. 58. Book 973 M2lp.) Entries list name of pensioner, cause for which pensioned, post office address, and rate of pension per month.
The following pension material may also be helpful:
- Index to Pension Application Files of Remarried Widows Based on Service in the War of 1812, Indian Wars, Mexican War, and Regular Army Before 1861. National Archives Microfilm Publication M1784, (FHL film2155462.)
- Record of Invalid Pension Payments to Veterans of the Revolutionary War and Regular Army and Navy, March 1801–Sept. 1815. National Archives Microfilm Publication M1786 (FHL film2155470.)
- Index to Pension Application Files of Remarried Widows Based on Service in the Civil War and Later Wars in the Regular Army after the Civil War. National Archives Microfilm Publication. M1785 (FHL film 2155463.)
- Index to General Correspondence of the Record and Pension Office, 1889–1904. National Archives Microfilm Publication M686. (FHL films 1527667–8051.) Cards arranged alphabetically with name of soldier, organization in which he served, and name of person who made inquiry.
- Civil War Pension Index Cards - A free Internet index to pension applications of veterans who served in the US Army between 1861-1917 is available on FamilySearch Record Search. Each card gives the soldier’s name, application and certificate numbers, state of enlistment, and might include rank and death information. Other wars, of that time period, may be included.
Also see disapproved U.S. Navy pensions 1861-1910.