Dissecting a Civil War Pension File - John L. McSweeney

When the 120-page Civil War Pension file arrived for John L. and Eliza McSweeney, it was for a client and I was not too concerned about plowing through its contents. Then I reconsidered when it became apparent that the information could not really be made useful unless we could place it into document order according to the dates. The file actually contains information from two different pension files: #145.979 the soldier's file applied for 19 July 1869 with certificate #118.505, and #349.650 the widow's file applied for 16 April 1891 with certificate #349.650. The file we received had gone through many inspections and had not been kept in any particular order. It is kind of like playing 52-card pickup and the disorganization that often is the result.

Genealogy Serendipity Moment - Dreams Do Come True

Last September, during what became a very crazy time in my life, I began working with someone I met in our local family history center. We found some great finds for her on that first day. Later she came to work with me at my home office. She was very anxious to break down some long time brick walls in her family history research. We discovered that one of her relatives, John L. McSweeney and his wife Eliza, had a Civil War Pension file, which she ordered and found great information for this family. Then I fell and broke my arm and could not drive for two months; this limited our contact, as she does not drive. During the holidays we never seemed to connect, but finally last week we were able to meet again.