Military Service of Our Ancestors

 Veterans Day is this coming Wednesday. There are several people from our family who served in the military. My father served in the National Guard and many times during the year he would go off to do basic training. He had two heavy wood foot lockers that he would take with him. I am not even sure who has those today. At this time I am looking for more information on three of the brothers of his third great grandfather who served in the Revolutionary War. Two other brothers died in the war. This is a more complete history than what was compiled before. Each of the six brothers, and the one who was too young to serve, deserve to be honored for their service. I am grateful to be able to trace our ancestors and know what living in this country meant to them.

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.

The Rewards of Military Pension Files and Bounty Land Warrants

Well, you have finally found a military pension file for one of your ancestors, now what do you do with it? In the past year I have utilized pension files from the Revolutionary War (all accessible at fold3), War of 1812, Mexican War, and Civil War, all of which may eventually be found at fold3. Fold3 is accessible at your local family history center or you may subscribe from home.

Veterans Day - A Little Info on Veterans Day in the US

When I looked out the window this morning I noticed the boy scouts had placed the US flag beside our red leaf maple, which is in full glory right now. Then I read many posts on Facebook about Veterans Day and thought just how that might apply to our family. While many of our relatives and ancestors would not meet the official designation of a veteran, they did sacrifice on our behalf. Next I turned to Wikipedia and the US Veterans Administration to better understand the formal meaning of a US Veteran. Rather than rewrite what I found, I made a sampling of the information and placed it into a format for future refereance. That is what I am sharing with you today. For more information please go to the source link.

Genealogy Serendipity Moments - The Gold Mine Within Fold3

Yesterday I set off to the local family history center wanting to use one of their partner websites, Fold3. At home I had been researching on familysearch.org for more information on Samuel Reed and his wife Caroline, who I wrote about almost a month ago in the post on Pioneer Women. In that post I suggested that I should re-read the Civil War Widow's Pension Packet of 79 pages and the Compiled Military Service Packet.

Memorial Day - Remembering Military Service

This is what we call Memorial Day weekend, but the true focus should be on Monday. We are not much for doing anything fancy, maybe only a small family get together. My mother and stepfather have already been to four cemeteries and decorated nine gravesites, including my fathers. At my grandparents gravesite there were already flowers, which indicates that my aunt and uncle had been there. I try to go later in the day on Monday to see if anyone else has been to visit the sites.


It is incredible that this observance started following the Civil War and yet was not made a federal holiday until 1971. Supposedly it was originally held on May 30th, as that was a day of no previous military battles. The change in the name of the observance from Decoration Day to Memorial Day began in 1882. Today the focus is on all deceased relatives, whether they did military service or not. Our family includes several relatives who served in various branches of the armed services. I would like to share a little about them.