by Brian Rhinehart
February 12, 2021
Did you know there are multiple versions of the same pension index cards out there? Ancestry has one version in their database, and Fold3 has anoth...
by Brian Rhinehart
January 30, 2021
What do all those red numbers mean? The short answer is that they are serial numbers. And while the numbers do have meaning behind them, they reall...
by Brian Rhinehart
January 18, 2021
Let’s talk about Civil War draft registration records. These can be great resources, but they can also be one of the most misused sources when it ...
by Brian Rhinehart
January 12, 2021
You may be surprised to hear that there is no record group at the National Archives that contains the Civil War discharge papers. These discharges...
by Brian Rhinehart
January 05, 2021
Most Civil War soldiers were eligible to apply for pension benefits after the war. In some cases they were immediately eligible, but in most cases...
by Brian Rhinehart
December 27, 2020
Looking for your ancestor’s Civil War enlistment papers? These are kept at the National Archives, but they’d be in one of two record groups there....
by Brian Rhinehart
November 06, 2020
Another unusual place to find Civil War information about your ancestor at the National Archives would be Homestead records. The Homestead Act was...
by Brian Rhinehart
October 20, 2020
Do you have a military ancestor but have never found a pension file for him? Try looking in the Old War pension index on FamilySearch. https://www...
by Brian Rhinehart
October 01, 2020
If you have family who served in the war of 1812, you need to check to see if they ever applied for bounty land. Many of these bounty land applica...
by Brian Rhinehart
September 28, 2020
Did you know that many Civil War soldiers were paid money to enlist? Some soldiers did fight out of a sense of patriotic duty, but many also saw i...
by Brian Rhinehart
September 15, 2020
You know the story– great uncle so-and-so ran away from the south, changed his name and joined the Union Army against his father’s wishes. Every f...
by Brian Rhinehart
April 21, 2020
A question I get asked frequently is if it’s still worth it to order the Civil War pension file for a soldier who’s application wasn’t approved. T...
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Did you know there are multiple versions of the same pension index cards out there? Ancestry has one version in their database, and Fold3 has anoth...
What do all those red numbers mean? The short answer is that they are serial numbers. And while the numbers do have meaning behind them, they reall...
You may be surprised to hear that there is no record group at the National Archives that contains the Civil War discharge papers. These discharges...
Looking for your ancestor’s Civil War enlistment papers? These are kept at the National Archives, but they’d be in one of two record groups there....
Another unusual place to find Civil War information about your ancestor at the National Archives would be Homestead records. The Homestead Act was...
Do you have a military ancestor but have never found a pension file for him? Try looking in the Old War pension index on FamilySearch. https://www...
If you have family who served in the war of 1812, you need to check to see if they ever applied for bounty land. Many of these bounty land applica...
Did you know that many Civil War soldiers were paid money to enlist? Some soldiers did fight out of a sense of patriotic duty, but many also saw i...
You know the story– great uncle so-and-so ran away from the south, changed his name and joined the Union Army against his father’s wishes. Every f...
