Military Records have Great Bearing on Genealogy

Military Records have Great Bearing on Genealogy
By Donna Murray

McFurren Murray stood 5'6" tall on that August day in 1864 when he became a soldier in the Union Army. He was 21 years old. His hair was black, his eyes blue and his complexion fair. He joined the ranks of a Pennsylvania heavy artillery company, and got a $100 bounty when he mustered in. Years later, he collected a military pension. When he died, his widow, Dorotha, continued to receive a small monthly check.

   In 1818, Adam Snyder applied for a military pension at age 63. He fought in the Revolutionary War and was wounded in the right leg by cannon fire during the Battle of White Plains. He suffered from rheumatism, presumably as a result of that injury, making him eligible to collect a hefty $8 a month in pension benefits.

   This brief glimpse into the personal lives of two former soldiers was brought to you courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C. Go to www.archives.gov/genealogy/index.html for details. Or write to NARA, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740.

   Records exist for nearly every person who served in the armed forces. Not every file contains such detailed information, but many do. Pension files in particular usually contain valuable information such as proof of marriage and birth of children.

   Military records and pension files, prior to World War I, are available to anyone who requests copies. You’ll pay $37 for pension files over 75 years old and $14.75 for more recent ones. Military records cost $17. See www.archives.gov/genealogy/military/.

   Pension files generally contain more personal information than military records, so they're a better buy. (Federal pension files for Confederate soldiers are almost non-existent. They were not authorized to receive benefits until 1959, which was a little late for most of them. Some states did award pensions. That information is kept in the state's archives).

   Even if your information is scant, there's a good chance the file will be located. The researcher who obtained Adam Snyder’s file knew only that Snyder had served in the Revolutionary War and applied for a pension in Pennsylvania. Since you pay only if the file is found, it's worth a shot.

     Military records beginning with World War I are kept at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. However, the Privacy Act of 1974 prohibits release of records for any living veteran without their express consent. Nearly all of the Army and Air Force records from World War I and II were destroyed by fire in 1973, making the Privacy Act almost irrelevant.

   For information on obtaining these files, email MPR.center@nara.gov, call 314-801-0800 or write to the National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Blvd., St. Louis, Missouri, 63132.

Bounty land warrants
Bounty-Land Warrant Application files are another potential source of information. From the Revolutionary War until about 1855, the federal government offered public land as an inducement to join the military. Bounty-land applications are similar to pension applications and may be obtained from the National Archives.

How can you determine if one of your ancestors served in the military? One way is to visit the gravesite. Many tombstones contain this information. So do obituaries. One researcher learned her relative had been killed during the Civil War by reading his widow's obituary. Collections of state archives and military histories, usually available in large libraries, contain some early records. And microfilmed records may be rented from NARA or through other interlibrary loan programs.

Web sites such as www.usigs.org/library/military/index.htm and www.oz.net/~cyndihow/pensions.htm#A offer more information.