INVALID PENSION RECORDS

A good researcher must look for every possible source for clues. A
specialized but important resource for Revolutionary War soldiers has
just been compiled by Murtie June Clark and issued by Genealogical
Publishing Company. The ``Index to U.S. Invalid Pension Records''
covers the years 1801 to 1815 and contains information never before
available in published form.

The index lists more than 2,000 disabled Revolutionary soldiers to
whom pension payments were made between 1801 and 1815 and whose
records were kept in a large ledger from which the index extracts
most of the information. In many cases, these may be the only records
for certain people because many War Deparment records were destroyed
in fires in 1800 and 1814. These soldiers, to obtain the larger
pensions available to the disabled, had been wounded or injured or had
contracted a disease during the war.

The index is arranged by state or territory, and then lists the names
of the soldiers, alphabetically by surname, their rank, and the page
number of the main invalid pension ledger where more details will be
found. There is then a column of ``Remarks,'' in which -- if you're
lucky -- some valuable clues may be found. For example,  information
here may tell you the date of the soldier's death, that he moved to
another state or territory, when the last payment was made (usually to
a widow after the soldier's death), and references to widows' files.
The page numbers make it easy to request more detailed information --
such as pension amounts and perhaps information on widows -- from the
National Archives in Washington, where the complete records are held.

The 132-page hardbound is fully indexed and contains a nice
introduction, explaining some of the history of early pension systems
and records. 

``Index to U.S. Invalid Pension Records'' should be arriving soon in
better reference and genealogy libraries, or may be ordered directly
from Genealogical Publishing Company  (Dept. SM, 1001 North Calvert
Street, Baltimore, Md., 21202-3897; 1-800-727-6687) for $18.75 plus
$2.50 postage and handling. --J.F.S.

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³ This file is from The Source of Magic, Ridgefield CT  ³
³ 203-431-4687, source for genealogy, radio, & Windows  ³
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