Have you ever made a genealogy breakthrough with pension files? Pension files can contain critical clues to help fill in blank spaces in your family tree.

What Are Pension Files? The federal government granted pensions to military veterans and their widows and dependents following military service. These pension files may contain information like:

• Details about a veteran’s military service
• Death date and the cause of death for a veteran
• Maiden name of a veteran’s spouse
• Names and birthdates of children
• Names of parent(s) financially dependent on the veteran
• Veteran’s marriage date and location
• Occupation before military service
• Names of extended family members
• Pages from the family bible
• Information about the remarriage of a veteran’s widow

Here are some of the pension files available on Fold3®:

Revolutionary War Pension Files: Congress passed the first Revolutionary War Pension Act in 1818. Three subsequent acts in 1820, 1832, and 1836 clarified who could receive pension benefits. Many early military records were either inadequate or lost or destroyed. Thus, veterans or widows had to prove their military service to receive a pension. These pension files often contain affidavits from those who could vouch for the veteran’s service. Pay close attention to who is submitting affidavits, as they can be family members, neighbors, and others closely tied to the veteran.

War of 1812 Pension Files: This collection is currently being digitized and is 88% complete, with new records added regularly. Like the Revolutionary War pension files, this collection can reveal new insights into the veteran and his family. These records also provide a bridge to the 1850 census, the first census to list the names of all individuals in the household.  

Civil War Widows’ Pension Files: This collection is only 22% digitized, but if you are lucky enough to find your ancestor’s records, they can provide tremendous insight into the veteran and his family. Since these are widow’s files, you can see the cause of death for the veteran and where and when he died. These files can contain the names and birthdates of children, the maiden name of the widow, and other essential family details.

Tips for Searching Pension Files on Fold3®:

• The manuscripts can be challenging to read (some documents are 200 years old). Use the Viewer tools along the right margin to zoom in and adjust the brightness and contrast.
• Become a volunteer archivist by transcribing the manuscripts inside pension files. Click the ‘Annotate’ button at the top and select ‘Transcription.’ Your transcription becomes searchable for others.
• Save military records to your Ancestry® tree by selecting the green ‘Save to Ancestry’ button.
• As you learn about the military service for your veteran, you can expand your research. Pension files often mention battles the veteran fought in, the regiment he served in, who his commanding officer was, and more. This information can open new avenues for research to expand your ancestor’s story.

Explore pension files on Fold3® today.