Ordering GGGG Grandpa's Compiled Civil War File (A Part of 7 Days, 7 Requests Series)

Look! Me ordering!

Thank you for Your order!

Updated Scoreboard!

I'm Feeling Cranky!

I'm feeling cranky. Why you ask? Am I not getting enough bran in my morning cereal? No, that's not the problem. Has my panty hose finally become so tight that the circulation to my head has been substantially diminished, you query? Nope, but nice guess. Have they stopped producing Pepsi or Ballreich potato chips? No, thank goodness that's not it either. No, the crankiness started a few days ago when I first heard about the Presidential/Congressional rebate they want to send my way. 

Sure, at first, I was excited at the prospect of a bunch of Benjamin Franklin's making their way into my waiting palms. But then I got to thinking about the reason this wad of cash was coming my way. Both Washington and leading economists are worried about a recession (though the “experts” keep telling us that we have a fundamentally sound economy). The folks in Washington suddenly realized in an “I could have had a V-8 moment” that you and I were spending more on groceries, gas and utilities and were therefore no longer spending money on non-essential things. 

All this fiscal responsibility on our part has been affecting the fundamentally sound economy in a fundamentally unsound way. (Hey, aren't these the same people who keep telling us we need to save more for retirement? Gees, I wish they would make up their minds!)

And this led me to think about other items I am now spending more money on than I had in the past, like, for example, NARA reproductions. NARA imposed a 103% increase last October on reproductions of Civil War pension files, and a 131% increase on land entry files. All of which NARA said they needed in order to cover the cost of doing these reproductions. Except of course, initially they said they really, truly, absolutely needed a 238% increase on the Civil War pension files and I don't know, maybe it was just a case of somebody's calculator needing new batteries, because when all was said and done they only needed a 103% increase. (But that was only for the first 100 pages, anything after that they decided they needed an additional $.65 a page.)

So, the 26 pages that I received in great-great-grandpa's Civil War pension package, which cost $1.43 per page, would now cost me $2.88 a page. And the cost of GGGG grandpa Ezekial Anderson's compiled 1812 military record, which cost me $8.50 for each of the two pages it contained, and would now cost me $12.50 per page. The four pages in GGG grandpa Joseph Good's land entry file, which cost $4.44 per page, would now cost $10 a page. Well, you get the idea. (I did get a bargain of 160 pages for $37, which would now cost $ 114 — boy am I laughing myself silly over that one!) 

The joke is, of course, that you never know exactly what you are going to get when you order from NARA. Twenty-six pages or a hundred pages — it's all a mystery until you open up the nice little envelope. Of course, you are dealing with the government, so you can feel safe that they will charge you in an appropriate fair, what it cost them manner.

Anyway, the whole idea of the IRS, a governmental entity, sending me money so I could turn around and send the money back to NARA, another governmental entity, seemed kind of ironic — and irony very often makes me cranky. Maybe I SHOULD go check the bran content in my morning cereal. This is me ranting — Until Next Time! 

For a serious look at the valuable information to be gleaned from Civil War pension files, see a series of posts at “Genealogy — Diggin up Dirt” http://catrackgraphics.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?mkt=en-US&partner=Live.Spaces starting with the January 5th post “The Fat File” and running through the January 20th post “Clearing Up Facts.” 

Note this post first published online, January 28, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 28 January 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder

Civil War Pensions and More at NARA

If you want to order a federal Civil War pension packet (confederate civil war pensions are not held by NARA), you will need to know the following information:

1. Soldier’s Name 

2. The Union state from which he served 

3. His unit and company Where can you find his unit and company?

1. Sometimes the veteran's obituary will have the information.

2. Sometimes the veteran's tombstone will have the information. 

3. Ancestry's Pension Index (subscription required) 

4. Footnote's Civil War Pension Index (currently only 60% complete) See my Blog “New Website for Genealogy and History Buffs” for information on their 7-day free access proposition. 

5. County history books will sometimes mention this information. The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library contains many county histories as well as Civil War information. To search the library's catalog go to this link: http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/catalog/. (This will explain where the online catalog is housed.) 

6. Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/index.html The site contains a searchable database for both union and confederate soldiers and gives regimental histories. The best part? Access is free! 

There is a comment section on the order form to give more information. For example, in the military records of my great-great-grandfather Edward Jacobus, he is sometimes known as Edward Jacobs thanks to transcription errors. Adding pertinent information like this can save you from paying $37 ($75 plus after Oct. 1) for the wrong man's file.

If you are interested in finding where Confederate Pensions are kept, go to this link on NARA: http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/military/civil-war/confederate/pension.html 

To find more information about compiled military service records available at NARA, go to this link: http://www.archives.gov/research/order/vets-records.html

For a general discussion on all military records and resources at NARA, go to this link: http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/military/ See yesterday's blog for more specific information on how to order. 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! Note this post first published online, September 26, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

©26 Sept 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Placing an Order with NARA

It's taken a little bit of time to figure out what the limitations are for the Web design on our blogging format. In the body of the blog I can't: 

1. Italicize the print 

2. Underline the print 

3. Apply bold formatting to the print 

4. Add hyperlinks (unless the Web address is spelled out and then only if you have clicked into the actual full entry of the blog — seriously, that's really a pain.) 

Because of this, I am a little worried that the news of NARA's rate increase effective this coming MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, might have been missed. So, on the off chance, that someone might be interested in placing an order before the big rate hike, I'm going to give you some steps for accomplishing this. Now maybe all of you are a lot smarter than I am, and you can go to NARA's Web site and figure it out in a snap, but I have ordered several times since they first allowed online ordering last year, and every time I have to start from scratch figuring out what in the heck they want me to do.

First, go to this Web address: https://eservices.archives.gov/orderonline/start.swe?SWECmd=Start. (If you have clicked on the full entry button, you will see this as a blue hyperlink that you can just click on to go to the correct page.) 

1. You will need to log in, or if you haven't already registered you will need to do this first. (If you are only “looking” you can skip this part.) 

2. Then you will need to click on the “made to order reproductions” tab. This will take you to a second screen.

3. There are seven choices on the menu: a. Census b. Court Records c. Immigration and Naturalization Records d. Land Files e. WW I Draft Registration Cards f. Military Service and Pension Records g. Native American Records

4. Clicking on any of these menu choices will take you to a page that will give you a description of the record choice, the current cost of the item and frequently asked questions.

5. Once you decide what you are ordering, it is very similar to ordering from Amazon or JC Penney. There is one exception. Each item must be placed on a separate order. However, you can have multiple orders placed at the same time. 

6. An order confirmation page will appear with the following items on it: a. Order Number b. Order Date c. Product d. Total Charge 

7. Print this confirmation page. That way if there is any question on whether or not you will be paying the pre October 1 rate, you have all the proof you need. Believe me, depending on the order; we are talking a significant difference. 

Should you order great-great-grandpa's land entry record or his Civil War pension record? I don't know. The problem with the system is that you don't know exactly what you are getting until the package arrives. Paying $17.75 to get four ambiguous pieces of paper that constitute Joseph's land entry package is probably not a good bargain, unless you need to prove some disputed dates. 

A distant cousin and I ordered the same ancestor's pension package at different times. There were 27 pages in the packet. (NARA says the average is 105, but you can't prove it by me. The most I have received was 92.) The cousin was disappointed. I, on the other hand, was thrilled. But then again, I tend to be sentimental and sappy. Information to me is pure gold. 

Tomorrow, I will have a short blog about ideas on how to find the information needed to order a Civil War veterans federal pension packet. Until then — Happy Ancestral Digging! Note this post first published online, September 25, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

©25 Sept 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder