Survivors' pension application
files
in the
series have headings normally
consisting
of the
name
of the
State
or
organization
for
which
a
veteran
served;
his
name;
and the
letter
"S"
for
survivor, followed
by a
file
number.
A
file
of
this
type
ordinarily
contains
one or
more
post-1800
approved applications
of a
veteran
for an
invalid
or
service pension.
The
file
may
also contain
affidavits
by
other veterans
or
persons testifying
to the
service
or
disability claimed;
documentary evidence
of
service submitted
by the
applicant, such
as a
commission
or a
discharge certificate; printed briefs summarizing
the
service
claimed;
property schedules; paper jackets formerly used
to
hold application
papers before
the flat-filing
project
of
1910-12;
certified copies
of the
veteran's
service record provided
by
State
officials;
powers
of
attorney; letters
from
attorneys,
Congressmen,
and
other
interested
persons relating
to the
progress
of
the
claim; letters
from
genealogists
and
other researchers seeking information
available
in
pension papers;
and
copies
of
replies
from
the
Pension
Office,
the
Bureau
of
Pensions,
or the
Veterans Administration concerning such inquiries.
A
fire
in
the War
Department
on
November
8,
1800, apparently destroyed
all
Revolutionary
War
pension
and
bounty-land-warrant
applications
and
related
papers
submitted before that date. Applications
and
related records submitted
after
1800
are
occasionally missing
from
survivors'
and
other types
of files
because
papers were sometimes returned
to
applicants
by the
Pension
Office.
Widows'
pension application
files
have
headings usually consisting
of the
name
of the
State
or
organization
for
which
a
veteran served;
his
name;
his
widow's name;
and the
letter
"W"
for
widow, followed
by a file
number. Usually
only
a
widow's given name appears
on an
envelope,
but if
she
remarried,
her
second husband's surname
is
also included, with
the
notation
"Former
Widow."
A
widow's pension application
file may
contain records normally found
in a
survivor's
file,
especially
if the
widow's
file
is a
consolidation
of her
papers
and
those
of the
pensioned veteran
who had
been
her
husband. Whether
a
widow's
file
represents such
a
consolidation
or
relates only
to
pension claims
made
by
her,
it
will generally contain
one or
more approved
post-1800
applications
for a
pension made
by the
widow. Incorporated
in or
attached
to
some widows' applications
is a
copy
of a
marriage
record
made
by a
town clerk,
a
clergyman,
or a
justice
of the
peace. Sometimes family-record pages
from
Bibles
and
other books were also submitted
by a
widow
as
proof
of
marriage.
Rejected
pension application
files
have
headings usually consisting
of the
name
of the
State
or
organization
for
which
a
veteran
served;
his
name;
the
name
of
his
widow
if the
file
relates
to an
application
or
applications submitted
by
her;
and
the
letter
"R"
for
rejected,
followed
by a file
number. Each
of
these
files
normally
contains
one or
more
post-1800
rejected pension applications that were
submitted
by a
veteran,
his
widow,
or an
heir,
and
that were based
on the
Revolutionary
War
service
of the
former serviceman.
The "R"
symbol
on
the-
face
of the
envelope usually indicates that
the
latest application
in the file was
rejected. There
may be one or
more approved pension applications
in the file,
however,
if
they were approved before
the
last application
was
rejected.
Pre-1800
disability-pension application
files are
envelopes that have
headings generally consisting
of the
name
of the
State
or
organization
for
which
a
veteran served,
his
name,
and the
file
symbol
"Dis.
No
Papers."
The
symbol
indicates that
a
veteran's original disability-pension application
and
related papers
are
not
extant, presumably
as a
result
of the War
Department
fire of
November
1800.
In
place
of the
missing papers, most
of the files
contain
one or
more small