Rejected civil war pension applications

By Anonymous on Sat, 10/19/2013 - 11:20

Forums

Need a little help.  I have received an ancestor's pension papers for his Union Civil War service from the National Archives.  Along with miscellaneous letters to/from various attorneys to/from various government pension officials and affidavits from witnesses, there are four (count 'em....   four) different documents entitled "Declaration for an Original Invalid Pension."  Each has different witnesses and was prepared by different officials (lawyers, clerks of court, notary public).  Two claim disability due to rheumatism, and two claim pleurisy.  The dates are 18 Jun 1888, 22 Sep 1888, 28 Apr 1890, and 12 May 1890.  He was a persistent fellow, but apparently did not ever receive the pension he sought, dying on 20 July 1890.  All of these are in his single pension folder with a single application number.

There are all these different documents, some containing information not given in other enclosed documents and some repeating information contained in other enclosed documents.  

I've been advised to cite each item separately, with the date, in the following format (and thanks to Kathy Sullivan for this!): 

[dosucment description], [date], William Franklin (Private, Co. G, 50th Missouri Vol. Infantry, Civil War), invalid application no. 1,124,452 (Rejected), Case Files of Rejected Pension Applications ... 1861-1934; Civil War and Later Pension Files; Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Ist question:  If we are citing "Case Files of Rejected Pension Applications" is it necessary to include the notation "(Rejected)"?  That seems redundant to me.  

2nd question:  Is this an acceptable format for the first reference note?  If so, then what would the format be for the subsequent reference not?

Thanks...

 

Submitted byEEon Sat, 10/19/2013 - 19:41

Greg:

What a valuable file! You are also right to assume that many of your citations to material from this file will need to identify the specific record.

The basic principles are these:

  • Your bibliography (source list) entry will cite the whole file, not one of its parts.
  • Each reference note that you use to support an assertion in your narrative or a "fact" entered into your database will need to cite the specific document that contains the specific piece of information to which you are attaching the reference note.

EE would also agree with you that it is not necessary to repeat that the file is rejected when you identify the collection as "Case Files of Rejected Pension Applications." However, your short reference note should include the word "rejected."

As for an "acceptable format" for a short cite to this specific document, EE will repeat the observation made to Kathy yesterday in the thread titled "Citing autosomal DNA test results from an online database": Any attempt to write a citation for material one has not personally studied is fraught with risk. EE itself offers 1100+ models, but only to records EE has personally used. The Federal Records chapter of EE has a variety of models that demonstrate citations to Civil War pension files, rejected files, and specific documents within a file. See 11.40 particularly.

Submitted bygreglovelaceon Sat, 10/19/2013 - 20:32

Elizabeth, 

Thanks.  This answers my questions.  I had looked at that chapter in EE and had missed the method for specific docs in the file.  This is everything I need.  Thanks again...

Submitted bygreglovelaceon Sun, 11/03/2013 - 12:03

More help, please, on the same document.  The widow's pension application has two declarations:

  1. Widow’s Declaration For Pension Or Increase In Pension, 29 October 1890
  2. Declaration for Widow’s pension, Act of June 27th, 1890, 23 October 1893

Both refer to the marriage of the widow to the soldier, but give different dates, July 1866 and 21 July 1867, respectively.  I am unable to locate a marriage record to verify the date, so I would like to include both dates.  Since we have already determined that the different documents in the pension file should be cited separately, how would I construct a source citation incorporating both documents in a single citation?

Example:

Albert Lovelace married Elizabeth Peacock Jeffcote in either July 1866 or 21 July 1867 in Milton, Santa Rosa County, Florida.1

1 Widow’s Declaration For Pension Or Increase In Pension, 29 October 1890, Elizabeth Lovelace, widow’s pension application no. 496,073 (rejected); service of Albert Lovelace (Pvt., Co. G, 1st U. S. Volunteers, Civil War); Case Files of Disapproved Pension Applications …, ca. 1861 - ca. 1934; Civil War and Later Pension Files; Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D. C. Also, Declaration for Widow’s pension, Act of June 27th, 1890, 23 October 1893, Elizabeth Lovelace, widow’s pension app. no. 496,073 (rejected), RG15, NA-Washington.

The addition of the second short footnote form seems redundant, but I cannot figure out how else to do it and still include what needs to be included.  Any hints or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Submitted byEEon Sun, 11/03/2013 - 20:06

Greg, it's a very small bit of repetition. EE would keep it. The only other suggestion EE might make would be to indicate which document cited which date.

Submitted bygreglovelaceon Sun, 11/03/2013 - 20:29

Elizabeth, you suggest including which date was referred to in which document.  How would you do that?  With a sentence at the end of the citation, or in parentheses after the citation of each document?

Thank you so much...