Craven County Genealogical Society Presentation: An Example of a Civil War Pension Record, and Where to Find Them

Sara WhitfordJune 10, 20260 comments

I’ve already written on this blog about the Civil War Pension Application for my 3rd-great-grandfather, Levi Morris, but this presentation still covers new ground.

In it, I talk about the kinds of information that can be gleaned from a pension application, and truly, the presentation only begins to scratch the surface.

If you have ancestors who ever fought in the Union, there’s a good chance there is a Civil War Pension Application for them. In applications like these, you’ll often find lots of personal information such as name of wife, names of children along with their birthdates. If any of their children have passed away by the time the application is processed, it might also name grandchildren of the deceased child of the soldier.

You can also learn about the community of folks who knew them best, as affadavits had to be given for nearly any claim being made in the application.

Watch the presentation here and part of the Q&A. For the full length presentation and Q&A, please visit the Craven County Genealogical Society website (http://www.cravengenealogy.org/) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CravenGenealogy)

Here are links referenced in the full presentation (some aren’t in the video above — you’ll need to go to CCGS to watch the whole thing):