Missouri, Confederate Pension Applications and Soldiers Home Applications - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Missouri

What Is In This Collection?
This collection contains digital images of Confederate pension files and applications for admission to the Confederate soldiers' home for the years 1911 to 1938. The applications are arranged in alphabetical order. The pensions are for Confederate veterans who were living in Missouri, although they may have enlisted from another state. The Confederate Soldiers’ Home in Higginsville, Missouri, was open for infirm and dependent former Confederate soldiers and sailors, their wives, widows, and orphans.

Service records were kept for each Confederate soldier. Those records, or abstracts of those records, were compiled into individual files. Each envelope/jacket contains information and cross references to original records relating to the soldier.

These records were created as permanent record of Confederate service and to determine eligibility for benefits and admission to the soldier’s home.;

The information in these records is generally reliable. However, some of it depends on personal memory so it still may contain inaccuracies, such as slightly altered spellings and dates or misinterpretations.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
Information found in this collection may include:
 * Soldier’s name and place of residence
 * Date of application
 * Dates of service
 * Birth date or age
 * Birthplace
 * Name of spouse
 * Names of dependent children
 * Death date, if deceased
 * Military unit in which served
 * Commanding officers of company and regiment
 * Witnesses declaring veracity of statement

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The birth date of your ancestor

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page then:
 * 1) Select Pension Record Type
 * 2) Select Beginning name - Ending name

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

Remember to:
 * Whenever possible, look at the original record. If often has more information than the indexed record.
 * Print or download a copy of the record, or extract the genealogical information needed.
 * In case you need to find this record again later, copy the citation found on each record or image. Familysearch wiki has a Example Research Log that you can download and use for this purpose.

For more tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

I Found Who I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the age to calculate a birth date and to find other records such as birth, christening, census, land and death records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Missouri, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Missouri Archives and Libraries.
 * Search in the FamilySearch Library Catalog

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation

Image Citation

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