Anatomy of a Military Pension File, Part 11

Previously, I reported on the acquisition of my great-great-great grandfather's military pension file. The documents contained within paint a picture of a man and his family about which I knew very little. I've decided to share this 103-page treasure chest of information with you a few pages at a time.

Page 26: Cover of Hospital Statement

This appears to be a cover page for a statement Max Baerecke's own words.

Page 27: Disability Affidavit for Max Baerecke

This document is dated October 14, 1885 and states that Max is 58 years old. Much of this document is handwritten. I have included those portions in quotes.

For "three" years immediately preceding my enlistment into the service of the United States on the "15th" day of "August, 1847", I resided in the following named places: "one year immediately preceding my enlistment, at Milwaukee, Wis. and for two years next prior thereto at Eisenach, Germany. In Milwaukee, next prior to my enlistment, my occupation was none and for two years any more next prior thereto, at Germany" my occupation was that of a "farmer."


Since my discharge from said service on the "30th" day of "April, 1848" I have resided in "the city of Milwaukee, in said county and state (except ten years thereof namely 1850-1860 when I have resided at the village of Humboldt in the town of Milwaukee, in said county and state. During the 10 years at Humboldt, my occupation was that of a miller and during all the rest of time since my discharge" my occupation has been that of a "barkeeper."


This is a long document with lots of good details. Therefore, I broke it in half and will put it in two blog posts.

So what did I learn from the first half of page 27?

This page was a gold mine. I learned the residences of Max Baerecke from his adult years in Germany all the way up to 1860. He lived several places and had several positions. I knew he had been a barkeeper, but without this file, I may have never known about his years in Humboldt village as a miller.

I'm pretty confident someone else other than Max wrote this document. Though he provided the facts, this isn't the language of a German-speaking immigrant farmer/miller/barkeeper.

Next up, the second half of page 27. Go to part 12 of the series here.