Anatomy of a Military Pension File, Part 3

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 7 - Articles of Agreement

This page is the main portion of a contract for legal representation in the process of applying for a military pension. The attorneys were "Jas. H. Vermilya & Co." of Washington D.C. In the small print, it lists a fee of twenty-five dollars, which "shall not be demanded by, or payable to my said Attorneys...except in case of the granting of my pension by the Commissioner of Pensions."

The first half of the document has signatures of the notary who acted as a witness, Chas. Griedrich, another witness and Max Baerecke, pension applicant. His location is Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. The paper says he was a private in the 15th Regiment of the U.S. Infnatry Vols., in the O. War.

Max's signed portion of the document is dated 1 October 1885. He must have signed it and returned it because the attorney's signed portion is dated 7 October 1885.

What did I learn from this page?

1. I learned the address of Max Baerecke in 1885. He lived on 5th Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A Google street view of the address shows an industrial area in the same location today.

2. I learned his role in the "O. War." In other documents, it appears that stands for "Old War" and implies Civil War. However, Max was in the 15th Regiment of the U.S. Infantry in the Mexican War. He had a different role in the Civil War. Perhaps they're calling the Mexican War the "O. War." Otherwise, this is an error.

3. I learned that Chas. Griedrich was a witness for Max. Was he a friend? A relative? Just some dude in the pension office? More investigation is needed.

Page 8 - Fee Agreement Cover Page

This is the front page of the pension application contract. It lists Max's name and a declaration of filing for an invalid pension. There is also a "notice to claimant" regarding fees (not to exceed $25) and the statute laid out by the U.S. Government.

Page 9 - Handwritten copy of page 7

This is a handwritten duplicate of page 7. No Xerox machines back then.

Page 10 - Copy of page 8

Page 11 - Articles of Agreement

This page is the same form as page 7, but it is dated later (25 Feb 1887) and has slightly different information. Max is listed as a member of the 15th Regiment of the U.S. Infantry in the "Mex War." This is correct. Perhaps page 7 was incorrect and they had to resubmit this form later.

The witnesses on this document are R. Pfeil and F. J. Gressing. More names for me to investigate.

Page 12 - Fee Agreement Cover Page

Information is similar to that on page 8.

Coming up... a "Survivor's Brief" with good information. Stay tuned...

Advent Calendar: December 1

(This is post 1 in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories hosted by Geneabloggers.com)

Prompt: December 1 - The Christmas Tree

Did you have a real tree or was it artificial? How big was the tree? Who decorated the tree? What types of Christmas trees did your ancestors have?

We were a "real" tree family of the pine variety. Being from southern California, you just don't go in the woods and get your tree. We went to a tree farm. I think it was in the Lake Matthews area, but I was a kid at Christmas, so those details weren't important. The name of the place was Pine Hill Farms (I think. This remembering stuff is HARD!). I doubt the place is there anymore. It's probably 500 tract homes at this point.

Once upon a time, that place had sloping hills of trees. They also had crafts, food and a hay ride around the farm. We'd spend half a day there, then take our tree home.

Our trees were always around 8ft, and usually crooked. Once my dad washed and set the tree in its stand, my sister and I would get to flock it with aerosol cans of Al Gore's worst nightmare. But then it was fun. My dad would cut the trunk at the base in order to straighten it, leaving a disc of fresh wood. I loved the pine smell of that wood.

When the tree made it into the house, it would be placed in the living room where we'd all decorate it. There the tree would wait empty until the morning of the 25th when there would be presents under it.

The tree usually stayed around until New Year's or whenever my mom declared it a fire hazard.

As for my ancestors, I have no idea what tree traditions they had. That's the price of coming from a small family.

Count Me in for the Advent Calendar

Geneabloggers.com has reincarnated the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.

I was hesitant to play along because (a) all the "good stuff" is on the inaccessible other computer and (b) my life just isn't that exciting. In genealogy years, I'm a baby. My yesteryears are the late 70's and early 80's.

But then I got to thinking...I really don't put down enough of my memories on this blog. I still live with the faint hope that a century down the road, someone will care about this history and be interested in what I write. And for that person, I've decided to play along with the Advent Calendar.

The plan is to do an entry for every day, even those for which I have no memories (and there are some). That's just the way it is. That's me.

Look for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories series (version: ME) to start December 1, 2009.

Thanksgiving Genealogy Adventures

This Thanksgiving weekend, I had the pleasure of hanging out with Denise Levenick, aka The Family Curator. She happens to live near my in-laws, so we found some common free time and set up a visit.

We spent some time at the Los Angeles Public Library central branch downtown. It's quite a building. The lowest floor is devoted completely to genealogy and history.

I stuck to my plan to tackle southern California city directories. I've been using them, along with voter records, to track the rolling stones in my family. In the 1941 L.A. directory, I found that my grandfather had a partner in his feed business. I knew about the business, I didn't know his aunt was his partner. In later directories, he's listed as sole owner.

I also found my mom (listed as "1 child") along with my grandmother in the 1948 East Los Angeles directory. My grandfather must have been in the Navy then, as grandma was in her father's household. My mom probably didn't know she ever lived in East L.A., until now when she reads this post.

Denise did some research on her end as well. Then we packed up and went to a restaurant bar for a quick appetizer and conversation. The great thing about social networking in the genealogy community is that you already know each other online, so small talk isn't necessary. You can just jump right in. We talked about genealogy education, our ancestors and all the things our families find boring.

Our visit was much shorter than it should have been. We both had to get back to our families. However, I now have a friend I can meet up with every time I'm in town.

Thank you, Denise, for the fun day and the reminder of how thankful I am for my genealogy friends.

Surname Saturday: Williamson

This week's name in my family tree is Williamson. This is a common name. I'm most interested in the Williamson lines that were in Russellville, Pope County, Arkansas from the 1830's until now.

I have done extensive research on the Pope County Williamsons. They were there a long time and had children who stayed there a long time. They were active in church, government and local activities---which is good because they created a lot of records.

My great-great grandfather was William Woodberry Williamson. His father ws John Laurens Williamson. His father was John R. Williamson.

The eldest Williamson was active in state politics during Arkansas' formative years.

Before Pope County, the Williamsons were in Tennessee. I know this much, but have not done research for the line that far back.

I have lots of documentation about the Williamson genealogy in this place. If you have a connection to Pope County (even if it's not Williamson family history), please let me know and we can share notes.

Follow Friday Holiday

My Follow Friday series is taking a break today and will return next week. I figure everyone will be out and about anyway, and blog traffic will be low. I love my Follow Friday peeps and I want them to get the FULL attention they deserve. See you and my next "blog star" next week!

Mmmmm Turkey

Today I am celebrating Thanksgiving. White meat over dark. Mashed potatoes over yams. Football, nap, then back to the refrigerator for a leftover turkey sandwich.

Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. readers. To the others, have a great Thursday.

Wordless Wednesday: A Different Feast Edition

Audubon Insectarium

New Orleans, Louisiana

Of Clouds and Silver Linings

All month I've been working on my ProGen assignment, which is a business plan. I worked really hard on this task, highlighting my qualities, analyzing the genealogy market, etc. I really went overboard just for the challenge, and I succeeded.

The day I finished the business plan is the day my computer died. It won't turn on. I don't think this is a catastropic problem where everything is lost. I just can't get to it. My laptop is poised to go to the computer hosiptal once the special box from the manufacturer gets here.

So what to do now? Blogging is limited because all the groovy pictures are on that computer. I just finished scanning the entire military pension file and now there are no images. Can't do my Find-a-Grave adding because those pictures were on there, too. Can't do RootsMagic because....well, you get the idea.

What I do have is my son's desktop computer, so all is not lost. It's just kind of boring because all the good stuff is on the other computer.

I had a brief pity party but then I started thinking. This little wrinkle has forced me to change my focus for a few weeks. Things that have been put off, are now at the top of the list. I can't add pictures to Find-a-Grave, but I can gather names and take new pix. I can't access my RootsMagic, but I can add to my Geni tree and work with my private Ancestry tree. I can start the ball rolling on the DAR process. I can catch up on reading. I can go to Clayton Library and the other fab local repositories. I can still do research and that's what's important.

I just won't have any pictures of these adventures to share with you. Just another wrinkle and a new path. Let's see where it leads.

The Genealogist's Holiday Gift List

The holidays are upon us!

Several of the popular genealogy magazines have published their own gift lists. Mine has some similarities, yet many differences. Though this article is geared toward the non-genealogist the chances of any reading this blog are slim. Should you want any of these items for yourself as holiday gifts, I encourage you to print out this post and tape it to the refrigerator as a gigantic hint.


Laptop or netbook
Hey, aim high. You never know.

Digital camera
A little pocket camera comes in handy when you're unable to scan or copy documents.

Digital tape recorder
These are great for transcribing documents, capturing important interviews and preserving history.

MP3 player
Genealogy podcasts are easy to download and just waiting for you to find them.

Books
Make a list of books you'd love to add to your library. Be specific or you'll end up with the History of Adams County, when you wanted the History of Aaron County.

Magazine subscriptions
Have your eye on a certain publication? Let it be known.

Database subscriptions
Ask for an annual (or partial) subscription to your favorite database.

Society memberships
An easy gift to give: membership to a local, state or national genealogy association.

Office Supplies
Little things make great stocking stuffers.

Charitable donations
Don't want any presents? Ask family members to give to historical non-profits, library genealogy collections, cemetery preservation societies or anything else that's important to you.

Share your photos and keepsakes
Given the choice between a new sweater or old family photos, I guarantee you that every genealogist would take the pictures.

Show an interest
This sounds silly, but if non-genealogy family members would show an interest in their ancestors' history this season, it would really brighten the day of your family's history keeper.


Genealogists are a special breed and we have special "toys" as well. Hopefully this list makes shopping a little easier so the holidays can be enjoyed to the fullest with loved ones.

Surname Saturday: Thibodeaux

This week for Surname Saturday I am going to tell you about my research interest in the name Thibodeaux.

The Thibodeaux name is everywhere, misspelled all along the way. I am interested in the surname in 1820-1880 Acadia and St. Landry Parishes of Louisiana. That's it. No other parishes, no other time frames.

In this particular time and region there are several men named Pierre Thibodeaux. One of them is my third great grandfather. Most of the public member family trees on Ancestry say that the Pierre Thibodeaux born in 1835 is my man. I believe the 1829 Pierre Thibodeaux is the correct link, however, I've yet to prove that. Just a hunch.

So if you have an interest in these Thibodeauxs from this time frame, please drop me a line. I desperately want to get the right Pierre in my line, because from there, it's quite easy to go back further.

Follow Friday Starring The Educated Genealogist

It's the end of the week and you know what that means? Follow Friday!

This week's recommendation is one of the first genealogy blogs I read. This person has a great writing voice (and her sultry real voice isn't bad, either). She's smart, honest and very funny. Who is she? Sheri Fenley aka The Educated Genealogist, of course!

Any time Sheri goes to a big genealogy event, she blogs about it. She's known for her "Sheri Goes to Samford" series where she gives a play-by-play of her experiences. Here are the links to 2008 and 2009.

She also writes the popular "The Year Was..." series for Shades of the Departed and is instrumental in the production of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits.

I hope you enjoy Sheri's blog as much as I have. She puts the fun in genealogy and is a great asset to the blogging community.

Comment adjustments

Apparently spam commenting this blog is all the rage in Asia today. For now, I'm turning comment approval "on" so your comment won't show up here until I approve it.

I can do this at my computer or phone, so there shouldn't be much of a delay. Hopefully it's only temporary.

Also, word verification is still "off" because I hate that thing.

As you were.

Anatomy of a Military Pension File, Part 2

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. Part one is here, below is part two:

Page 6: Pension packet cover. This document appears to be a cover for all or part of the Baerecke pension file, considering the middle crease you can see in the photo:

Based on the dates on the first items in this file, it appears that the most recent documentation is on top. So the widow's death is first, then we'll move back in time to the point of the veteran's first pension application.

What did I learn from viewing this document?

1. The certificate number is listed, but I already knew that, as I used it to request the file.

2. The DEAD stamp. I think this was the cover of Amalie Baerecke's widow's pension file. I'm not sure if the stamp pertains to the vet's death or that of the widow.

3. Max Baerecke was a Private and Sgt. in Company "I" of the 26th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War. I researched this further on the Internet. It makes for interesting reading.

4. Amalie Baerecke, Max's widow was approved to receive $8 per month commencing 23 Dec 1904.

5. Date of issue and date of mailing are in October 1906. Does that mean that Amalie was granted a widow's pension in late 1904, but didn't receive payment until late 1906?

6. The top right of the image says DROPPED on 11 Jan 1912. This coincides with Amalie's death.

7. February 1912 stamps and date notations pertaining to "Mrs. C.J. Smith." From page 5 of the file, we know she is Amalie's daughter and she wrote a letter asking for reimbursement of her mother's funeral costs.

8. Date stamp 17 April 1912 says REIMBURSEMENT ALLOWED. That must mean Mrs. C. J. Smith was reimbursed for the costs. Good to know.

Coming up, some boilerplate legalese and the first personal details about Max Baerecke. Stay tuned...

On to part 3.

Wordless Wednesday: Backyard Sunset Edition