283 Pension Images from a Mexican War Pension

There were 283 digital images that I received from the Mexican War Pension file of Gardner Ramsey. I’m never going to transcribe the entire set of documents. However, taking notes is an excellent idea. As I take those notes, I don’t need to complete a complete citation for every document. The images are numbered sequentially, so I have decided to include that in the partial citation I’ve created for each item as I take notes from it.

The records concentrated on the end-of-life expenses for Gardner and his financial state during the last few years of his life.

A few details:

  • Mary A. Ramsey died 23 May 1912 and her maiden name was Mary A. Whittaker.  Luquence McCoy was daughter of pensioner Gardner Ramsey who died on 20 March 1912 in a hospital in San Bernardino, California. (“Application for Reimbursement,” Luquence McCoy, of Long Beach, California, 29 March 1915, image pg001)
  • Gardner Ramsey was married “her name was Mary Ann Moore.” They were married by a “Preacher Avard inn Ill inn March 1850.” Gardner only married once and had two children Alice and Lou. (response to survey, Gardner Ramsey, 2 December 1898, image pg005)
  • Gardner Ramsey and Miss Mary Ann Whitson were issued a marriage license on 22 March 1850 in Madison County, Illinois, and there was “no return of marriage made to this office.” (“Marriage Certificate,” 26 April 1912, Harry J. Mackinaw, Clerk of the County Court, Madison County, image pg147)
  • Mary Ann Ramsey, aged 82 years of age, resident of North Cucamonga, San Bernardino County, California, stated that her maiden name was Mary Ann Whitson and that she was married to Gardner Ramsey in Highland, Madison County, Illinois, on 25 March 1850 by Dr. [Wood?, Hood?] Baptist minister. Mary Ann had no certificate and is unable to obtain public record as “she has been informed that the Court House of said Madison Co., has been destroyed by first with all records…” (statement, 23 April 1912, Mary Ann Ramsey, pp151).
  • Mary Ann Ramsey was born on 11 February 1830 in Cookville, Putman County, Tennessee, and married by Dr. Hood, Baptist Minister on 25 March 1850. Her late husband Gardner Ramsey died on 20 March 1912 in San Bernardino, California, and served in Captain Wheeler’s Company, 2nd Regiment of Illinois Foot Volunteers in the Mexican War, having enlisted in 1846 in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Making extractions or abstracts of the images seems the most prudent approach to utilizing this set of records.

It’s worth noting that apparently Mary Ann was incorrect in her belief that there was no record of her marriage. There may be other occasional discrepancies in the file. That’s to be expected and why it is important to indicate which document made which statement. That will help in my analysis and in determining which statements to which I will give the most credence.

There’s more–including pages of testimony about the Ramseys financial status during the final years of their lives and information about their movement through Illinois and the southwestern part of the United States.

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