Michael John Neill's Genealogy Website
In 1893, Charles Hartsell filed another application for an increase in his Civil War pension for service in the 102nd Illinois Infantry based upon “heart problems” and wounds he received while in the service. Hartsell has now moved to Shannon City, Iowa. His apparent examination by the surgeons for his pension increase was in Mt. […]
Reading through medical reports and submissions in a United States Civil War Union pension case can be exceedingly tedious. Sometimes the amount of detail seems excessive, but one has to remember that these submissions were used to make decisions regarding whether a veteran was qualified for a pension and, if qualified, how much that allowance would […]
County biographies and obituaries are places where the political persuasion of an ancestor can sometimes be located. They are probably one of the first places a researcher who is interested in such information should look. Voter’s registration rolls may also provide the political affiliation, but these records are not always easy to access. Pension files […]
It is not often one gets direct, in-your-face evidence of a name variation. Usually one has to use other clues to confirm that references to individuals with slightly different names are, in fact, the same person. That’s not the case with this envelope in the pension file of Charles Hartsell who saw Civil War service […]
The Civil War pension file for Charles Hartsell, contained at the National Archives, has arrived. We’ve already mentioned a few items from select documents from this set of papers. Hartsell was the son-in-law of Massachusetts native Andrew Trask–born in that state around 1814. Andrew is the actual person of interest. Unfortunately a relatively careful reading […]
Politics are keeping me from getting my pension increase. This letter in the Civil War pension file of Charles Hartsell originally caught my attention because it mentioned Hartsell’s Democratic leanings as the reason for his delay in receiving his pension increase. But as I read the letter, I realized there may be a clue […]
Clues can be anywhere, even in medical reports documenting the location of bullet wounds. A June 1905 “Surgeon’s Certificate” for Charles Hartsell indicated where he had remaining scars from being shot while in the Civil War. Fortunately the picture was not overly graphic. While my review of the Hartsell pension is not complete, I think […]
