Message from a member of the Alabama Pioneers community
I wish to thank you for your work and sending me the AP each week. I enjoy reading it each week. In the article “Burned Courthouses”
Another place you might look is Civil War Pension Applications. My Mother’s family came from Taney and Christian County Missouri. The courthouse were burnt in about 1885. Every thing was lost. I lucked out. My granddad was in the Missouri Inf. He was killed during the war. I didn’t know any thing about his wife, My Grandmother. Family name or family history.
She filed for a pension under him. In the pension application. She tells what her family name was, The name of her Father and Mother and when she was born and when and where she and my Granddad were married. And when and where he got killed. That was a lot of information on the application which would have been lost if she had not filed for a pension. AP Member Jesse Suttles
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how do I do that??? I had family that fought in that war and can’t seem to get anywhere. they were from Mississippi
Joe Burns, do you use this?
I didn’t see the “Burned Courthouses” story. Did it include Hamilton, AL. and please post a link. Thanks
Jackson County’s original courthouse was at Bellefonte. Although a new courthouse had been built at Scottsboro before 1860, many of the Jackson County records from before 1852 were still at the Bellefonte courthouse when Union troops entered the town and destroyed them. For this reason, the first wife of my gg-grandfather’s oldest brother and guardian shall remain unknown. Although Guntersville was burned by Union troops, the courthouse remained untouched. Workers there .will assure you that their records are intact.
Pension applications are great! I was so fortunate years ago when I wrote to the AL Archives to inquire about my husband’s Great Grandfather. We were told he was a Confederate soldier. I received his pension papers as well as his widow’s. One of the best things we were excited to learn from these papers was the fact he was among the troops with General Lee at Appomattox on the day Lee surrendered! His name is Whit Williams.
Pension applications can be a gold mine of information. I went to Montgomery to the State Archives and found his application. I learned tons about him and got to see his penmanship in his early seventies. Still looked good and wrote a lot. I learned that he was 17 when he enlisted in Tarrant’s Battery AL light field artillery. Wounded? Ran over by cannon Confederate while crossing pontoons at Gadsden. Fought at Atlanta, Nashville, Blakeley AL imprisoned at Ship Island off Mississippi coast. Taken to New Orleans, Paroled at Vicksburg and footed it home back to Tuscaloosa. Blakeley surrendered same day as Lee at Appomattox. You can look to see if your ancestor was in the war by online Alabama state archives Civil War soldier database. This can tell you regiment / company / rank / address / etc etc.
All records lost in Carrollton bc of 2 fires. No proof of who owned my grandfathers house.