Civil War pension files

As mentioned last Friday, I recently viewed several Civil War pension files at the US National Archives in DC. One, William Oyler, turned out to not be directly connected to my tree. Another, Felix Stidger, lived in the house purchased by my 4th-great-grandfather Enoch Holsclaw. Stidger was the son of Enoch's sister Narcissa Holsclaw Stidger. Felix was in the Secret Service during the Civil War. His file included a document that he signed referencing his then third wife Anna, his first wife and his children. Stidger's file would be of great interest to any direct descendants of his.

Photo by Patrick Jones. Source: US National Archives.

The next two files that I viewed relate to the research I am doing on parties involved in the cases surrounding Captain John Thornhill. I was able to view the Civil War pension file of Samuel E. Rankin and his wife Sarah's widows pension. As a reminder, Rankin was the subject of a court case that went up to the US Supreme Court. Samuel Rankin and Sarah Lyle were married in Jefferson County on 7 February 1867, during the pendency of the court cases.

The last file involved the pension application file for John N. Newman, a known associate of Captain Thornhill. Newman's file deserves its own post, so I will have more on that shortly.