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Civil War pension records are also available at ancestry.com.
If you use the ancestry info, you won't ever get the entire PENSION FILE that you can order from NARA / LOC. I got my gggrandfather's file ( over 60 pages) back in the 1970s from Library of Congress (no one had internet and they didn't call it NARA then). In it, I found a hospital death certificate leading to a burial location which we didn't have and a burial under an incorrect name! I had to petition the U. S. President for correction of the stone and it was sent to the Dept. of the Army to get the stone corrected. The man got his "correct" name after 116 years under the wrong one!
You don't find data like that on ancestry.( I have ancestry and he isn't listed anywhere on it.)
If you use the ancestry info, you won't ever get the entire PENSION FILE that you can order from NARA / LOC. I got my gggrandfather's file ( over 60 pages) back in the 1970s from Library of Congress (no one had internet and they didn't call it NARA then). In it, I found a hospital death certificate leading to a burial location which we didn't have and a burial under an incorrect name! I had to petition the U. S. President for correction of the stone and it was sent to the Dept. of the Army to get the stone corrected. The man got his "correct" name after 116 years under the wrong one!
You don't find data like that on ancestry.( I have ancestry and he isn't listed anywhere on it.)
Magritte, since you have census records, you may want to delve into the occupations of your ancestors and the industries in the area at the time. In my case, it was shoes, leather, ship-building and sail-making. Check into the history of the town and county. Local Historical Societies are very helpful. If you can determine a particular religion, local churches/parishes can be a wealth of information.
Message boards are an excellent resource, as state previously. Ancestry and Rootsweb share the same boards and you can search by surname, county, state, etc. without having to pay. Also check out USGenweb and don't forget Cyndislist.
Personally, I found that paying for Ancestry was worth my while when I first began, but I also discovered that I didn't need it for a lot of the information I found, much of which was available for free somewhere else. Ancestry has simply consolidated and made research much easier and more convenient.
Happy Hunting and welcome to the "family of obsession and obsessed by family"!
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