My Love/Hate Relationship with the Pension Numerical Index

The Pension Numerical Index.  It's useless.

It's not really (sorry, Pension Numerical Index, I do love you), it just doesn't make much sense most the time. 

Here's a case study where it actually is helpful (as well as how to read the card in general).

Case Study: Allen Simmons's pension index card

I had a client reach out to me today for help finding Allen Simmons's pension record.  She had his CMSR index card, which lists his unit as Company C, Regiment 5, Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery

OK great.  So I do what I usually do when looking for a pension index card: I browse the pension index. (I'm working on another post about searching vs browsing.  Release date TBA)

So I browse...

and browse...

and browse...

and...

Huh.  That's a problem.  According to the pension index, no soldiers from company C applied for/received a pension.  I don't know that I believe that... Let's try the "Regiment 5th."

OK, not there either.  When browsing fails, I resort to searching. 

Searching "Allen Simmons" results in 1,487 matches.

So filter it by Civil War and PA only and...

3 matches.  That's better.

One is the CMSR index card, which we already have.  One is a census record.  And one... one is the Pension Numerical Index.  

This is the pension numerical index.  Now let's talk about what information it can (and can't) give us.  

First thing to know: the pension numerical index lists 4 things - an invalid (soldier) original (aka application), an invalid certificate, a dependent original (application), and a dependent certificate.  These four are NOT related to each other, other than sharing the same number.  

The number in the top left corner is the application and/or certificate number.

The top section is the soldier whose original/application number is 881955. 

This is useless.  Not only does this card fail to list the full name of the soldier, it also says he's from Illinois, but that doesn't give us any valuable information about his service.  On top of all of that, the third line is "Ctf. No." for "certificate number" - and there is nothing there.  This isn't helpful, because a pension is filled under the certificate number, not the application number.  On a good pension numerical index card, this line is filled out, giving you the number you need for when you fill out your request form (which is another post that I am working on...).

But not quite.  This doesn't account for if the soldier had a dependent (widow, minor, or parent) apply for his pension after his death.  And this is where my love/hate comes into play.  If a dependent applied for a pension, the entire pension packet (the soldier's application, soldier's certificate, dependent's application, and dependent's certificate) will all be in the same packet.  And if someone else applied after that person's death, all of the files would identified by that certificate number.  

(Side note: it is possible that this soldier only applied for a pension and did not receive it.)

Moving on... The next section on the card is the person we are looking for: Allen Simmons, C 5 PA HA.

You'll notice there isn't a line under his name with a different number.  This is ok, because this card is telling us that 881955 is his pension certificate number, which is the number all of his records will be filed under, given that there isn't a dependent pension under his name.  Remember, the dependent's listed on his card are NOT related to Allen.

Next section is the dependent whose original/application number is 881955.

**Clarification: for the most part (I won't say always, because the only "always" is that there are always exceptions) the name listed is the soldier's name.  The dependent's name would be listed on the index card found on Ancestry.  Or can be found in the file itself.

Again, not entirely helpful as it lists the person's name as "Dun."  As an example, I searched "Dun" on fold3.  There are 303, 517 matches.  Filtering by Civil War brings us down to 7, 285. Still not helpful.

(Warning: side track ahead)

BUT, if "Dun" was the person we were looking for (which would be highly unlikely, given that we don't even know his full name), we could find him using the certificate number that is listed under the name.  Browsing the pension numerical index to card number 637154...

Look at the forth section - dependent certificate: His name is William G Dunham, Company G 3rd Massachusetts Infantry.

(side track over)

Back to our card 881955.

The last section is the dependent whose certificate number is 881955.

(My lines didn't show up, but they are there.  Hopefully you are following.)

The "W" above the "Cft" means that this is a widow's certificate.  Henry Monroe served in Company C 41st USC (U.S. Colored) Infantry and his widow applied for a pension and received the certificate number 881995.  

And remember - NONE of the people on the pension numerical index card are related to each other.  Numerical is key, everyone on a regular pension index card are related to each other in some way.

So that's it! That's the pension numerical index, and why I love it sometimes and hate it other times.  

Questions? Comments? I'd love to hear what you'd like me to write about!