Thanks! I have a Civil War soldier (Confederate) who was turned down for pension multiple times til a few affidavits got him approved. Then I found a partial letter in a vertical file from his older brother to their mother saying the younger brother was there too (in 1865 when my guy was 18). All this to say - I've thought about a similar spreadsheet to track that company so I can search the other members and maybe find more clues. So thanks for the guidance (and the head start)!
I have "floating" people and their trees in Ancestry and in my FamilyTree Maker software (FTM). That way if I find out later that they are related, then I can just link them. To help me stay focused on my specific task I will actually make a sign and post it on my bulletin at eye level that I can easily see when I'm working.
My second thought was this, in my Ozark, County Civil War history, the regiments (which for a long time we assumed being located where they were belonged to the South until my great aunt remembered playing with a blue uniform as a child) signed up en-masse with the local prominent land owners son as a unit. One relative in particular, was injured at the Battle of Pea Ridge, but made it home. He was killed for "ransom" shortly after he was discharged because his family didn't have the funds to pay. When his widow applied for his pension, the pension office kept asking clarifying questions about their marriage and her situation (as the courthouse in town has burned down several times before, during, and after the war) until his widow died of old age. They approved the pension 2 weeks after she died. So I agree with you, sometimes the social histories of family, neighbors, and war history found in pension records are fascinating!
Wow! That's crazy and sad at the same time for the widow. But what a twist of history. And am I understanding you? You learned about this through pension records. Way cool!
In Excel I would paste similar using 'Paste Special' 'Text', this puts copy and paste of data like that into a column for each field rather than just one intermingled column. There is probably something similar in Google Sheets.
My Great Grandfather was in the Civil War and I also wanted to know more about the people he served with, although limiting my interest to his company. So, several years ago, I started collecting information, putting it in a spreadsheet (which is an appropriate database to use for holding similar informtion as defined by the column headers). Ultimetly, after several iterations, these are the headers that I came up with: LN FN MI Rank Age Mustered In Mustered Out FS PID Born Died Buried COD Finda # Father Mother Spouse Notes Day Month Year Time Day Month Year Day Month Year Location State Day Month Year Location State Cemetery Twp/City County State I never thought about pension records and I need to look there for missing information. I did keep track of FamilySearch PIDs and Findagrave numbers as an indication that I found the record and so I could easily go back to the sites it necessary. Too, with so many places in the US having the same name, I feel it is necessary to keep track of counties as well as cities or townships.
I have a couple of thoughts, so I am going to make more than one comment. First, I think a spreadsheet is a good way to start. For the very reason you had to stop, back-up, and rework yours. As this project is unwieldy and unknown, spreadsheets can evolve as you find information growing, or not, and has the ability to be reconfigured as you go. You showed us that you were able to add columns, move information as you became aware that other information was more relevant than first thought, hide information that was less "currently" relevant/distracting, etc. Also, they are so powerful. You can use excel to create chars or something more complex like PowerBI to re-evaluate your data and find meaning in the social fabric of the history you have uncovered.
Thanks so much for helping to validate my initial thought process. I do believe that spreadsheets really give you the ability to adapt, grow, and change as you learn more about your ancestors. Thanks for helping to ease my doubt.
Thanks! I have a Civil War soldier (Confederate) who was turned down for pension multiple times til a few affidavits got him approved. Then I found a partial letter in a vertical file from his older brother to their mother saying the younger brother was there too (in 1865 when my guy was 18). All this to say - I've thought about a similar spreadsheet to track that company so I can search the other members and maybe find more clues. So thanks for the guidance (and the head start)!
I have "floating" people and their trees in Ancestry and in my FamilyTree Maker software (FTM). That way if I find out later that they are related, then I can just link them.
To help me stay focused on my specific task I will actually make a sign and post it on my bulletin at eye level that I can easily see when I'm working.
My second thought was this, in my Ozark, County Civil War history, the regiments (which for a long time we assumed being located where they were belonged to the South until my great aunt remembered playing with a blue uniform as a child) signed up en-masse with the local prominent land owners son as a unit. One relative in particular, was injured at the Battle of Pea Ridge, but made it home. He was killed for "ransom" shortly after he was discharged because his family didn't have the funds to pay. When his widow applied for his pension, the pension office kept asking clarifying questions about their marriage and her situation (as the courthouse in town has burned down several times before, during, and after the war) until his widow died of old age. They approved the pension 2 weeks after she died. So I agree with you, sometimes the social histories of family, neighbors, and war history found in pension records are fascinating!
Wow! That's crazy and sad at the same time for the widow. But what a twist of history. And am I understanding you? You learned about this through pension records. Way cool!
In Excel I would paste similar using 'Paste Special' 'Text', this puts copy and paste of data like that into a column for each field rather than just one intermingled column. There is probably something similar in Google Sheets.
My Great Grandfather was in the Civil War and I also wanted to know more about the people he served with, although limiting my interest to his company. So, several years ago, I started collecting information, putting it in a spreadsheet (which is an appropriate database to use for holding similar informtion as defined by the column headers). Ultimetly, after several iterations, these are the headers that I came up with:
LN FN MI Rank Age Mustered In Mustered Out FS PID Born Died Buried COD Finda # Father Mother Spouse Notes
Day Month Year Time Day Month Year Day Month Year Location State Day Month Year Location State Cemetery Twp/City County State
I never thought about pension records and I need to look there for missing information. I did keep track of FamilySearch PIDs and Findagrave numbers as an indication that I found the record and so I could easily go back to the sites it necessary. Too, with so many places in the US having the same name, I feel it is necessary to keep track of counties as well as cities or townships.
I have a couple of thoughts, so I am going to make more than one comment. First, I think a spreadsheet is a good way to start. For the very reason you had to stop, back-up, and rework yours. As this project is unwieldy and unknown, spreadsheets can evolve as you find information growing, or not, and has the ability to be reconfigured as you go. You showed us that you were able to add columns, move information as you became aware that other information was more relevant than first thought, hide information that was less "currently" relevant/distracting, etc. Also, they are so powerful. You can use excel to create chars or something more complex like PowerBI to re-evaluate your data and find meaning in the social fabric of the history you have uncovered.
Thanks so much for helping to validate my initial thought process. I do believe that spreadsheets really give you the ability to adapt, grow, and change as you learn more about your ancestors. Thanks for helping to ease my doubt.
I now understand why the spreadsheet
Yep. I wasn't crazy for starting with the spreadsheet (at least initially). 😜