New Texas Resource

We just received the 3 volume set of the Guide and Index to Texas Confederate Pension Application and Payment Records 1899-1979 by Anthony Black, Robert de Berardinis and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission Staff (copyright 2009 Heritage Books, Inc.). Their preface notes that they are “in addition to rather than in place of the online index to Confederate pension applications and TARO finding aids of the TSLAC.” The indexes are divided by type: pensioners, widows receiving pensions, totally disabled pensioners, Confederate Home pensioners, and rejected applications. There is also a miscellaneous category that includes such items as applications for mortuary warrants, or physician’s statements regarding disability. There is a primer on Texas Confederate Research. An important thing to remember in researching a Civil War pension is the application was submitted to and, if approved, paid by the state in which the veteran or veteran’s widow was living at the time of application, not the state where they mustered in to serve. This will be a good source to consult before you contact TSLAC and spend time and money researching their records. It can be found at R Gen 929.3764 BLA in our library.