Eagerly awaiting…

I found information in 2021 that documented my enslaved ancestors with the last names Gibson, Morgan, Guy and Jenkins. All of these people were enslaved on the plantations of 2 related families: the Weeks and Palfreys. Since then, I have been searching for similar documents regarding my St. Charles Parish ancestors Robert Hill and his wife Charlotte Alexander. Robert was born about 1821 in Virginia. He was counted in the 1890 veteran’s census. According to the census, he had lost his military discharge papers and so was not able to provide information on which company or regiment he served. A few pages before Robert’s name was a listing for Alexander Hill. Alexander Hill had retained his discharge papers and in fact lived long enough to apply for and receive a pension for his Civil War service. 

Alexander served in the US Colored Infantry, Company A, Regiment 74 from September 6, 1862 to October 11, 1865. I applied for Alexander’s Civil War pension application with hopes of finding out if Alexander and Robert Hill were related. Often included in pension records is information about the siblings, or wife and/or children of the applicant. In other pension records, I have found the name of the plantation where the applicant lived. 

I requested Alexander’s file electronically July 3, for a base price without knowing how many pages it would contain. I then received an e-mail message on December 26 alerting me that the requested pages were available for download. I received 100 pages of Alexander’s pension file. Included were the names of his children and his wife, his medical records, information regarding his marriage to Rose Matthews in 1866 and deed information about land purchased in 1879. Alexander had applied for and received a pension of $20/month. He had died March 1905. Unfortunately, most of the information that I received centered around Alexander’s widow Rose, who survived him and applied to continue receiving his pension and for help with his burial. There wasn’t any information regarding his life as a slave or any mention of siblings, parents or his place of birth. 

Two weeks after I downloaded the file from NARA, I received a letter from the national archives letting me know that there were an additional 28 pages from Alexander’s pension file that I could request. I don’t know why I wasn’t informed that an additional page were available in December when I was emailed the download link. Evidently, NARA sends you up to 100 pages per request for a price. If additional pages exist in the file, they then write to you and let you know of the availability to request those additional pages. And so, I requested the additional pages. Of course I did!!

And so, I am back in the queue, waiting for someone at NARA to repull Alexander’s file, copy the pages and send me another download link. In other words, I am eagerly awaiting …

Best,