Info for obtaining a file from the VA

This information is probably readily found on the web already but I don't think redundancy will hurt in this instance. I was given this information from a Facebook friend when she heard of my concerns. I am posting it here. I am not acknowledging her by name because she made clear she had privacy issues.

I plan on going to D.C. this spring specifically to look up the pension files of my ancestors that participated in the Civil War. I need to contact the V.A. for the records of Sylvester Ames before I go. I believe Sylvester married my great-grandfather's sister. There is a C in front of his file number. I was told this is because his son applied for the pension after Sylvester died. The following is the information that was given to me from Facebook. It may help those who have a similar problem.

"Info for obtaining a file from the VA for a soldier of :
The Civil War
The Spanish-American War
World War I
World War II

If you have a C# or XC# for the soldier, the file is most likely in the possession of the V.A. See this blog post for wording for a letter requesting access under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA):

http://blogs.archives.gov/online-public-access/?p=1702.

I would recommend calling the VA Records Management Center with the information you have on the soldier: (Name/War/Service #/Service Unit/C or XC #) to see if they can tell you the location of the file (I didn't have the patience for a bunch of snail mail inquiries), phone: 888-533-4558.

Be prepared when you call to request that the person conduct a BIRLS (Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem) search to see at which facility the record is housed and what the transfer date of the file is. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!

  

Once you have determined the location of the file you WILL then need to write a letter under the FOIA to the Department of Veteran's Affairs requesting a copy of the file. The link above recommends that you NOT include the name of the war if requesting a Civil War record. This is likely because everyone (including people who work for the VA) assumes that ALL CW records are at the National Archives. MOST are but some are not!

Be courteous but be persistent! I guarantee the results are worth it! I had to call several times before I got the information I needed but I did have a soldier with a VERY common name (William Smith). Then my first letter was lost in transit (mail) to the VA—they never received it—so be SURE to make copies of everything you send! After they received the 2nd letter, it took about a month to receive my soldier's packet."

Hopes this helps someone. It definitely helps me.

Happy Anniversary to me!

Thanks to all that wished me happy anniversary on the blogosphere. If you hadn't,  I would never had realized it. Five years, wow!

I am still trolling the web for info. I have to accept that I can't get there in person right now. It's still frustrating but I won't quit.

Ruby Trickle

Many, many years ago, I went on a road trip with my aunt Adrene and my sometime boyfriend William to Atlanta. On the way there, through Tennessee, we saw billboards touting Ruby Falls. Every few miles there seemed to be another billboard telling us to visit Ruby Falls and the cave wherein it existed. So after all the hype, Adrene, William and I decided we must stop and see Ruby Falls. Only Ruby Falls turned out not to be the thunderous explosion of water we expected to see. Instead it was just a small flow of water, a very small unimpressive flow. So the three of us talked about how we just saw "Ruby Trickle."

Right now that's how I feel about the information I am able to find about my ancestors. When I first started, there seemed to be so much to discover. If I ran into a block on one ancestor, I could find something on another. The data was gushing all over. It kept me going. Now the information has slowed down to a trickle and I am finding it harder and harder to keep going.

Much of this has to do with not being able to go to actual locations. I know the internet is a wonderful source of information but it is limited. I am so frustrated right now. Maybe after I read the civil war pensions I will be more enthusiastic. Just have to get to D.C. sooner rather than later and break up that water jam of information. Then maybe my research and enthusiasm will gush again instead of trickle down.

Once More with Feeling

It's been nearly a year since I blogged here. My genealogical research has been pretty much nonexistent. I did go to a conference in Salt Lake City but it gave me little actual time for researching. Yes, I went back to Nashville too, briefly, too briefly. I have found tidbits online but really nothing new. However, I never gave up the search for more information. That is why I am planning a trip to D.C. very soon to look at some civil war pension applications.

As I was checking the site to plan my trip, I found out that all civil war pension applications are not available due to "reboxing." For a few minutes I was struck with disappointment. I had planned on going to the inauguration and staying to research. Well, the inauguration trip is a bust due to a lack of people signing up for my chosen charter but I still wanted to go after all the hoopla and prices goes down.

After checking with my online genealogy group, I called NARA. I was informed that one and possibly the other application is still available to the public. I was asked what military unit they belonged to. I don't why I never noticed before but they both belong to the same two units. These two men are not related. One could be my great great grandfather on my father's mother's side. The other may be the husband of my great grandfather's (on my father's father's side) sister. One thing is sure, they had to know each other. And I find that very exciting, exciting enough to get my genealogical juices going again, exciting enough to get me to blog. So that's a good thing.

Chasing Ancestors

I read some advice just in the past week that when researching Black ancestors, one should concentrate on one line. This advice was given because of the unique circumstances we face in trying to figure out who our ancestors are. I fundamentally disagree.

I've been researching now for 15 years. Sometimes I get so frustrated with the lack of results that I take a break. I take a break but I never quit and one of the things that keeps me going is that when I end up on a dead-end street for one line, another line still has many avenues I can explore. Finding even the most minute detail that had been hitherto hidden is enough to keep my genealogy juices pumping.

This is what has got me going right now. I always knew that I descended from Brassfields but very little else. My grandmother's mother, whose portrait hangs in my mother's home, is Lizzie Brassfield. Her father was D. Brassfield. Whenever I would try to find more about him I would get stymied by bad transcription. He had an unusual name. Now you would think that would make it easier to find him. Unfortunately not. When  20th century transcribers look at his name written in that archaic handwriting, they come up with modern names and that makes him hard to find in a search. I have looked at the original documents and see Domic or Danic. The transcribers on ancestry.com see David. This is the name picked up by familysearch.com. But I digress.

Since watching Who Do You Think You Are and its episode about Reba McEntire, I have been more curious about Grandpa D. Using information from tngenweb.org I think George Simpson Brassfield of Gibson County, Tennessee was his last slave owner.  Looking at the slave census for 1860, there is a male slave who is the right age for D living on George's farm. I have also found out that George's step-father had a larger farm with three times more slaves during 1850 and 1860 than George.  And the trail doesn't end there. I'm finding a trove of information about George that may eventually lead me to Grandpa D's origin.

So now I am energized once more. I feel like I'm one of those celebrities on WDYTYA except I am the one doing all the hard work and making the wonderful discoveries. And that feels good.

More on the Brassfields

So Reba McEntire and "Who Do You Think You Are" breathed new life into my genealogical research for one of my ancestors I had mostly ignored.

My grandmother Posie Koonce's grandfather was D. Brassfield. In 1865 D. Brassfield and Susan Buck, both of Gibson County, Tennessee, married through the auspices of the Freedmen's Bureau. That license gave me very few although juicy details. D, and I keep saying D because I don't know what the heck his name is, was copper in color while Susan was bright mulatto. All other questions were answered with "unknown."

So I looked for any Brassfields on the 1860 census in Gibson County. I came up with a George Simpson Brassfield in 1850. He is the only Brassfield listed in Gibson County. He owns 10 slaves, one of which is the right age and gender for my ancestor. However, there is no listing for slaves on the 1860 census. George is still alive and according to the census has a land value of $7,500 but I can't find the slave census. This may be a blessing if there were transactions during that time. I'm pressing onward.

Oh, and by the way, George is a direct descendant, according to the Brassfield/Brasfield.net, to Reba's ancestor George of Chester, England.