“Document” can be a noun or a verb and, as genealogists, we should be using it as both! Perhaps this week you share a neat document you’ve found or write about your efforts to document an ancestor.
One of my favorite sources is the pension file. I have a copy of my 2nd great-grandfather, Robert Barbee’s Civil War Pension file. There are at least two-hundred seventy pages in it. There are many good documents. My favorites are (1) a History of Claimant’s Disability ( 3 May 1890) – a list of all the jobs he had since his discharge from the service, (2) a Declaration for Pension (16 March 1907) – a list of place of birth and places of residence since his service, (3) Department of the Interior Bureau of Pensions Questionaire (8 April 1915) – date of birth, spouses, when married, name of ex-spouses, list of all children and their birth dates, (4) Certificate of Death of Robert Levy Barbee (4 March 1928), and (5) a statement from J. B. Barbee (Son of enslaver – 15 April 1908), copy below. It is on my favorite list because it got me past the 1870 census.
![](https://diane-runningoutoftime.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image-6-775x1024.png)
Robert Barbee (Pvt., Co. C, 106th, 106 U.S.C.T., Inf., Civil War), pension no. 585,763, Case
Files of Approved Pension Applications …, 1861–1934; statement of J.B. Barbee, 15 April 1908; Civil War and Later Pension Files; Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C.