U.S. Civil War Veteran William Henry H Witham (1841 - 1885) Died without a Pension leaving Widow and Children

Question

Hi Wikitreers,

I’m very curious about this U.S. Civil War veteran and his situation where he never received his pension. The FindAGrave memorial has more detail

“The Government Comrade Witham helped to preserve owed him a pension. He did not receive it. Now let justice be done the widow and orphans.”

1.) This leaves many questions as was his pension ever paid to his survivors?

2.) Did the Military aid in his funeral and burial arrangements?

3.) Needs Gedcom cleanup as we have matched and merged. 

4.) If no pension was ever paid would a descendant still be able to claim his pension to this day maybe a direct decendent?

Any collaboration is appreciated 

Thank you 

Answer 1

I added an obituary to the profile. As Norman says, the pension index card indicates that he did receive a pension. But the obituary says that he didn't. Since he applied for a pension on 3 September 1883, and died in June 1885, I wonder whether the certificate was issued after he died. Sometimes getting enough evidence to satisfy the Pension Bureau took a long time. 

The Act of 6 June 1866 includes this section:

"'SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That if any person entitled to an invalid pension has died since March four, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, or shall hereafter die while an application for such pension is pending, and after the proof has been completed, leaving no widow and no minor child under sixteen years of age, his heirs or legal representatives shall be entitled to receive the accrued pension to which the applicant would have been entitled had the certificate been issued before his death."

So if he died while his application was pending, and the certificate was granted after his death, his widow was entitled to the money he would have received.

For your #4: the original pension act (14 July 1862) granted pensions only to children under 16. The Act of 27 June 1890 extended that a little: 'That in case a minor child is insane, idiotic, or otherwise permanently helpless, the pension shall continue during the life of said child, or during the period of such disability, and this proviso shall apply to all pensions heretofore granted or hereafter to be granted under this or any former statute, and such pensions shall commence from the date of application therefor after the passage of this act:'  

So, no later descendant would have been eligible (as far as I know).

Harry

Comments

Thank you 

Answer 2

He received his pension and widow received widow certificate

Comments

William H filed on Feb 19 1883 for an invalid pension. Application No 472,968. He received Certificate No 383,788.  

Widow (no filing date stated) Application No. 350,4656. She received Certificate No. 240,391

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I took a screen shot of the Pension Index Card. The full file is not of Fold3.  I don't know how to post the image here. And don't know if Fold3 images are copyrighted.

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For the record, images from Fold3 (an Ancestry subsidiary) may or may not be copyright, but it is against clause 2.2 of the Terms and Conditions to post them to another website.

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Thank you it’s interesting how complex the pension was for this veteran 

Answer 3

Susannah received a pension starting Feb 14, 1887.  I don't know what the next date of Feb. 1, 1888 means.  Did it stop then?  Certificate 240391.  It is sourced in my addition of sources on his profile.  It's on Familysearch.   Gross Brothers, of Lee, Massachusetts, received 2 contracts on Sept. 28, 1886 and June 9, 1889 to furnish a headstone.

Comments

Thank you this is helpful