Reading thru some Cook(e) Confederate Pensions filed in Louisiana

In my efforts to find more on my Cook cousins I've started reading thru the Confederate Pension applications to see if I could locate any cousins from the lines of those that my brother most closely matches thru YDNA.  I started with Louisiana though I don't know if any of the Shem Cooke lines ended up there or were in the area for a time.  FamilySearch has the Louisiana Confederate Pension Applications at their site.  While they aren't searchable in the normal fashion they are listed alphabetically in groups and you can navigate to the surname of your choice within the group.  The Cook pension applications start on image 544 of 1454 in the section that covers
Como, Angie-Desire ------ Corley, Jackson S

Confederate Pensions Applications were State pensions and there are differences in the pension applications for each state that paid these as well as within each state over time.  Confederate pensions were applied for within the state of residence which many times wasn't the state where they had been living at the time of service or where they had enlisted.  Requirements for drawing a pension varied as well.

In the Louisiana Confederate Pension Applications, there were files for 26 Cook/Cooke soldiers.  Of those 26, 14 were filed by the widow.  If you are searching for the place of birth and birthdate for a soldier, and the soldier as applied you will likely find that info in his application along with the name of his wife and children if he married and had a family.  While widow's applications aren't as great for finding the place of birth or birthdate for the soldier, they do contain the marriage date and death date.
Less than half of the Cook/Cooke soldiers who applied in Louisiana were born there,   The image below is a list of the Places of Birth given for the files I read in which the POB was not in Louisiana.

The most interesting application was a widow's application where the soldier had begun filing for a divorce but had died before it was finalized.  The widow got her pension.  This file was full of information about the filing of the divorce and also many letters detailing a change of address for the widow after she had begun drawing the pension.

We're Related....Maybe...

I've had the We're Related app installed on my phone and hooked to my tree at Ancestry and my Facebook account for a few weeks.  As of today, I've had about 42 suggestions.   Some of them I know up to the point of the Most Recent Common Ancestor.  My favorite suggestions are those who are Facebook friends.  I will actually look into their side of the tree up to the MRCA or have them check it out.  I think when you get to the 7th cousin point, if your family has been in the country(USA)  since the early 1700s, then you are going to be kin to almost every other famous person with colonial lines.

Are any of them correct....who knows. I am way more interested in the Facebook Friends because those are(for the most part) real people.  I did get a bit excited about Jimi Hendrix, Stephen King, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.  The Miley Cyrus connection...not so much.  I would say..take them with a grain of salt....or a block.  If they help you to make a break thru in your research, that's great.  However, I feel they are more for entertainment and a way of advertising.

Person	Cousin	Side	MRCA	Surname Connection	Notes
Zachary Taylor	3C5R	PGF	William Strother III	Elizabeth Putman
Rachel Reeves	4C3R	PGM	Reuban Manley	Reuban Manley	FB Friend
Benjamin Franklin	4C9R	MGM	Sir Wm. Jones	James P Hitchcock
Abraham Lincoln	5C4R	PGF	Hancock Lee	Nancy Tyler
Henry David Thoreau	5C5R	PGM	Richard Church	James Morrow
Ralph Waldo Emerson	5C5R	PGM	Giles Hopkins	James Morrow
Blake Sheldon	6C	MGM	Cain Acuff	Jonathan Acuff
Theodore Roosevelt	6C1R	PGF	Thomas Carter	Nancy Tyler
Christinia Aguilera	6C2R	PGF	John Carter	Elizabeth Putman
Jimmy Hendrix	6C2R	MGM	Elizabeth Ingo	Jonathan Acuff
Helen Keller	6C3R	PGF	Thomas Todd	Elizabeth Putman
Mark Twain	6C3R	MGF	Owen Griffith	Keziah Rigsby
Bill Clinton	7C	MGF	Beatrice Spier	Mary Pitman
Brad Pitt	7C1R	MGF	Elizabeth Blair	Frances Bolling
Luke Bryan	7C2R	MGF	John Bolling	Frances Bolling
Kate Upton	7C2R	PGM	Hannah Hopkins	James Morrow
Jessica Simpson	7C2R	MGF	Mary Crawford	Keziah Rigsby
Barack Obama	7C2R	MGF	David Lewis	Keziah Rigsby
Jeannie S.	7C2R	PGF	Frances Armistead	Nancy Tyler	FB Friend
Ann Coulter	8C	MGF	Robert Bolling	Frances Bolling
Carol W.	8C	MGF	John Redford	John Redford	FB Friend
Whitney Houston	8C	MGF	Patience Cotton	Mary Pittman
Kristen Stewart	8C	MGM	Thomas Nelson	Mason Combs
Carrie Fisher	8C1R	PGF	William Strother	Elizabeth Putman
Miley Cyrus	8C1R	PGF	Thomas Carter	Elizabeth Putman
Marilyn Monroe	8C1R	MGF	Anne Stith	Frances Bolling
Melinda B.	8C1R	MGF	Elizabeth Smith Crawford	Keziah Rigsby	FB Friend
Kurt Cobain	8C1R	MGF	John Lewis	Keziah Rigsby
W.C. Fields	8C1R	MGF	Jane Crawford	Keziah Rigsby
Britney Spears	8C1R	MGF	John Lewis	Keziah Rigsby
Winston Churchill	8C1R	MGF	Kathrine Kennedy	Margaret Lauderdale
Lady Gaga	8C1R	PGM	Edward Richards	Nancy Harger
Eminem	8C1R	PGM	John Merryman	Nancy Harger
Stephen King	8C1R	PGM	Elizabeth Spring	Nathan Frizzell
Matt Damon	8C1R	PGM	John Gale	Nathan Frizzell
Blake Lively	8C2R	MGF	Robert Bolling	Frances Bolling
Demi Lovato	8C2R	MGF	Anne Bette	Frances Bowles
Walt Disney	8C2R	MGF	John Crawford	Keziah Rigsby
Megan Z	9C	PGF	Thomas Todd	Elizabeth Putman	FB Friend
Johnny Depp	9C	MGF	William Randolph	Frances Bolling
John F. Kennedy	9C	MGF	John Randolph	Frances Bolling
Sharlene Woodley	9C	MGF	Julian Jarrell	Mary Pittman Luna

Dunham & Pittman descendants among those applying on Baker Roll.

While working on the Pittman/Adcock portion of my 2GrGP to 2C project I have found applications for the Eastern Cherokee(Baker Roll era)  ...not the the Pittman line but through the Dunham line..both were rejected but contained a great deal of detail about their migration.  I thought it might be interesting for others to see what a basic rejection letter looked like and the reasons for not recommending the applicant be accepted as a member to the Eastern Cherokee. Items 1-6 were checked on the two applications for the John Sebron Dunham and Margaret "Peggy" Pittman Dunham descendants.



Dear Sir or Madam:

The enrolling committee has examined your application for enrollment with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina, and from the information contained therein it does not feel justified in recommending you for acceptance as an enrolled member of the Band.  Your application is therefore rejected for the reasons checked below:

1.  The applicant's ancestors have not been enrolled as members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

2.  The applicant or parents not in the state of North Carolina at the time of the Award October 23, 1874.

3.  The applicant, or parents not enrolled in 1868 or since that date.

4.  Proper degree of affiliation and association with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

5.  Not recognized by the tribe as a member thereof.

6.  No contribution made to the purchase of the Qualla Boundary or other tribal lands.

7.  The applicant, or parents enrolled as Western Cherokees.

8.  Any right the applicant, or an ancestor, may have acquired by reason of residence in the state of North Carolina in October 1874 or by reason of enrollment with the Eastern Band prior to that date has been lost through non-affiliation.

9.  The parents of the applicant, one of them being white, married since June 7, 1897, and the applicant born apart from the Indian  community.

Thirty days is allowed in which to appeal to the Secretary of the Interior from this decision.  Any appeal taken must be prepared in proper form and filed in this office so that all the paper in the case may be forwarded at the same time.  The committee has no forms for use in making appeal and no information as to the method of preparing the same.


Very respectfully,

-------?  the enrolling commission

Researching Confederate Records of the Civil War.

If you have family who was in the United States during the Civil War Period(1861-1865) you need to at least find out if they served on either side.  Even if you do not have a direct line who served you may be able to find out more about your lines by researching a sibling of your direct line who did serve.  With southern research finding pension records may be the only way which you will find some of your ancestors maiden names and date of birth or date of death recorded.  During the war between the states many courthouses were burned and/or records destroyed.  Confederate Soldiers Pension applications were handled on a state level and were filed in the state of residence at the time of application.  While your ancestor may have enlisted and fought in an AL unit however, if he was living in the state of Texas when that state began processing confederate pension applications then his application will be found in Texas states records. There is not ONE exact date in which all states board of pension began processing the applications.  The dates and eligibility requirements varied from state to state.   NARA's Confederate Pension Applications site.  has more info on that.  The states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia had pension boards which processed these Confederate Pension Applications.

The Confederate Soldier's Pension Applications tend to contain information about the soldiers unit:

• When and where he enlisted
• Did he sustain any injuries?
• Was he injured during service?
• Family size & dependents
• His means of support

If he preceded his wife in death, be sure to check to see if she applied for a Widow's pension. Widow's pension files normally contain copies of information pertaining to the marriage of the soldier.  You may find a copy of their marriage certificate or sworn statements from person(s) who witnessed their marriage.   To get an idea of what can be found you might want to check out my confederate pensions page which contains information abstracted from some of the Confederate Pension Applications of persons who are in my family(direct or indirect) or who lived in the same area as my direct lines.

FamilySearch has a great deal of Confederate info scanned and on line.  Most of it is not indexed.
Below is a list of what I have noticed was available.  Mainly Pension Applications and POW/Prison records from the different Civil War camps that housed captured Confederates.  While there is no index for the Pension Applications many of the southern states who paid out Confederate pensions have an index online and you can consult the index and then find the application by navigating to the appropriate section and number at the FamilySearch site.

To find the Confederate Pension Applications you will need to look for the applicants state of residence. You can find the US Military  files that are available at this part of FamilySearch
Be aware that this will include files from any of the wars that are available thru FamilySearch.  To narrow it down to confederate records you will need to use CONFEDERATE  as your search term in the Filter By Collection section located in the upper left panel of the page.


United States Records of Confederate Prisoners of War 1861-1865
Below is a basic outline of what is available at the above link at FamilySearch

• AIDE: Index to Volumes
• AK, Little Rock, Military Prison
• DC, Washington, Old Capitol Prison
• DE, Ft. Delaware, Military Prison
• Department of Missouri
• Department of the Gulf
• Department of the Ohio
• District of West Tennessee, Provost Marshal's Office
• Division of West Mississippi
• IL, Alton, Military Prison
• IL, Camp Butler, Military Prison
• IL, Camp Douglas, Military Prison
• IL, Rock Island Barracks, Military Prison
• IN, Camp Morton, Military Prison
• KY, Louisville, Military Prison
• LA, New Orleans
• MA, Ft. Warren, Military Prison
• MD, Ft. McHenry, Military Prison
• MD, Point Lookout, Military Prison
• MO, St. Louis, Gratiot & Myrtle Streets Prisons
• MS, Ship Island
• NY, Elmira, Military Prison
• NY, Ft. Columbus, Military Prison
• NY, Ft. Lafayette, Military Prison
• NY, Hart Island, Prison Camp
• OH, Camp Chase, Military Prison
• OH, Cincinnati, McLean Barracks
• OH, Johnson's Island, Military Prison
• SC, Hilton Head, Prison Camp
• TN, Knoxville
• TN, Memphis, Military Prison
• TN, Nashville, Department of the Cumberland
• VA, Bowling Green, Provost Marshal's Office
• VA, Newport News, Military Prison
• VA, Richmond

Records Relating to All Prisoners

• Applications for release & decisions, 1863-1865, v. 7-9
• Confederate prisoners and deserters released, 1861-1865, v. 10-13
• Prisoner deaths, 1862-1865, v. 5
• Prisoner deaths, 1862-1865, v. 6
• Prisoner deaths in AL, GA, SC, 1862-1865, v. 21
• Prisoner deaths in AR, MS, TN, 1862-1865, v. 17-18
• Prisoner deaths in FL, KY, LA, MD, MO, NC, TX, VA, 1862-1865, v. 19-20
• Prisoner financial records, prisoner lists, supplies, 1862-1865, v. 14-16
• Prisoner registers, 1863-1865, v. 1
• Prisoner registers, 1863-1865, v. 2
• Prisoner registers, 1863-1865, v. 3
• Prisoner registers, 1863-1865, v. 4

Prisoner registers of various locations
DE, Ft. Delaware,  MD, Ft. McHenry, NY, Ft. Lafayette, 1863-1864, v. 424
Prisoner registers of various locations in DE, FL, IL, IN, KY, MD, MO, NY & OH, 1861-1865, v. 425-427

Your ancestor may have lived in the south....but did he fight in the Confederate Army or the Union Army?  Be sure to check both.  Occassionally I have found where a soldier has fought on both sides.  Cyndi Howell has a page with info on how to go about ordering Military & Pension Records for the Union Civil War Veterans from the National Archives

Hope this has given you some new ideas for your research.

Confederate Widow Pension Application #2074 --S. R. James(Widow of T. H. James)

While working through the Descendants of my King/Manire 2nd Great Grandparents I found that their oldest daughter Susannah Rebecca King who married Thomas H. James had filed a Widow's claim on Thomas' Confederate Service.  I had the date of their marriage but I didn't know that they were married by Rev. Jessie C Lamb.  This tells me they likely attended Cumberland Presbyterian church.  They were married in 1862 but didn't have children until 1866(after he was home from the war)  The application mentions that Thomas was captured with his company(Company F 17th TN Regiment) at Chickamauga and was in Camp Chase(Ohio) or Camp Douglas(Illinois)

Also among the info in the Pension Application was a listing by age and gender of their 10 children.
6 sons(ages:  24, 10, 8, 7, 5, 3) and 4 daughters(ages"  25, 22, 20, 18)  I just imagine the oldest son was more than ready to have a brother by the time it actually occurred.

The ages of the children do not match what they should be for the time of the application.
The question is phased as follows and is asked immediately after the question asking the for the husband's time of death.

"13.  How many children did you have by your said husband?  Give sex and age at this time?"

I believe she took that to mean at the time of his death( which was 17 yrs prior to her application.  If you add 17 yrs to the ages she lists it will be the ages each of her children should be in 1908 when the application was filed.

When you find a document read through it and see if the information "jives"  Record what info is given but you should also note when the information given doesn't match with known info.  If you can come up with an explanation write that up in your notes but identify it as your explanation...not that of the person who created the document.

  Tennessee established it's Pension board to handle Confederate Solder Pension Applications in 1891.  They did not begin accepting Confederate Widows Pension Applications until 1905.  Complete requirements for each of these as well as an example of each form can be found at the Tennessee State Library and Archives website.