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In case you are not members of or tuned into what’s happening at the Santa Clara County Historical and Genealogical Society, they have an amazing-looking program this week. Jill Morelli, CG®, CGL®, is a genealogy writer and lecturer and she will be speaking for the SCCHGS about pension files.

“Pension packets are rich in genealogical information as well as historical context for your ancestor. We will look at the laws establishing pensions; what is typical to find in a pension packet; how to analyze a packet; and how to obtain pension packets.”

When: Tuesday, July 15, 2025 from 6:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Virtually via Zoom
Cost: Free and open to the public
How to Register: https://tinyurl.com/4yecu7vk (Please visit www.scchgs.org for more information.)

I attended a program like this many years ago and got up the gumption to order my third great grandfather’s 126-page packet.  Included in the packet were letters and affidavits from Miles, and Miles’ father-in-law and mother-in-law, my 4th great-grandparents. Asa described his son-in-law as an able-bodied man before the war, but, “He came home on sick furlough after he had the measles. I helped him out of the wagon when he came from the train. I thought he was going to die. He felt so cold and clammy like.” He also stated that after the war Miles, “Had a bad cough and took lots of Halls Balsam that he bought of Mr. Foislie in Bushnell…. He doctored a great deal with my brother, Dr. Markham who is dead for these troubles of his throat and lungs.” He went on to describe back aches that Miles complained of as well. “His back troubled him a great deal. Sometimes he could hardly turn over in bed. Had to have help… I do not know what ailed his back but suppose he strained it while building bridges and pontoons while he was in the Pioneer Corps.”

His mother-in-law, Harriet (Fleming) Markham, also on August 5, 1890 in Macomb, McDonough County, Illinois, shared that she was a 70-year-old housekeeper. She knew Miles before the war as he worked for her farm as well as her brother-inlaw’s. She described him as an “unusually stout, healthy young man. Never knew him to be sick an hour before the war.” She went on to describe his sick furlough home from the war in June of 1861. He wasn’t able to help himself out of the wagon and was sick in bed for days. He coughed almost constantly during the night and only got “some better” before going back to the war. After he came back from the war in 1865, he was, according to Harriet, “not at all well. He had a bad cough and soreness of lungs. About 6 weeks after he came home, he had a bad breaking out all over and was very sick. We thought he would die before we could get the doctor here.”

Emmaline (Markham) Price and Miles Price

In the winter of 1862 and 63 at both Nashville and Stone River, I got medicine, but I am not sure whether it was for my lungs or not… About two days before the Stone River fight (Jan 1863) I was detailed to the Pioneer troops and didn’t see much of the boys of the company after that.
” ~Miles Price, 1890 in his Pension File

This is how I learned that he fought at the Battle of Stones River in Tennessee in the Pioneer unit and I was able to visit that battlefield last month and stand where he stood and look on the earthworks that he built all those years ago.

Learning these things about him has made me understand him in ways that the dash in his birth and death dates could never do. If you have ancestors that were of age in the US during the time of the Civil War, this is a class for you.

Helpful Links
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Tips & Talk: Oakland FamilySearch Center Family History Classes: https://www.familysearch.org/en/centers/oakland_california/classes