Finding the Widow’s Pension – Andreas Pfotenhauer’s Service

Last two posts have been about finding first Andreas Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR), and then finding the Record of Service for the Regiment and Company where he served. Both records were found on Fold3. You can read about the CMSR here and the Record of Service here.

Some of the widow’s pensions for those soldiers who died during the war can be found at Fold3. Again, using Browse will get you to the record in the most efficient way. Start by selection Civil War (Union). Then select Civil War “Widows’ Pensions.” You will now have a choice of states. We will select Missouri because Andreas served with the 4th Missouri Infantry. Now select Infantry.

Now you select with regiment and we’ll select Regiment 4, Company F. We now see three soldiers and the first one is Pfotenhauer, Andrew. This is likely an Americanized version of Andreas’ first name.

A widows’ pension begins with the widow making an application. The Act of Congress, approved 14 July 1862, allowed for pensions to be paid to widows and minors of soldiers who died during the war.[1] She needed to know specific information about his unit, who commanded it, and give information about her marriage to the soldier and the names and dates of births of their children.

Creating a Timeline
Often the papers in these files are out of order and it is important to put them in chronological order. The file contains thirty-nine images. Both the front and backs have been filmed and this is the order the file was in at the time of filming.

Start of the spreadsheet in image order

Once I have entered the information, I can then sort by date to see the chronological order of records. It may still be a little out of order, as some documents had more than one date on them. Some documents were difficult to decide on a title, and I mostly settled with affidavit.

Top of the spreadsheet, now in chronological order

What I Learned
Margaretha Pfotenhauer made her first application before the notary public, George Klinge, and two witnesses, Christian Wehmer and Heinrich Frillmann on 9 June 1863. Her five children under the age of 16 were Louisa age 11, Albert aged 9, Oscar aged 7, Ferdinand aged 5 and Margarethe aged 3. She also empowered Mason & Clements of St. Louis to be her “true and lawful attorneys.” This signature was witnessed by a Kasten Buschman and Mr. Kerfler (can’t make out his forename).[2]

The attorney firm Mason and Clements of St. Louis filed the application for her. The Adjutant General’s office acknowledged the receipt of application no. 26,832 on 24 July 1863 and stated there was no evidence on file that Andrew Pfotenhauer was enrolled in Co F of 4th Missouri Infantry Volunteers, but do acknowledge that he died 24 March 1862. This disagrees with the date of 21 March 1862 from the CMSR.

There is another application filed by Mason and Clements on 5 August 1864, this time listing the children and their birth dates.[3]

On 23 September 1864, the Adjutant General’s Office of Missouri, certifies that Andrew Pfotenhauer did enlist at Hermann, Missouri on 4 November 1861 as Primate in 4th Regiment Infantry Missouri Volunteers and mustered in on 9 January 1862 by Lt. Wm M Wherry. The office had no knowledge of his death.

Dr. Ferdinand Kempf swore on 3 April 1865 that he attended as physician Andrew Pfotenhauer, who be understood had permission to be at home. He died 21 March 1862 of Typhoid pneumonia and had been healthy when entering service.

Robert Hundhauser, a late Colonel in the 4th Reg. Missouri Volunteers, swore before Henry Bartell, a Notary Public in New Orleans on 20 March 1865, that Andrew Pfotenhauer was absent from the hospital and regiment on sick leave and died at his residence on 21 March 1862.

Finally, she was awarded the widows pension, certificate no. 59,117, which paid $8 per month commencing on 21 March 1862. These widows certainly had to go through a lot and wait a long time to get the money due them.

In the meanwhile, Margarethe married Conrad Humburg on 18 August 1863. He was awarded guardianship of the Pfotenhauer minor children and submitted application on behalf of the minor children for a pension on 12 December 1865. They received a pension commencing 19 August 1863 and ending 28 February 1876, when the youngest turned 16. They received $8 per month plus $2 for each child.

Jacket, showing Minors Award

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[1] “An Act to grant Pensions,” 12 Stat. 566 (July 14, 1862); digital images, “A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875,” Library of Congress, American Memory (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html).

[2] Widows’ Pension Application of Margaretha Pfotenhauer, no. 485, Service of Andreas Pfotenhauer (Private, Co. F, 4th Missouri, Volunteer, Civil War); Case Files of Approved Pension Applications of Widows and Other Dependents of the Army and navy Who Served Mainly in the Civil War and the War with Spain, 1861-1934, Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15, National Archives, Washington, D.C.; digital images, “Civil War ‘Widows’ Pensions’,” Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/307752160 : accessed 22 Jun 2021), Andrew Pfotenhauer, no. 110090, p. 5.

[3] Mason & Clements were claims attorneys, who advertised on the collection of pensions and bounty money. They were listed in newspaper ads and city directory in St. Louis.

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