Fold3

I subscribed to another fee-based site, Fold3.  I paid $39.95 for one year as a special deal for subscribers to Ancestry.com..  The site has lots of American military records and I have several Colonial lines, so I decided to give it a try.  I started with a safe search:  locate a pension file for Elizabeth Duryea, wife of Joseph Henley, widowed during the Civil War.  I found the record quickly- 33 pages of names, dates, and places!!!

By age 28, Elizabeth Henley was widowed by the Civil War and had two minor children.  Two other children died early.
Her mother and sister wrote certifications for her application, though their relations are not identified.
I hope that their support made her life easier.  She did not remarry.

The tidbit of information that I was not expecting was that Joseph B. Henley was not this man's original name.  He was Joseph H. Jones when the couple married in New York City in 1854.  This explains why I had not uncovered a marriage record and could not locate Joseph Henley in the 1850 census.  The record was silent as to the reason for the name change.

Excerpt from one of the certifications.

Elizabeth's application for a widow's pension was approved.  She received $8 per month plus $2 per minor child.  She collected for 38 years.