I found civil war discharge(appointment) papers in my closet!

reply to post by Golf66


You are right on. I think a lot of us have such papers from family members passed along generation to generation. They are of most interest to family, unless they are a famous individual. I think my husband has stuff from the american revolution for a relative.

You need some sort of proof to become a sons or daughter of the American revolution. Which both my husband and daughter are. Why folks go to this effort, I don't know. But my husbands mother did. It is one of those things you file and forget about.

Originally posted by elouina

You need some sort of proof to become a sons or daughter of the American revolution. Which both my husband and daughter are. Why folks go to this effort, I don't know. But my husbands mother did. It is one of those things you file and forget about.

My family is on one side only third generation Americans going back to my Welsh Great Grandfather coming over for the booming coal industry in the US in 1918 at the age of 10.

On the other side though it can be traced back to an indentured servant who came over in the mid 1700's and ran out on his contract to settle in Kentucky. I had to prove Confederate Service for my daughter to be in the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Along with my own membership in the Son's of The Confederacy.

I found a lot on original source documents to include a direct family instance of the much touted brother-fighting-brother situation that happened during the Civil War.

Kentucky being one of the border States was much conflicted and in branch of our family tree we had 10 males 3 brothers in one family (two fighting for the Confederacy and one for the Union and all of them dying) and 7 cousins 4 in the Confederacy and 3 in the Union Army.

Of the 10 only 2 survived the War. I don't think people realize the impact the Civil War had at the family level at the time. I am a history buff and did the research for class projects I am glad I have some history to pass on to my daughter.

My wife’s family is dysfunctional at best and her mom claims to not even know who her father really is so it’s hard to find anything at all for that side.