Dates on family circulars

When you find information about the soldier's spouse and children in the Mil Info, most of it comes from the family circular in the pension record. When you see this information, check the living/dead dates for the kids, and you'll probably get a good idea which family circular the soldier submitted.

Family circulars were sent to the soldiers in 1898 and 1915. The questions were slightly different. In 1898, the soldier was only asked to list his living children. In 1915, the soldier was asked to list all his children, living or dead.

If you notice that the Mil Info lists four children living in 1898, you know the soldier has at least four children. You might find additional children on an 1880 census because children were alive in 1880 that weren't alive in 1898.

If you notice that the living/dead date is 1915, then you probably have a pretty good record of all the soldier's children, living and dead. If it says he has two children, think twice before accepting the census decade with six children.

The Mil Info is not perfect, but you can trust it. Sometimes the soldiers didn't follow instructions filling out the form. Sometimes they can't remember when their children were born or when they married their wives. But, on the whole, you can trust the Mil Info even if it occasionally gets the details wrong. Paying attention to the dates gives you some extra context about the information you're seeing in the Mil Info.