Home Centre
Churches
Queries
Reunions
Townships

Centre County
Military Pension Records

Military pensions are often overlooked resources when it comes to genealogy. However, in addition to documenting one's service, they often show family relations, location of enlistment, and in the case of bounty land claims movement after the military service. Pension records for Centre Countians' military service through the time of the Civil War in 1861 can be found in the following national indexes which are available in the Pennsylvania Room of the Centre County Library in Bellefonte:

  • Virgil D. White's Genealogical Abstract of Revolutionary War Pension Files (1890, in 4 vols., including index).
  • Virgil D. White's Index to War of 1812 Pension Files (1989, in 3 volumes).
  • Virgil D. White's Index to Old Wars Pension Files 1815-1926 (1993).
  • Virgil D. White's Index to Mexican War Pension Files (1989).

    The Pennsylvania Room of the Centre County Library and Historical Museum in Bellefonte has a growing collection of Civil War Pension files in its vertical files, and welcomes anyone with a Centre County ancestor to submit these for inclusion.

    This website is also looking for transcribed pension records of persons with a Centre County connection.

    Prior to June 2001, a separate Pensions Message Board for Centre County was maintained at RootsWeb.com, but in the middle of June 2001, a change (wrought by its merger with Ancestry.com) resulted in a merger of all RootsWeb message boards so most browsers can only find these mixed in with other queries on one merged board. If you wish to look at the specific set of Pensions actually posted, go to that only Centre County Board , then look in the middle of the page for an instruction that says, "View Message Type," and use the pull-down menu until you reach one for "Pensions."

    We encourage the continued posting of material from Pensions, but browsers will have to do so as part of queries.