Source Information

Ancestry.com. Kentucky, U.S., Confederate Pension Records, 1912-1930 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Original data: Kentucky Confederate Pension Records. Frankfort, Kentucky: Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives.

About Kentucky, U.S., Confederate Pension Records, 1912-1930

Pension records for the soldiers or their widows from Kentucky who served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War are contained in this index. Most former Confederate states provided relief payments to veterans or widows because the Confederacy was dissolved after the war leaving no central government agency to distribute pensions. Pension award requirements generally were: residency in the state the pension was claimed in for a certain amount of time, disablement, or indigence. This roster does not provide a complete index of all pensioners as the records are compiled from different states, at different times, and by different offices after the Civil War. Also not all soldiers who fought for the Confederacy are registered; however, some information on missing files or rejected applications can be found.

Besides names, residences, and dates a pension file can yield information about the circumstances of the veteran. For example how long they resided in the state where the pension was collected, where they were born, their address and occupation, what command they served under, length of time served, and the name of the company (most companies were organized at the state level). Often pension applications were submitted to the state where the veteran resided as opposed to the state where they enlisted and served.

Information in this index:

  • Name
  • County of residence
  • Approved pension number
  • Rejected pension number
  • Home pensions issued