I am not sure why it took Euphemia three years to file for her husbands civil war pension. As you read along it was apparent that she was very poor and in need of it. I suspect it was because she hadn't been told of his death, sad as that might be. It was clear that their relationship ended badly. From the late 1860's they listed each other as widow or widower. The other possibility is she might have filed for it, but ran into some kind of conflict with his earlier military in the Marines.
When you read through these you will notice that in one of the documents that was filed by Euphemia and Hamilton's daughter, Sarah, she retracts that Hamilton had military service on the USS Brandywine. I haven't discovered yet why she would do this, but there must have been a good reason. Will update when I find out.
Take a look at this record (left). There was so much information, that I didn't know at the time. I felt like I struck gold. I now knew what part Hamilton played in the Civil War. Date of Hamilton's death. Euphemia's maiden name was Kennedy! It indicated where they were married, though it conflicts with another record that you will see below. I now knew exactly where Euphemia was living at this point in time. She signed with an "X" so that tells me she was illiterate.
When you read through these you will notice that in one of the documents that was filed by Euphemia and Hamilton's daughter, Sarah, she retracts that Hamilton had military service on the USS Brandywine. I haven't discovered yet why she would do this, but there must have been a good reason. Will update when I find out.
Take a look at this record (left). There was so much information, that I didn't know at the time. I felt like I struck gold. I now knew what part Hamilton played in the Civil War. Date of Hamilton's death. Euphemia's maiden name was Kennedy! It indicated where they were married, though it conflicts with another record that you will see below. I now knew exactly where Euphemia was living at this point in time. She signed with an "X" so that tells me she was illiterate.
From what I could gather, in order for Euphemia to obtain Hamilton's pension she needed to provide proof of marriage. It looks like she did not have her official marriage certificate, so she needed to have a lawyer draft a legal document/ This document (left) provides where they were married. As you can see it now says Letterkenny, Ireland not Aberdeen Scotland which is what the first document said. One good thing, they both had the same date. obtain Hamilton's pension, Euphemia had to prove she was married to Hamilton. She must not have had any records and therefore needed to legally
http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/tplclick?lid=41000000029953452&pubid=21000000000250976
HAMILTON'S CIVIL WAR
PENSION RECORDS
PENSION RECORDS
The document below started the ball rolling! I found it on Ancestry.com. It's an index of civil war pension records. It shows that Euphemia filed for Hamilton's Civil War Pension on July 16, 1890. Almost three years after his death. It provided me with the application number and certificate number. I sent away for copies of what was in the file. The documents below are what they sent back to me. A Gold Mine of information!