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21 February 2015

Remember the Purpose

When reading and analyzing affidavits made in pension applications, remember that the application is going to make the pensioner look as "bad off" as possible. While there may not be outright lies, it is possible that their situation was slightly exaggerated in order to increase the chance their application was approved.

1 comment:

  1. On reading a Confederate Pension application, the veteran was "destitute." However, he stated if the pension board needed more information, they had a telephone. Few destitute families had telephones in the 1920's! As I recall he was approved for the pension.

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