Florida Confederate Pension Records

Every so often, I follow my own advice. I know that is a radical thing to do, but, hey, sometimes it works.

This advice was to google a name. Well, googling William Magill brought up hundreds of thousands of hits, a lot of them good.

Bingo. You see, William Joseph Magill was a graduate of the Citadel. Actually he was in the first class of graduates in 1846. The class numbered six. I found this information by googling his name and getting a hit on the history of the Citadel. I was actually able to find an obituary for him here, which was good since all other sources failed me. Then I googled Florida Confederate Pensions. What did I find when I searched Florida Confederate Pensions? I found a widow's pension application. Bless her heart, Mary gave her marriage date and location and her husband's death date. It's 9 pages long and I am busily transcribing it.

Census information from 1860 shows that he is a professor of mathematics at the Georgia Military Institute. Heaven only knows why I can't find the family in 1850, when he should be in Kentucky. However, I have tons more than I had the day before, so I won't complain.

My sources:

1. The History of the South Carolina Military Academy, with Appendix, by John Peyre Thomas, published in Charleston, South Carolina by Walker, Evans & Cogswell in 1893.
2. Florida Confederate Pension Application Records. Great site.

Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes