Civil War Pension for William J. Harman/Harmon of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania

I was at the National Archives in August and looked at the Civil War pension for William J. Harman/Harmon, a son of John Harman and Elizabeth Brooks (see previous blog post for John Harman).  The pension file contained a treasure trove of information on him and his wife, Mary Ann Mauk, and their five children.  

William J. Harman was in Company D, 107th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry from 2 September 1864 to 30 May 1865 during the Civil War.  He was shot through his left hip at Dabney's Mill, Virginia on 6 February 1865 and was in the hospital at Baltimore, Maryland and then York, Pennsylvania from where he was discharged.  Although he applied for an invalid pension on 21 March 1876, he never received a pension while he was living.  He was awarded a pension posthumously in June, 1879 ($2 per month from 1 June 1865 until his death on 8 October 1878).

William Harman and Mary Mauk were married on 30 March 1871 in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania.  The original marriage certificate for him and his wife is in the pension file.  A copy of it is included here.

The pension file also contains the birth dates of their five children and affidavits by each midwife who was present at their births:

Bertha May Harman 5 January 1872
Kady Harman 22 August 1873
Martha Bell Harman 4 May 1875
Mary Ann Harman 24 May 1877
William M. Harman 15 March 1879

William J. Harman died 8 October 1878 at Mount Tabor in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania from diabetes mellitus.  His wife married Michael Boyer on 27 May 1882 in Armstrong Couny.  Michael Boyer was appointed guardian for the three youngest children of William and Mary Harman by the Jefferson County Court. They each received benefits on their father's Civil War pension from 4 September 1890 until they were 16 years old.

Michael Boyer died 22 April 1911 and his wife Mary applied for a pension as the widow of William Harman.  She was not eligible for a pension since William Harman's death was not service connected and William and Mary Harman were not married while he was in the Civil War.  The pension file also gives the death date of Michael Boyer's first wife as 25 March 1881.

The pension file also contains an affidavit by Lydia Harman, John Harman's third wife, that states William J. Harman is her stepson.  This provides evidence that John Harman is his father.  The pension file also contains affidavits from other relatives and neighbors of William and Mary Harman. 

If you agree to copy the complete Civil War pension file at the National Archives, they give you a copy on a CD or your flash drive.  It is then available in the National Archives catalog for anyone who wants to look at it.  William Harman's complete Civil War pension file is available online in the National Archives catalog.  A single page can be downloaded as a jpeg file or the whole file can be downloaded as a pdf file to your computer's hard drive.  It is easier to search for it under the name of William Harman's son, William M. Harman, in the National Archives catalog.