Certificate Jacket & Casework Notes
This is the printed "Mexican War Survivor" certificate jacket for Elias Roberts' pension, Certificate No. 17,403, issued December 4, 1888 and mailed December 6 — private in Capt. Gillespie's company, rate $8.00 per month commencing December 25, 1887, agency Knoxville. The facing sheet carries handwritten Bureau casework notes: on February 7, 1889 a correction to the commencement date was sent to Gen. Bartlett, and his attorneys, Fitzgerald & Co., were told the Bureau could not act on a request to furnish further testimony on Roberts' true birth date and approve the fee agreements — the fee agreement went unapproved, and Roberts' sworn birth date was accepted as correct. Newly recovered text on this page ties that dispute directly to the same birth-date discrepancy (Dec. 25, 1825 vs. Dec. 25, 1823) documented elsewhere in the file.
Full Transcription
(right side, printed certificate jacket:)
(3—242.)
No. 17,403
MEXICAN W[A]R
(Act of January 29, 1887.)
SURVIVOR.
Elias Roberts
Rank: Private
Company: Capt. Gillespie's
Regiment: Texas Mtd. Vols.
Agency: Knoxville ✓
Rate per month, $8.00
Commencing January 29 Dec. 25, 1887.
Certificate issued Dec. 4, 1888
" mailed " 6, 1888
Fee, $ 10
(printed, bottom:) (8681—3000.)
(left side, handwritten casework notes:)
Feby. 7/89. Atty's notice corrected — [date of com[mencement] from "Jany." to "Dec. 25, 1887"] sent to Gen. Bartlett, D.C.
1889 [date, illegible] — to Fitzgerald & Co., required to furnish claim[ant]'s testimony as to true date of birth and approval of fee agreements — cannot be complied with. Fee agreements not approved; date of birth as [in] cla[ima]nt's sworn statements believed to be correct and adhered to.
(below a ruled line:) To Atty Fitz[gerald] & Co. — [letter] inviting attention to the above and [requesting a] change [of] decision. (this final line is itself heavily struck through with a large diagonal cancellation mark, suggesting it was superseded)
(newly recovered text, previously obscured by what was mistaken for cross-hatching:) ...[illegible] of the act upon filing a satisfactory statement under oath explaining the discrepancies in his declarations in which he alleges that [he] was born Dec. 25 / [18]25.
