THE 1899 PENSION BUREAU REPORT – OVERSEAS PENSIONERS
In 1899 the Pension Bureau issued two reports to the Congress listing the names and addresses of all pensioners on the roll residing outside of the United States at the end of January 1899.  The Bureau’s intention was to account for the money it sent overseas to pay pensions, to indicate to Congress under which law it was making the payments, and to document the pensioner’s service, or the service of a deceased veteran in the case of a widow’s or dependent’s pension. 
 
The Bureau provided Congress with the following data:
  • Pensioner's name (the name could be either the veteran or the dependent of a deceased veteran)
  • Unit of service in the American military (that will help you find where they lived in the US)
  • The reason the Government granted a pension (interestingly, in that column for a widow you find the name of her deceased husband)
  • The amount of money the pensioner received each month
  • Where the pensioner was living; that can include a street address in addition to the town
  • When appropriate the report also included
    • The name of the pensioner’s guardian
    • The name of the person or office where the Pension Bureau sent the check
The number of pensioners in the report was slightly over 4,000.  If you include the other names the number swells to more than 5,000. Given its size the Bureau produced the report in two parts. 
 
The MAGS website allows you to search for all the names in the dataset quickly.  The search results provide you with all the data for that name in the report.  It is the easiest way to incorporate these reports into your research.
 
The Government Printing Office published the reports as stand-alone volumes; that is they were never part of the Congressional Serial Set as so many other lists of pensioners prior to 1899 had been.  Although they are difficult to find, you may be able to find the originals in a larger Federal Depository Library. When you talk to a government documents librarian, be sure to provide the report’s full title and the Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) number. Here is that information:
 
Names and Address of Pensioners of the United States Living in Canada, Jan. 31, 1899 with Services, Rates of Pension, etc. (SuDoc No. I24.6:899 1)
 
Names and Address of Pensioners of the United States Living in Foreign Countries Other Than Canada, Jan. 31, 1899 with Services, Rates of Pension, etc. (SuDoc No. I24.6:899 2)