Although the 1890 census burned and only a couple of fragments from it survive today, that census did have a special schedule to record Civil War veterans and their widows. The official name was “Special Schedule. Surviving Soldiers, Sailors and Marines, and Widows, Etc.”

I have no ancestors with Civil War service. Either they weren’t living in the United States at the time or they were too old/too young to serve. However, Dave’s 2x great grandfather, John Stufflebean, served in the Union Army and died while in service in Nashville, Tennessee on 10 June 1864, three weeks before his 43rd birthday.

I decided to check out the 1890 special schedule and was thrilled to find this in Linn County, Missouri, where the family lived:

1890 Civil War Veterans’ Schedule

House number 69, family number 70 lists Matilda M. Stufflebean, widow of John Stufflebean. It includes the information that he served as a private in Company E, 25th MO Infantry. It also gives 5 May 1863 as his enlistment date. There is no end date for his service filled in and Matilda may not have been able to remember on exactly which day he died.

This is a small treasure to add to the family history. If you have Civil War veterans or their widows who were living in 1890, be sure to check out this special schedule. Free access to this database is available on FamilySearch and it is indexed.