According to Ancestry, Charles H Poff, did not apply for a Civil War Pension. His wife Gertrude Poff did apply in August 1890 but did not receive a pension. Here is her index card:
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It is not possible without reading the file to know why she did not receive the widow's pension, her claim could have been rejected for any number of reasons or rendered moot by her death or abandoned by her failure to pursue it and respond to the requests of the Pension Office.
James Poff applied for a pension on 1865 and he did receive a pension. The early application date and low file number indicate that he was able to prove need and significant disability caused by his military service, either due to illness contacted in service, injury, or wound in battle -- standards to receive a pension in 1865 were relatively strict. Over the years, they were relaxed by several acts of Congress. His widow Rebecca successfully also applied for her widow's pension in 1913.
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I don't have fold3 but do check to see if these files are online -- fold3 is very gradually adding Civil War pension files by state of service, as well as adding a certain category of widow's pension files. It is necessary to check fold3 when the files are needed as the database changes frequently.
James Poff's file and his widow's file will be held together now as if they were one file. If you do request it from the National Archives, provide all of the information on the Pension card. Same with Charles' widow's application.
It is my understanding that the Archives will not provide copies of the files that are online. Some pension files are quite voluminous -- all applications for increases and the processing thereof are included in the file as well as are all correspondence. appeals from rejections, etc. They can exceed 100 pages which makes the order from the Archives quite expensive, although they will notify you of the cost before fulfilling the order. It also takes the Archives quite a bit of time (months) to respond to a request for documents.
If you live near the Washington DC it would be more efficient for you to visit the Archives to read and copy or photograph the file as you wish. If you do this, arrive at the building and request the file by filling out and submitting the appropriate form before 10 a.m. If approved for the 10 am pull you will receive the record around 10:30. There are later pulls of files, but if you plan to review the file there and to do it in one day, start early.
Occasionally CW pension files are located in the St Louis branch of the Archives. If you do plan to visit the DC branch, call them in advance (get number at
www.archives.gov) and they can tell you if they have it or not.
Someone here will probably check fold3 for you. If not, your local library may subscribe to the library edition that you can use on their computers for free.
If you go to the National Archives in DC, order a search on different forms for each of the brother's Carded Civil War Medical Records. These documents are not online. In James' case they might be quite interesting, although all you generally get are the dates of hospitalizations and diagnosis.
The staff is knowledgable, friendly and helpful at the National Archives. They will not pull records on Saturday and are not open for research on Sunday or federal holidays.
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