Catherine C. Ryan

Pension File: 1138672, 852811
P.O. New York City
Service: Portsmouth, Virginia; Cliffbourne and Lincoln General Hospitals, Washington D.C.
Applied: 1892
Status: Accepted

One of the things that bugs me about these records (and by "bug" I mean I'm miffed for five seconds, and then immediately hit up Ancestry or double-check the file for things I've missed because I love putting the pieces of the puzzle together) is that every once in a while I come across a file where everything points in one direction, and then you suddenly find a document that puts a completely different spin on it.  I found two such folders today: Catherine Ryan gets the spotlight tonight, but Rose Russell will go up tomorrow night.  Both did quite a good job saving the eyebrow-raising information until the end of their file.
In Ryan's case, we start off with the basic paperwork: she applied in September, 1892, and was granted a standard $12 pension in 1893, which she drew until her death in September, 1907.  Although they couldn't find any evidence of her service at Portsmouth, her service at Cliffbourne and Lincoln General Hospitals, was well-documented (kudos to the War Department--or, rather, the men/clerks in charge of those hospitals).  That should have been enough, but the Bureau wrote to L. Edwin Dudley, a steward at Lincoln Hospital, to corroborate Ryan's story.  "When I reported at Lincoln General Hospital," Dudley wrote, "Miss C. C. Ryan, then known as "Sister Helen", was the Sister Superior in charge of a band of Sisters of Charity who were performing service there as nurses."
Sisters of Charity frequently served as nurses during the Civil War.  In fact, many doctors preferred them to Dix's nurses or other volunteers.  So, seeing a Sister appear in the pension record is not surprising.  She's actually the third or fourth Sister I've come across.  Those, however, identified themselves as former Sisters in their application.  The other thing that intrigues me is the fact that every Sister I've found is a former Sister--I'm no expert, but usually when you "take the veil," isn't that supposed to be permanent?  Is retiring or leaving something unique to Civil War Sisters of Charity?  Katherine Coon has a book on Sisters and their wartime work...time to hit up Amazon.