Rosina Gardner

Pension File: 1130856
P.O.: Costello, Potter Co., Pennsylvania
Service: matron at Mansion House Hospital, Alexandria, February, 1862-1864
Applied: September 14, 1892
Status: Rejected

If you follow Downton Abbey, PBS, or just historical dramas, you've probably heard the hype about this little show called Mercy Street.  To my undying consternation, despite having all these pension records, none of my nurses worked at Mansion House Hospital, where the drama is set.  And then I went on a quick research trip to D.C., and lo and behold...

Mansion House Hospital, Alexandria
Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Unfortunately, Rosina Gardner got the short end of the historical records stick.  We know her date of birth--1838.  We also know that she probably worked at Mansion House Hospital from February, 1862 to 1864, though the official records only have her listed from March 1 to May 7th, 1862, and then she appears at Emory General Hospital in D.C. that October as a laundress.  We can also make a fairly safe guess that since Gardner didn't have to work around a name change during the application process she never married.  When Gardner applied in 1892, she immediately ran into problems.  The dates for her service in the official records only totaled three months.  Gardner attempted to get in touch with one of the surgeons she worked for, but two had passed away, and the third, Dr. Summers, never responded to her letter.  As a result, the Bureau had no choice but to deny her claim.  And after that, Gardner disappears from the records.  I've tried tracking her down in Pennsylvania, but nothing as yet.  If anyone else finds something, let me know!  With all the attention on Mansion House Hospital right now, hopefully something will turn up.