Amelia J. Gill

Pension File: 574180, 335866
P.O.: 141 Pembroke St, Boston, MA
Service: Sanitary Commission nurse on hospital ships S.R. Spaulding and Webster, Columbia Hospital, D.C., Beaufort and Hilton Head, South Carolina, and in Florida, between 1861 and 1865
Applied: 1886
Status: Accepted (Special Act)

Amelia J. Gill, from the MOLLUS database

Gill's pension file is one of those that could be so spectacular, if only more documents had survived! We know from the few document in her file that she was born about 1823 in Maine, and that she volunteered to work for the US Sanitary Commission shortly after the war began.  She spent the first two years of the war working on hospital ships and in Washington, D.C. until she was transferred to the southern theatre of operations in October, 1863, where she worked in South Carolina and Florida.
This is the part where the benefit of working piecemeal on these pensions for two years comes in, because I can tell you which other nurses Gill likely served with during her time with the army.  Her first port of call, Columbian College Hospital, was full of female nurses, including Charlotte Bradford, Adelia Ferris, Clara B. Hoyt, and Jane Howard.  Working on the Daniel Webster, the first hospital ship commissioned during the Civil War and outfitted entirely by the USSC, Gill likely worked alongside Amy Morris Bradley (whose pension I have but haven't posted...), Annie Etheridge (actually a vivandiere rather than a nurse, but still a woman I'm immensely interested in) and Helen Gilson.  The southern hospitals had significantly fewer women serving in them--most likely because of their nearness to the front lines--but even there Gill likely crossed paths with several women.  Given the overlap I've seen in several pensions, nurses testifying on behalf of each other, etc., I have high hopes that one of those files will have something on Gill.

The Daniel Webster

Gill finally left the service at the close of the war and moved to Boston, where apparently she fell on hard times.  In 1885 she applied for, and received, a $300 annuity from the Massachusetts General Court for her wartime service.  Clearly this wasn't enough, because the next year, Congress awarded her a $25 pension (well done, Gill!).  It probably helped that she produced testimonials from an influential journalist, Mr. Coffin, and Mr. Knapp, who directed the USSC, as well as a pass written for her by President Lincoln himself (which, to my immense frustration, was not in the file!)  After that, however, Gill's file dries up.  It's not even clear when her pension was dropped.  I have tentatively identified a grave in Biddeford, ME, as hers, which puts her date of death at 1889, but at the moment it's impossible to tell.

Jane Howard

Pension: 1131824, 833797
P.O.: Birmingham, New York
Service: Columbian College, Harewood Hospital, Slough General Hospital, and Alexandria
Applied: 1892
Status: Accepted

As promised, here is Jane Howard's pension file.  I managed to find both a special act file and a general pension file for Howard.  The general file reveals that Jane Howard was one of Dix's corps of nurses, and served from October, 1864 to 1865.  There was no mention of her service exhausting her or destroying her health like so many other women; instead, she suffered mainly from "advancing age."  And for witnesses: Ellen S. Tolman, pension attorney, and Caroline Burghardt, M.D.
While having Tolman and Burghardt as witnesses is certainly not typical (I'd dearly love to know how she pulled that off), the rest of the file isn't anything special.
Ah, but don't forget the special act file!  It's three papers, nice and substantial.  And it conveniently reports that "the official records show that Jane Howard, colored female nurse, was on duty at the Patent Office general hospital...November 15, 1862."  Problem is: it's not this Jane Howard.  So I have to be doubly careful checking records now to make sure I don't mix them up!
I've tried to track Howard down using the census records, and apparently she had a family bible which hopefully someone kept, but the lack of information in the pension file and the destruction of the 1890 census means I've come up with nothing so far.  But I will definitely be looking into her more when I have the chance.

Clara B. Hoyt

Pension File: 1133681
P.O.: Rush Center, Kansas
Service: Nurse at Columbian College Hospital and Point of Rocks Hospital
Applied: 1891
Status: Rejected

This is one the annoying files where you know there's more somewhere, but for whatever reason it's impossible to find.  Hoyt has a legislative file--and an interesting one at that--but her pension file is MIA.  I've requested it twice, and each time I've gotten a rejection slip.  I am not happy.
A brief of sketch of Hoyt based on what her legislative file contains: Hoyt served as a nurse under the direction of Dorothea Dix under her maiden name, Clara B. Clark, from the fall of 1864 to around the 20th of May, 1865.  After the war, Clara married and moved from her home in New York to Kansas.  In 1889 she contacted Congressman Ingalls about obtaining a pension through a Special Act.  Ingalls did what he could, and the bill was brought before the Senate twice, one in May, 1890, and again in December, 1891, but each time it was referred back to Committee.  Search me as to why.  Once the 1892 Act passed, Hoyt applied for a pension through the Bureau rather than a Special Act--and as a result, the file ends, which is why I'd so like to get my hands on that file!  I know her claim was rejected, since her pension file number doesn't have a certificate number (the first number, and generally the only one, is the application number, and the second is the certificate number, only given when a person is granted a pension).
Here come the surprises:
First, another reason why I'd love to get that pension file: Hoyt's attorney was named Ellen S. Tolman of Lawrence, Massachusetts  Unless I'm reading that name incorrectly, or Ellen was originally a guy's name ("Oh, Ashley, Ashley!!"), we have a female lawyer on our hands!  There's also the question of why Hoyt hired an attorney living in Massachusetts when she herself lived in Kansas.
Second, the WRC made a guest appearance in the file.  This time it wasn't Annie Wittenmyer, it was Sarah E. Fuller, a former president and Secretary of the National Pension Committee.  In 1890, Fuller wrote Ingalls a letter in support of Hoyt's claim, and attached an "Army Nurses Blank" provided by the WRC.  My guess is that the WRC used these forms in their own pension process--the WRC provided pensions to its members, but emphasized these were supposed to be temporary relief.  The blank asks who commissioned the nurse, dates of enrollment and discharge, age at enrollment, if the applicant has any papers to back her claim, her pecuniary circumstances, marital status, state of health, and how employed.  That's how I know that Hoyt suffered from rheumatism and catarrh, and her pecuniary circumstances were "at present not flattering."  It also presents another research possibility--where are the WRC-issued pensions, and can I use the information in those files to supplement what I've gathered from the Archives?  Another rabbit hole! Madness!

Adelia Ferris

Pension File:  1138500, 858128 (Special Act)
P.O.: Jackson, Michigan
Service: Nurse at Columbian and Mt. Pleasant Hospitals
Applied: 1891
Final Status: Accepted

There's nothing remarkable about Adelia Ferris' file.  Ferris, nee Billings, was widowed in 1858.  When war broke out, she volunteered for service as a nurse and was accepted by Dorothea Dix.  Ferris served for three years until she was discharged in the fall of 1864.  Apparently things did not go well after that.  The Special Act report states that several decades after the war, what little property she had went up in smoke in the Great Chicago Fire--including her commission from Dix and whatever other papers she may have had to back her claim that she had, in fact, served as a nurse.  Luckily for Ferris, the War Department records (for once) showed that she had been commissioned, and that she had been paid $12 a month.  Ferris managed to get a Special Act granting her a $12 pension passed in July, 1892--just before the Army Nurses Pension Act was passed.
So, standard stuff so far, right?
Well, here's the thing I hadn't seen before: a very large certificate from the W.R.C. certifying that Ferris was enrolled as an Army Nurse from November 26, 1862, was commissioned by Dorothea Dix, and served for ten months until honorably discharged September, 1863.
The information on the certificate isn't new.  It's the mere fact that the certificate itself exists, and that Ferris included this in her application that intrigues me.  Not only is the WRC singlehandedly muscling the Army Nurses Pension Act through Congress, and supporting numerous pension claims, they're investigating these women themselves.  This isn't Annie Wittenmyer anymore acting as attorney for the claimant, filing affidavits or what have you.  And this isn't a nurse using the WRC to network and find other nurses she served with who can help her.  This is full on institutional endorsement, with an investigation behind it.
To my wonderful, faithful readers: do any of you know where I can find documents relating to pensions issued by the WRC to its members, the investigations it launched into nurses' service (like Ferris), and/or its National Pension Committee?  Bits and pieces are good for keeping a girl excited and motivated, but I'm going to need a broader picture if I want to do this properly.  Let me know if you think of anything!