Sep25

4 Comments

I have been helping a friend lately by looking to see what I could put together for her family tree. Luckily for her, almost immediately a torrent of records began to pour from the online coffers, so the tree began to fill up quite nicely.

As is often the case, there are a few records that may be for parallel persons of similar name, so definitely some work to do on locking those down as properly vetted and assessed.

XBut, in the short run I found an interesting thing: both her great grandfather, and his father both seemed to have served in the Fighting 69th volunteer infantry – although the elder was before the Civil War, and the younger in World War I.

While looking at information for what appears to be the younger Francis Kearney’s stay in a a “National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers”, I found something slightly puzzling.

His history at the home lists him as being “Admitted” on May 4, 1925, and then on Oct 31, 1926 his Cause of Discharge is “Dropped.”

Francis Kearney Military Home Record DetailThe images for these records come in pairs of pages, and I quickly noticed that the next fellow’s record has many entries for “Discharged” and “Transferred”.

Anyone out there in the genealogosphere have any knowledge on the term “Dropped” in this context? Hmm.

Record Citation:

“United States National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-21051-37678-11?cc=1916230&wc=MMRT-VYX:n30335972 : accessed 25 Sep 2013), Togus, Maine > Register no. 18000-19499 > image 262 of 771.

4 Comments

  • avatar

    Comment by Amy Johnson Crow — September 25, 2013 @ 2:37 pm

    My guess — and this is a guess — is that he no longer met the requirements for being in the Home. The National Veterans Homes were originally supposed to be for those who were ill and/or indigent. (Though early superintendents often ignored those criteria.) Perhaps “dropped” refers to him recovering to the point that he no longer qualified to be there.

  • avatar

    Comment by John — October 5, 2013 @ 10:03 pm

    Thanks for your comment, Amy!
    I think your assessment is probably right.

  • avatar

    Comment by Heather — March 5, 2014 @ 11:55 am

    I’m doing some genealogical research for a friend and one of her great-great-somebody was listed as “Dropped” several times from the roll at the home for disabled soldiers in Bath, NY. I believe what Amy said is correct. In a report titled “Report of Inspection of State Soldiers and Sailors’ Homes for Year Ending 1896”, there is text that states that the number of veterans in the homes was less than expected due to many names being “dropped” because the men had either been discharged or left of their own accord. I don’t believe it has a negative connotation at all.

  • avatar

    Comment by John — March 5, 2014 @ 12:07 pm

    Thank you Heather! I’ll have to look for that report and pass it on…

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