{"id":29943,"date":"2026-10-14T21:17:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T21:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jmhartley.com\/HBlog\/?p=29943"},"modified":"2026-10-14T21:17:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T21:17:52","slug":"the-civil-war-pension-application-for-mary-crowley-butler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jmhartley.com\/HBlog\/2026\/10\/14\/the-civil-war-pension-application-for-mary-crowley-butler\/","title":{"rendered":"The Civil War Pension Application for Mary Crowley Butler"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recent research by my wife’s Butler family has uncovered an interesting 41 page document with a lot of information from the National Archives. This is for Mary Crowley Butler’s Civil War Pension application following the death of her husband Edward Butler.<\/p>\n

I had left of my last Blog with an Affadavit by Mary Crowley Butler’s sister and cousin.<\/p>\n

Page 14<\/h2>\n

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This appears to be an application for a disability for an injury that Edward Butler sustained on the USS Rose resulting in Rheumatism. It appears that this was issued on October 15, 1891. However, Edward died two months later on December 16th. This appears to be signed over to his widow.<\/p>\n

Page 15<\/h2>\n

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Following Edward’s death, Mary is living at what looks like 294 – 4th Street in South Boston.<\/p>\n

Page 16<\/h2>\n

More paperwork:<\/p>\n

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Of interest to me is that Mary is living with her sister Julia Lahey. Here is Julia in 1900, but I have not found Mary in 1900.<\/p>\n

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The family is at 72 Dorchester Street in South Boston.<\/p>\n

Page 19<\/h2>\n

Proof of Edward’s death:<\/p>\n

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I do not think his age of 51 would be correct. Edward states elsewhere in the application that he enlisted in the Navy in San Francisco and served around the years 1851 to 1852. If Edward was 51 in 1891 he would have been born in about 1840 and about 11 when he joined the Navy.<\/p>\n

Page 21<\/h2>\n

A letter was submitted from St. John certifying Edward Butler and Mary Crowley’s marriage:<\/p>\n

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Page 22<\/h2>\n

Edward is awarded a disability of $6 in August of the same year he died.<\/p>\n

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The address given for Richard is where his funeral service is held at the end of the year. His sister Anna owns the building at 220 California Street, Newton at the time.<\/p>\n

Page 23<\/h2>\n

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This Declaration for an Original Disability Pension has a few iteresting features. It gives a more reasonable age of 60 for Edward. A physical description is given of Edward. Edward does not write as he signs his name with an X.<\/p>\n

A witness is Walter Cody. This is interesting as a Walter Coady was a witness at his wedding. I think this is Walter’s baptismal record from Wexford, Ireland:<\/p>\n

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Here is Walter’s Naturalization record fro 1889:<\/p>\n

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I imagine that Walter could have been a childhood friend of Edward. He is not obviously a close relative, though we would need to know the names of his grandparents for that.<\/p>\n

Page 24<\/h2>\n

This is a continuation of Page 23 introducing a new character witness, William Harrigan.<\/p>\n

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William has known Edward for only 10 years, so perhaps not a relative. Here is where William lived in 1890:<\/p>\n

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Salem Street is a main street in the North End of Boston.<\/p>\n

Page 25<\/h2>\n

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Edward seems more sure about the ship name and travel to Japan than he does of the time frame. Here is an AI overview of my question about this Affidavit:<\/p>\n

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This would have been about 40 years prior to Edward’s Affidavit.<\/p>\n

Page 27<\/h2>\n

This appears to be a medical analysis:<\/p>\n

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Seems a shame all this was happening so close to when Edward died, but I think it was good they were doing this for the sake of his wife Mary.<\/p>\n

Page 28<\/h2>\n

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Kind of a funny form. I think there was supposed to be a mark where the problem was, but I don’t see any.<\/p>\n

Page 29<\/h2>\n

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Here is a rejected application. This gives some detail about his accident aboard the USS Rose. This also gives his address as of July 25, 1885. This also seems to relate to Page 5 from the previous Blog.<\/p>\n

Page 31<\/h2>\n

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Here are some more details of Edward’s inury, recuperation and ship mates. These are some of the people that Edward must have remembered from the Milwaukee and Tug Rose:<\/p>\n