You Never Know Until You Look

One never knows what a file will contain until one looks at it. 

The Civil War pension file for William Lake of Chariton County, Missouri, contains the names and dates of birth for all his children. Many files either don’t contain this list or the pensioner said “don’t know” or “records burned.”

Lake’s file also contains the names of his parents and siblings–and a transcription of their 1860 census enumeration. Those items are not typical

You never know until you look.

The reason behind this paperwork is discussed in a recent Rootdig post.