VanBuren Anderson, Company I

It looks as if a clerk’s poor penmanship set the course for this soldier’s first name to be misread. To complicate matters further, the soldier’s attorney was disbarred and had to be replaced.  

 

Invalid — 864,797 / —–

 

Letter from J.E. Hozier, Postmaster, Berkley, Va. to H.P. Maxwell, Norfolk, Va., 4 January 1892
“Your letter ret’d will say in reply that I do not know anyone by the name of Vanjime Anderson who gets mail at this office & who lives about three miles from here on the Old Great Bridge Road, the direction is south … P.S. I will give any other information that I can.

 

Letterhead of W.R. Drury, Attorney at Law and Notary Public, 16 Bank Street, Norfolk, Va. to Bureau of Pensions, Department of Interior, 28 May 1892
“Dear Sir — Vanjine Anderson  … wishes to know how his claim stands. His attorney has been disbarred and he is anxious to know as to whether it is of any use to file with another attorney. Mr. W.R. Drury tells him that all evidence necessary to complete same has been filed by giving him desired information obliged.
[Signed by Vanjine Anderson and W.R. Drury]

 

Deposition, Vanjume Anderson, 7 January 1893
54 years old; farmer; post-office address, Berkley, Norfolk Co., Va. …

 

Deposition, Cuffy Emmerson, 7 January 1893
65 years old; farmer; post-office, Berkley, Norfolk Co., Va. … “I have known the claimant … from his childhood and we have always lived in the same immediate neighborhood and continuously since our discharge from service we have lived within five hundred yards of each other.

 

Deposition, Jeffrey Carson, 9 January 1893
51 years old; farmer; post-office address, Box 15, Berkley, Norfolk Co., Va. … “I have known the claimant … for the past 33 years, since before enlistment, during and since service.
“I was with him in the office of W.R. Drury, in this city, when he executed his application for pension and I signed his application as a witness to his identity. Cuffy Emmerson and I signed for him….”

 

Declaration for Invalid Pension, Vanburen Anderson, 7 December 1893
55 years old; residence, Providence, Norfolk Co., Va.; post-office address, Berkley, Norfolk Co., Va. … his former application is invalid … also, personally appeared Henry Boone residing at Providence, Va., and Cuffy Emmerson residing at Providence, Va. … acquainted with him for twenty and thirty-five years, respectively … “