Marcelin M. Dufour, Avoyelles Parish, LA
Application for Civil War Pension
submitted by: Cathy Lemoine Sturgell

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NOTE: This is a transcription of Marcelin M. Dufour's Application for a Civil War
Pension.
Marcelin's 3rd wife was my g-g-grandmother, Armide Moreau.  Marcelin and
Armide had married in 1864 after the death of my g-g-grandfather, Zenon
Vincent Mayeux during the Civil War during a measles epidemic.  Marcelin
and Armide were married until their deaths in 1908 - within 3 months of each
other.
http://www.geocities.com/chatty1.geo/


Source:  Louisiana Soldier's Application for Pension, # 468 for Marcelin M.
Dufour, Filed November 8th, 1898


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Avoyelles
No. 468
SOLDIER'S APPLICATION FOR PENSION
The Board reserves the right to call for additional testimony.
Moreauville
Marcelin M. Dufour
Filed:  Nov. 8th 1898
Allowed:  3.22
                4.00                             7.22    (hard to read)
Co G  (?) La Cav
Quarterly Allowance, $ ___________________
Pension Allowed from ______________________
Rejected _____________________
(Signature unreadable) President
(Signature unreadable) Secretary
                                   Board of Pension Commissioners

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SOLDIER"S APPLICATION FOR PENSION

I, Marcelin M. Dufour, a native of Louisiana and now a citizen of Louisiana,
resident at Moreauville in the Parish of Avoyelles in said State of Louisiana,
and who was a soldier from the State of Louisiana in the Confederate States
army in the war between the United States and the Confederate States, do
hereby apply for aid under Act 125 of the General Assembly of the State of
Louisiana 1898; and I do solemnly swear that I served the Confederate States
honorably from the date of my enlistment until the close of the civil war, as
shown by my answers below, and that I remained true to the Confederate
cause until the surrender, and that I am now in indigent circumstances, and
unable to earn a livelihood by my own labor or skill, and that I am not salaried
or otherwise provided for by the State of Louisiana or by any other State or
government, and am entitled to receive the benefits of said Act No. 125 of 1898,
as further shown by my answers to the questions below, which I swear to be
true and correct:

1.    In what town, county, State, country and year were you born?

    Answer:  Was born January 31, 1831 in the Parish of Avoyelles, LA

2.    When and where did you enlist, and in what command?

    Answer:  Was mustered into service at Baton Rouge in 1861 First
    LA Cavalry Co G.  Capt F. Cannon

3.    Give the names of the regimental and company officers under whom
    you enlisted, and under whom you were serving the date of your
    parole.

    Answer:  Col Jno S. Scott (unintelligible), Col J. O. Nixson (?) (unintelligible)
                Adjt.P. G. Fox and was servicing under Stewart (intelligible)  Arty
                "Co G" Capt Alexandre Schutz (?) at time I was paroled.

4.    Were you wounded?  If so, in what battles, and if not, state under what
    circumstances during the war you received injury or injuries.

    Answer:  No

5.    What was the precise nature of your wound or wounds, if any?

    Answer:  No

6.    If you have lost a limb or an eye, state when, where and how.

    Answer:    No

7.    Were you discharged from the army by reason of wound, wounds, or from
    the effects of service?

    Answer:    No

8.    If discharged or paroled from the army, where were you and what did you
    do until the close of the war?

    Answer:  Went home (unintelligible) parole and after that carried the mail
    between Mississippi River Evergreen under Major Ewell until the war closed.

9.    What was the name of the surgeon who attended you when discharged?

    Answer:    None

10.    Where were you at the surrender?

    Answer:    Was on my way carrying mail between above points.

11.    If a prisioner, in what camp, and when were you released, and to where sent?

    Answer:    Was not a prisioner

12.    Did you take the oath of allegiance to the United States Government at any
    time during the war?

    Answer:    No

13.    If so, when, where and under what circumstances?

    Answer:    No

14.    How long have you been a resident of the State of Louisiana next preceeding
    the date of this application?  Where have you resided during that period?

    Answer:    Resided all my life in Louisiana

15.    Are you married or have you been married?

    Answer:    Yes

16.    If so, what is the size of your family?

    Answer:    Wife and three children

17.    What are the respective ages of your wife and children?

    Answer:    My wife is 60 yrs of age & children as follows: 45, 34 & 32

18.    How many children have you, and how many of each sex?

    Answer:    Three all boys

19.    Are you engaged in any business?  If so, what do you earn?

    Answer:    None whatsoever

20.    Have you any estate in your own right, real or personal, and what is its value?

    Answer:    None at all

21.    Has your wife any estate in her own right, real of personal, and what is its
    value?

    Answer:    No

22.    How have your derived support for yourself, and family if you have one, for
    the last five years, and what prevents you from earning a living now?

    Answer:     My son has provided for myself and wife for past 12 years.  Have
    heart disease and poor eye sight & old age.

23.    Do you use any intoxicants to any extent?

    Answer:    No

24.    Have you an attorney to look after this application?

    Answer:    No

25.    Give his name, address and the compensation agreed between you.

    Answer:  -----------------

26.    Give names of two or more of your comrades with their postoffice
    addresses.

    Answer:    Philogene Coco & Leon Lemoine, both Moreauville P.O.
    LA, also Anatole Barbin and L. J. Ducote of Marksville P.O. La.

27.    Give your postoffice address and that of the two witnesses.

    Answer:  My P.O. is Moreauville, La and that of my two witnesses
    is Marksville, La.


Witness my hand this 4 day of November, 1898.

                (Signature of)  M. M. Dufour
                        Applicant

Witnesses:
(Signatures of)
L. J. Ducote
A. L. Barbin

    APPLICANT MUST GO BEFORE CLERK OF COURT

State of Louisiana
Avoyelles Parish        Personally appeared before me, Alcide M. Bordelon

Clerk of the District Court of said Parish, the above named M. M. Dufour the
applicant, with whom I am personally acquainted, and having the application read
and fully explained to him as well as the statements and answers therein made,
made oath that the statements and answers are true.

    Witness my hand and seal of office, this 4 day of November, 1898

                (Signature of) A. M. Bordelon
                        Clerk




State of Louisiana
Avoyelles Parish        Personally appeared before me, Alcide M. Bordelon

Clerk of the District Court of said Parish, the above named Louis J. Ducote and
Anatole L. Barbin, two of the subscribing witnesses to the foregoing application,
with whom I am personally acquainted, and know to be citizens of veracity and
standing in this community, and who make oath that they are personally acquainted
with the foregoing applicant, and that the facts set forth and statements made in
his application are correct and true, to the best of their knowledge and belief,
and that they have no interest in this claim, and that said applicant's habits are good
and free from dishonor.

    Witness my hand and seal of office, this 4 day of November, 1898

                (Signature of) A. M. Bordelon
                        Clerk

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(Following is the transcription of a handwritten letter from Marcelin M. Dufour
to the Board of Pensions in 1900.)

                Moreauville, La
                7/25/1900

To:    The Board of Pension Comm.
    Baton Rouge, La

Dear Sirs:

In view of the fact that I am very old and totally unable to do any manual labor
or anything else that will provide for the actual necessities of life, the small
pension which your honorable board graciously grants me is insufficient to
render the necessary assistance; hence I take this method of submitting to
you for your careful consideration my application, accompanied by a Physician's
certificate, for increase of pension, should you see fit to allow it.  Should the
result of your deliberation prove favorable to me and you decide to increase
my monthly allowance, your action in the premises while performing the
duties of the elevated positions your occupy, will be coupled with a charitable
act as there is (if I say myself) no pensioner who is more deserving assistance,
than the one who subscribes himself  Yours very truly,
                Marcelin M. Dufour


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(Letter attached to the above from Dr. T. L. Lougarre, Moreauville, La)

                July 25, 1900

To:    The Board of Pension Commissioners
    Baton Rouge, La.

I do hereby certify that Mr. Marcelin M. Dufour, aged 69 years, a resident of
Moreauville, La and my client since about twenty years is affected of a chronic
disease of the heart which makes an invalid of him, unable to perform any kind
of work to earn his living.

                Respectfully,
                (Signature of) T. L. Lougarre, M.D.

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            State of Louisiana
        Office of Board of Pension Commissioners

            Baton Rouge, La__________________1901

To Chief of the Record and Pension Office
    War Department
        Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir:

    This Board, in the discharge of its duties under Article 303 of the
Constitution of 1898 of the State of Louisiana, and of Act No. 125 of its General
Assembly of the same year, creating a Board of Pension Commissioners,
respectfully apply for information for your records, relative to:

    M. M. Dufour
of Company:  G, 1st La Cavalry
How is he reported on the rolls of his Company?  He claims parole at Alexandria,
La in 1865.

            Very respectfully,
                (Signature of) J. A. Chalaron

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(Transcription of handwritten letter from Marcelin M. Dufour to the Board of
Pension Commissioners in 1903.)

            Moreauville, Sept. 3, 1903

To the Board of Pension Commissioners
                Baton Rouge, La

Again for the second time, I appeal to your for assistance for to raise my Pension
from $2.50 a month to $5 or 6 a month then it would be doing me some good.  I
am down with the worse heart disease you have never (seen?).  I am confine me
and my wife in a negro cabin and suffering for the lise of provisions and clothing.
Cannot do no kind of work on account of that miserable disease.  And no
assistance worth anything except once & awhile when get little a little plate of
from some ones.  I am left destituted and with no revenue whatsoever.  Three
Doctor's have passes on me have give up curing me.  If you should need some
references in in my case.  I can give you certificate from all three of them or you
can have all references you would need by writing direct to them:  Here is their
names:

Dr. T. L. Lougarre        Moreauville P.O. Avoyelles  La
Dr. John H. Boyder        "    "    "
Dr. G. R. Fox        "    "    "

hoping you will study my position and take my care at heart and not let me died
in misery.  as a soldier I done my duty from the start to the end.  Yours
respectfully, (over)
            Marcelin M. Dufour
                Moreauville P.O.
                Avoyelles Parish
                        La

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(Typed record from the War Department)
(Stamp says ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, FEB 27 1908, WAR DEPARTMENT,
1346203)


Baton Rouge, La.

M. M. Dufour
    Co. G. 1st La. Cavy.

La. Board of Pension Commissioners,
    J. A. Chalaron, President

Desires record of above named.


(Handwritten 468/7009)

            WAR DEPARTMENT
                The Adjutant General's Office

                Washington  February 28, 1908

Respectfully returned to the

President,
    Louisiana Board of
        Pension Commissioners,
            Baton Rouge.

The records of tis office show that one M. M. Dufour, private, Company G, 1st
Louisiana Cavalry, C. S. A., was enrolled October 4, 1861, at Baton Rouge, for
the war.  On a muster roll of the company for January and February, 1864, the
last roll on file, his is reported "absent on sick furlough given at Chattanooga
July 4, 1862".  No later record of him has been found.


                (Signature of ??)
                    The Adjutant General


***************************************************************
The following Company Muster Roll records are included in the pension
file I obtained from the State Archives in Baton Rouge:

1.    Private, Capt. Fenelon Cannon's Company, Mounted Reg't
    Louisiana Vols,

    Company Muster-In Roll
    Age 29 years
    Roll dated:   Baton Rouge Barracks,  Oct 31, 1861
    Muster-in to date:    Oct. (4?), 1861
    Joined for duty and enrolled:
    When:    Oct. (4?), 186(?)
    Where:     Baton Rouge
    By whom:    Capt W. W. (???)
    Period:    During the war

2.    Pvt., Co G, 1 Reg't Louisiana Cavalry

    Company Muster Roll of the organization named above.
    for  May - ??? 31, 1862
    (Enlisted info is repeated)
    Last paid:
    By whom:        (?) Claiborne
    To what time:    Apl 30, 1862
    Presnet or absent:    Present

3.    Pvt., Co G, 1 Reg't Louisiana Cavalry

    Company Muster Roll of the organization named above.
    for Sept 1 to Dec 31, 1962
    (Enlisted info is repeated)
    Last paid:
    By whom:        Capt Herndon (??)
    To what time:    Aug 31, 1862
    Present or absent:    Absent
    Remarks:        Absent on sick furlough

4.    Pvt., Co G, 1 Reg't Louisiana Cavalry

    Company Muster Roll of the organization named above.
    for Jan & Feb 1863
    (Enlisted info is repeated)
    Last paid:
    By whom:        Capt Herndon (??)
    To what time:    Dec 31 1862
    Present or absent:    Absent
    Remarks:        Absent on sick furlough given at
            Chattanooga on July 4, 1862

5.    Pvt., Co G, 1 Reg't Louisiana Cavalry

    Company Muster Roll of the organization named above.
    for Feb 28 to June 30 1863
    (Enlisted info is repeated)
    Last paid:
    By whom:        Capt Herndon (??)
    To what time:    Feb 28 1863
    Present or absent:    Absent
    Remarks:        Absent on sick furlough since July 4,
            1862
    
6.    Pvt., Co G, 1 Reg't Louisiana Cavalry

    Company Muster Roll of the organization named above.
    for Nov & Dec 1863
    (Enlisted info is repeated)
    Last paid:
    By whom:        
    To what time:    
    Present or absent:    Absent
    Remarks:        Absent on sick furlough given at
            Chattanooga July 4, 1962

7.    Pvt., Co G, 1 Reg't Louisiana Cavalry

    Company Muster Roll of the organization named above.
    for Jan & Feb 1864
    (Enlisted info is repeated)
    Last paid:
    By whom:        
    To what time:    
    Present or absent:    Absent

    Remarks:        Absent on sick furlough given at
            Chattanooga July 4, 1962