I had been searching for years to find the maiden name of my g ggrandmother,Catherine Schneider, wife of Jacob Schneider. As far as I knew they had always lived in San Antonio. I finally found her obituary in the San Antonio newspaper, and it stated that her husband had been in the Mexican War.

I started looking for Mexican War records and found that he had indeed been part of Captain August Buchel's company. I also found that Catherine had applied for a widow's pension. Upon learning this, I sent Form 80 to the National Archives requesting any information that they might have.

To my surprise, I received the entire file—17 pages. Not only did I finally find her maiden name (Steiner), but also found that they had married in Fredericksburg in 1848 as well as many other tidbits. Unfortunately, the Fredericksburg records before 1850 were burned so I can't find a marriage record.

I strongly urge anyone who finds an ancestor on this Muster Roll to write to the National Archives. You never know what you might find.

Doris Kosub