COGenBlog

For researchers looking for veterans who served in Colorado units, or those who have lived or died in Colorado, here are some helpful Web sites:

Colorado State Archives: Colorado Veterans Grave Registrations, 1869-1949 (Index)

• This index is the result of the Colorado Graves Registration project of the 1930s, which involved the American Legion and Works Project Administration, and was financially supported by the Colorado legislature.
• Search by finding the appropriate alphabetic section on this page, which includes an explanation of the index.
• Here is a sample of the results, showing the entry for Stephen S. Horton:

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) National Grave Registration Database

• As of Memorial Day 2006, this database contains details about 5,204 veterans who have been buried in Colorado. Most of them served from other states. It also includes 836 veterans who served in Colorado units during the Civil War, though 445 of those are buried outside Colorado.
• According to the site’s About Project page, the project was begun in 1996 and went online in 2005. Hundreds of members and non-members of SUVCW have contributed information, and anyone can apply for an account to submit additional information.
• Search by filling out this form.
• Although the SUVCW data is not complete, it is more detailed than the data in the VA Nationwide Gravesite Locator below.
• Here is a sample of the results, showing the entry for the same Stephen Horton as above. There is some additional information not included in the Colorado State Archives index:

U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs Nationwide Gravesite Locator

• This database can be searched at Nationwide Gravesite Locator. It includes veteran burials in federal and state cemeteries, as well as private cemetery burials for which a government marker was provided (since 1997). This database is the basis for Ancestry’s U.S. Veterans Cemeteries, ca.1800-2004 database.
• The following Colorado cemeteries are included: Fort Logan National Cemetery; Fort Lyon National Cemetery; and Veterans Memorial Cemetery of Western Colorado. Not included is the Colorado State Veterans Center at Homelake.
• Here is a sample — the results for Amos Burtnett, a veteran who served from Indiana [1], whose wife and children lived in Colorado [2, 4], while he lived in Nebraska and is buried in Kansas [3, 5] (he does not yet appear in the SUVCW database):

[1] Amos Burtnett record [link], 8th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, National Park Service Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System. Internet <http://www.civilwar.nps.gov/cwss/>.
[2] Eddy Burtnett entry [link], Report of the Board of Trustees of the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and the Blind of the State of Colorado for the Biennial Term, Ending Nov. 30, 1890 (Denver: Collier & Cleaveland Lith. Co., State Printers, 1890).
[3] Amos Burtnett entry, 1890 U.S. census, Special Schedule Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Cass County, Nebraska, E.D. 118, entry 25; National Archives microfilm M123, roll 38. [Link to Ancestry.com image]
[4] 1900 U.S. census, Pueblo County, Colorado, E.D. 98, sheet 11B (99 back), dwelling & family numbers unspecified, lines 75-76 (Lucy Burtnett household); National Archives microfilm T623, roll 128. [link to Ancestry.com image, indexed as Bruntnell]
[5] 1900 U.S. census, Seward County, Nebraska, Precinct O, E.D. 154, sheet 8A (144 front), dwelling 160, family 165 (Soldiers and Sailors Home, with inmate Amos “Burtrell”); National Archives microfilm T623, roll 940. [link to Ancestry.com image]