The other day I came across some pension lists, which reminded me that soon I will officially be, according to the government, a "senior citizen" and will start getting my "Old Age Security". If it is a shock to me to be classified as "senior" and "old age", imagine how my Mother feels?? At least I'm not alone, as all my friends I went to school with are sailing on the same ship.
According to Library Archives Canada the old age pension started in 1927 for British subjects 70 and over with 20 years residency in Canada and they got $20 a month. The Sessional Papers of Canada hold pension records (superannuation and retiring allowances) of government employees. Check the front index or contents to see which No to search. The later years were not printed.
But before that, in Canada, the government started a pension for returning soldiers with disabilities after the Northwest Rebellion in 1885. The Pension Act was passed after WWI in 1919, and the Department of Veteran's Affairs was started in 1944. When I was little one of my neighbor friend's grandfather used to come visit her family. He would gather us kids together and proudly take out his teeth, take out his eye, and take off his leg. We didn't quite know how he got like that except it happened in the war, and we thought it was awesome!
My grandfather and father got assistance from the Veterans Affairs with other things, like: lawn mowing, snow removal, drive to doctors appointments, house cleaning and window cleaning... all little things that allowed them to live on their own in their old age, and when they died their widows continued to get these benefits. Also, if their widow could not afford it, the Veterans would pay for the burial or cremation.
These are some pensions lists I found online, mostly military in which some give cause for being pensioned and the date their pension started. Also look in Company Magazines, they usually have a section for naming those that have retired from their job. Another good source is from Records of the Field Office of the different states, they often hold pension records, usually at the end.
I am only listing a few here, there are many more military pension rolls.
Search using keywords: pension [rolls], pensioners, veterans
Relevant Links:
Pensions and Superannuations - Sessional Papers of Domonion of Canada
Sessional Papers, Teachers pensions 1890
Sessional Papers 1883 Superannuations
List of Pensioners on the Roll - US 1883 Vol 1-5 (end of #5 other countries)
Itawamba County, Mississippi - Pension Roll 1898
List of Pensioners in the City of Baltimore and the several counties 1874
A census of US pensioners for revolutionary or military service: with name, age, place of residence, as returned by the marshals of the districts 1842
Veterans Administration pension payment cards 1907-1933
Retirees - Pacific Gas & Electric, San Francisco
A list of pensioners of the War of 1812
Roster of Confederate Pensioners of Virginia 1917
Chelsea Pensioners British Army Service Records 1760-1913 (Index at Family Search)
Roster of Examining Surgeons appointed under the authority of the Commission of Pensions - US 1875
Irish pensions info
Old age; the results of information received respecting nearly nine hundred persons who had attained the age of eighty years, including seventy-four centenarians (gives names of the patients) – Cambridge 1889
Canada names of Veteran Militiamen who have applied for government gratuity - 1876
Canada names of veteran militiamen 1812-1815, proven for pensions - 1877
Communication from the secretary of war covering a list of those who have been retired from the military service, in accordance with the provisions of the act for ridding the army of ignorant, disabled and incompetent officers – 1864
Munroe County, Iowa 1935 pension list
Literature and the Pension List
Related Posts: Sessional Papers
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