I have a photo of my grandmother's cousin in his Spanish American War uniform with limited information on the back. The only information I could find on Ancestry and Family Search was the cover to his service records. I asked Gopher Records for help, and within days they sent me his military service records, and are currently working on his pension records. Their fees are much more reasonable than requesting the information from NARA, and they are much quicker to respond. They don't charge anything unless they find what you requested. I will definitely use them again, and highly [...]

A friend effusively recommended Gopher Records. The turnaround from my order was fast, professional, and complete. So thanks to my friend and to Bob Velke at Gopher Records for a job well done.

I have used Gopher Records several times and have never been disappointed in the service or the attention to detail for each order -making sure I am getting what I expect & also adjusting the cost when certain records are not available. I would highly recommend Gopher Records to search for you!

Bob did it again, and what a great find! This Widow's Pension file he retrieved for me solved a few puzzles regarding the sibling of an ancestor. Ancestry had showed me previously a marriage record *after* all the children were born, this file explained there was no documentation of their first ceremony so they married again. I was also wondering why I couldn't find a death record for her husband - turns out he went back to his homeland (Germany) and died there.

I have ordered records from the National Archive directly, and I won’t do that again. Gopher Records was able to get me the same info, less cost, and much faster than using the National Archive service. You don’t pay until the records are secured, which is nice. I have also always gotten records ahead of the promised timeframe. The best way to go!

I first heard about Gopher at a national genealogy conference and decided to give their service a try after a colleague raved about them. I requested Civil War pension and Postmaster records for five ancestors—records I’d been meaning to get for years. Eight days later, Gopher delivered 754 clean, high-quality pages directly to my inbox. The results far surpassed the old photocopies I brought home from NARA years ago. Even better, they let me know that some requested files were already on Fold3, found issues with the images there, and proactively contacted Fold3 to report the problem—then didn’t charge me [...]

My order was completed quickly and completely. Very happy. Will use again!

Bob and crew went way out of their way to retrieve the requested records within a week. But, he also found additional pertinent records which I didn't even know existed for a Civil War pension. I had previously ordered the exact same records through the National Archives (NARA) well over 6 months ago. NARA continuously sent me the wrong files and/or still haven't gotten back to me, despite emailing 10+ times and notifying them of the errors. I absolutely, positively will never use any other service other than Gopher Records. I suppose if you [...]

I found out about Gopher Records just after having gone through NARA (several years back) to pull another ancestor's CW pension records. I wish I had discovered GR sooner. I recently used GR for the first time this past June 2025. They provided incredible service at a very affordable price, and they completed their search for my 2nd GGF's pension records so fast it literally made my jaw drop! I was completely blown away! The prints were crisp and clear and did not disappoint. You are reading the review of one happy customer who will continue to be a [...]

Excellent job once again. Appreciate the heads up to some of the records being available on Fold3 and that my cost was lowered because of that.