This is the best, fastest and affordable services to have when it comes to finding Pension files or any military records, I got my pension files of relatives within a week or two after ordering them and they are very helpful when it comes to finding relatives in wars. I greatly appreciate their service and help in finding records. Thank you so much and your hard work goes unnoticed.

I've placed multiple orders with Gopher Records over the years, and Bob has always been helpful, prompt, and professional. For my most recent order, I requested records for five Civil War veterans. Although I wasn't certain these individuals were my ancestors, I wanted to explore every possibility in my research. Before fulfilling my request, Bob contacted me to clarify my needs, resulting in significant savings. I would gladly use Gopher Records again!

I ordered a Civil War pension file and received a PDF of the full 100+ page file by email within 10 days. This is so much better than NARA’s months-long ordering process, and it’s less expensive too! Highly recommend.

You simply can’t go wrong with Gopher Records! The speediest and highest quality service for obtaining military records. Great price, too. I have ordered Civil War pension files several times and can’t recommend them more highly. Very meticulous in ensuring that you obtain every page in the file.

I emailed Gopher Records after finding a question about whether an ancestor was a soldier for the Union in the Civil War. A reply came very quickly that he was and I ordered his pension file. The file came quickly and provided information about the soldier's service as well as family names and residences. Well worth the money to me!

Gopher staff is knowledgeable, dependable and prompt. I've been more than satisfied every time I've called upon them for help. I'm happy to recommend them to military researchers.

Gopher Records has helped me obtain service records for genealogical research on multiple occasions. This service is invaluable. Fees are lower that NARA and the turnaround speed is light years ahead of NARA. Moreover, Gopher Records has taken the additional step of informing me when they come across additional records (such as court martial or medical records) that I was not aware existed. The Gopher Records website has a lot of additional information about the types of records that are available and what we can learn from them. Outstanding service all the way around.

I found Gopher Records on a list of independent researchers available for hire to retrieve records at the National Archives. Bob Velke was very responsive and kept me updated as the National Archives gradually re-opened to researcher access during the COVID pandemic. Fortunately, Bob retrieved my ancestor's entire Civil War pension record including his widow's pension application where I found the information I needed to document my ancestor's divorce from a previous wife, my second great-grandmother. The county records were burned in 1864 so I had no other documentation of my second great-grandparents' life event.

I had previously laid out $$ to the National Archives twice--once right before the pandemic, and then again last month, hoping I could get information. After spending $60, I received a letter stating they couldn't help because my 2nd great-grandfather had a common name. I heard about Gopher, and gave it a try. Bob at Gopher responded so quickly, and went over my information, comparing it to the 3 soldiers who had the same name, and were in the same unit. We were able to pinpoint which person it was by process of elimination. Bob [...]

Way faster and way cheaper than ordering directly from NARA. Great service. Pension records are invaluable family history archives. I will be using the service again. Highly recommended.