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.

I have used Bob’s services a number of times and would highly recommend him. Excellent service and a pleasure to work with.

I appreciate the great service in obtaining a Civil War pension for me. I needed to be sure I had the complete file and appreciate the efforts of Gopher Research in that!

Recently I used your service for my 2nd great grandfathers George H Willobee, Company D 14th Michigan Infantry, records military records through the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). I heard that yoi were about half the cost and much faster. It two weeks. I had everything that could be gotten from Fold3, Ancestry, My Heritage and Family search that was out there. I got over 300 pages of documents, I was amazed. Among them was his enlisted form. I still hoping to find photos of him. I've started my second request.