I ordered my 2nd grand uncle's pension file on August 2nd. I received the file on Aug 15th. Amazing, considering Gopher Records had to get special permission to pull the file as my 2nd grand uncle's file - Harlow, as it was combined with another soldier's file. My goal was to learn more about my paternal side, brick wall at my 3rd great grandfather, father to my 2nd grand grandfather (James) & his brother (Harlow) who served. I received 451 pages of documents, testimonies and statements. Took me a while to learn how [...]

Great service. Had never heard of Gopher until a couple weeks ago - saw it mentioned on Reddit. Super quick turnaround, and dirt cheap pricing. There's pretty much no reason to get these records from NARA directly if you know about Gopher.

Gopher Records obtained all the available records at NARA that I had requested, digitized them and made them available to me in a very efficient manner. Their pricing was reasonable too. I was very pleased with their service. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again should the need arise.

Incredibly fast turnaround, less expensive than going directly to NARA, personalized (friendly, courteous and amazing) service. I should have been using Gopher long ago. I got a Civil War file about 2 years ago directly from NARA that took months. nothing against them--they are overwhelmed. It included two photos of marginal quality. People on Facebook were singing the praises of Gopher so I thought, I'll reorder the file and see if they can get better copies of those photos. WOW. Not only yes, but Bob realized they were photostat copies of tintypes, and talked to a supervisor about finding the [...]

I learned about the service from a Civil War forum to which I'm a member. As it happens, I do cemetery preservation work at an historic cemetery and often research persons interred there. Civil War veterans is a key interest of mine. So, long story short, I ended up doing some preservation work in another cemetery and was researching two vets whose stones I would eventually repair. I needed their records so I could share their history at the workshop I was to conduct. Gopher was very quick and made an exception for me due to [...]

I learned of Gopher Records during a genealogy study group that I took from Cyndi Ingalls (of Cyndi's List fame) earlier this year and have used them to retrieve three Civil War pension files so far. Their customer service is outstanding. They kept me informed of my order status, contacted me quickly to clarify the name on one file (which seemed at first to have been commingled with another pensioner's file), and provided the final electronic copies very quickly. (By contrast, I'd ordered a file directly from NARA before discovering Gopher and had to wait quite literally months [...]

I can't say enough for this service. If you are looking for a Civil War Pension File - these are the folks to use. I have used NARA in the past and it has become a frustrating experience. Their system is difficult to navigate, expensive and slow. "Gopher Records" delivered my file quickly and inexpensively. I will definitely be recommending this service to my fellow researchers. I originally saw "Gopher Records" advertised in "The Banner".

I wish I could give them 10 stars! For several years, I have been going back-and-forth with the national archives and veterans administration over my Civil War ancestor. These fine. No very fine folks Neue how to cut through all of that red tape. I now have the records that I had worked for for years in just a few months. Blessing upon you!!!

The service is excellent. Fast and thorough. The two brothers I was researching served in the same company of the Illinois 76th infantry (Kankakee French Canadian ethnicity). One was discharged due to malaria in Nov 1863, and his younger brother joined the same month. I'm curious if this was legally required to have at least one member of the family serving so that when one left, another took over, or was it because of patriotism towards the Union cause in the family?

I order records from Gopher Records several times a month. Their work has proved invaluable for my research. The timeliness of their responses and the fair price makes it easy for me to go back to them again and again. Highly recommend them for your research needs!