Daily AncestorBureau of Pensions
The Bureau of Pensions was the federal office that judged and paid military pension claims, in the Interior Department from 1849 until it joined the VA in 1930.
Early pensions went through War Department offices: a Pension Bureau from 1815 and the Office of the Commissioner of Pensions from 1833. In 1849 the office moved to the new Department of the Interior as the Bureau of Pensions. It approved or denied claims and paid benefits, and from 1887 worked in the new Pension Building in Washington.
In 1930 it was joined with the U.S. Veterans Bureau and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers to form the Veterans Administration. Letters in a pension file headed Department of the Interior, Bureau of Pensions, date from this period.
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Daily Ancestor. "Bureau of Pensions." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/military/bureau-of-pensions. Last checked 2026-10-12.