Most family historians and researchers are aware that the 1890 United States Federal Census was destroyed by fire. Yet there is a portion of that census still available to us today. The Special Enumeration of Union Veterans and Widows or better known as the 1890 Veterans Schedule. Find that portion of the census at:
Family Search – https://familysearch.org/search/colle…
Ancestry – http://search.ancestry.com/search/db….
Find My Past – https://www.findmypast.com/articles/w…
There are two options in researching the Official Pension Roll of 1883. If you have an account with Ancestry.com you can find their database here. http://search.ancestry.com/search/db….
Or there is a free version on Google Books or Archive.org http://books.google.com/books/about/L…
http://archive.org/details/listpensio…
The only problem with the free resource is that the outer edges of the pages were not scanned correctly. So some pages you will not be able to get the full last name but I’d check anyway. Maybe the image of your ancestor’s page was scanned correctly.