Last Civil War widow dies after keeping secret most of her life

[@NoNo-ng9sl]

I think the fact the witness was still alive was a miracle itself. Just wow.

[@kennybell5108]

I wonder if the daughter who threatened the wife/widow is still alive.

[@StarkIller-df7gw]

Amazing story

[@giftofspeech]

@@kennybell5108 The daughter of the Veteran was older than Helen (the widow). So I doubt the daughter was or still is alive.

[@ms_scribbles]

@@giftofspeech She's one of those people that make me hope that Hell is real. Her father was trying to give something back to a girl who took care of him in his last days, and that evil cow threatened to destroy her if she tried to get what her father wanted to give the girl.

[@zazasnruntz7505]

Pretty sure absolutely no one outside of the white community cares

[@mcq1125]

My mother was born in 1918, and she says she remembers when she was young, seeing Civil War veterans marching in Memorial Day parades in her town.

[@jmfa57]

My dad was born in 1919. He said the same thing.

[@kaykayron2222]

very cool

[@kamurray67]

Yes my father was born in 1918 in deep rural Mississippi. He and his siblings also had those same stories. My grandfather was born in 1878 and had relatives that were veterans.

[@eligebrown8998]

Thinking about that today it seems like how that is possible because the war was befor the automobile, etc. But in reality, it really was not that long ago. When talking about the Civil War it seems like it took place 3 to 500 years ago.

[@kamelhaj6850]

My grandfather was born during the US civil war, but he lived in present day Poland at the time. His mom was born in 1829!

[@RedRuffinsore]

In 1975, I worked with a woman who was 75 years old. Her father was a Civil War veteran who fathered her at age 65. In about 2005, I worked with a guy whose father was born in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in 1905 and his grandfather was a Civil War veteran. It was not terribly uncommon in the South for an elderly veteran to marry a young woman as they received a veteran's pension for their entire life. It seems like it is so far away, but my grandfather (as a very small child) was hidden in the loft of their cabin "when the Comanches came" in Texas.

[@JuneBug_87]

That’s amazing!

[@DCJNewsMedia]

I hope she was able to get the pension with back pay due to duress under threat

[@falconcorban4128]

@@DCJNewsMedia unlikely given how old she was, that pension likely was long gone by the time the story got out and the daughter that scared her out of it was probably dead by then given she was older.

[@DCJNewsMedia]

@@falconcorban4128 you could be correct.

[@Christianne-md2nd]

Great story! Thanks for sharing.

[@StormyMonday0896]

This wasnt uncommon. My great grandmother befriended a widower at a nursing home. To repay her for her kind caring, he married her a few years before his death and gifted her his railroad pension

[@JEdwarrd]

We also can't lose context. Women only got the right to vote 10-15 yrs before this mans death. In other words the society was deeply immoral, infantilized women & put old men in positions of power over girls from 13 -17+, if they reached legal age w/o a husband they "had to" become wives or be labeled a disgusting, ineligible spinster. The crash of 29' was caused by men taking risky bets, just like what happened in 2008. We normalize behavior as if ppl of that era didn't have a clue abt personal autonomy, which is incorrect & wrong. Abuse effects all humans, regardless if popular/ polite society cares to lead with compassion or not. This is what gets lost when revisiting history. They were no better, no worse, they were human. Just like today. We have different technology that effects us differently. But the core of who & what humans are has never changed. We just learn & grow (hopefully).

[@matteframe]

It's a great scam

[@singingstars5006]

If this were to happen today (a teenager marrying an old guy for his pension, no matter whose idea it was), no one would celebrate the union. It would be a terrible scandal. Yet this video acts like she was a victim and she should be celebrated. She never even lived with the man she married. I don't actually have a problem with the story but the media inconsistency. Now what is truly sad is she never remarried.

[@JEdwarrd]

@@singingstars5006 Tell us u are bitter without telling us. lol We also can't lose context. Women only got the right to vote 10-15 yrs before this mans death. In other words the society was deeply immoral, infantilized women & put old men in positions of power over girls from 13 -17+, if they reached legal age w/o a husband they "had to" become wives or be labeled a disgusting, ineligible spinster. The crash of 29' was caused by men taking risky bets, just like what happened in 2008.

[@gunnybunny4081]

It isn’t uncommon today to have people in any nursing homes or end of life homes fall for or want to do this for their care giver & want to leave or give them everything they have in this world. This is how much people appreciate just being attended to & getting just a bit of someone’s time when they’re all alone. 😢

[@OcotilloTom]

This actually wasn't unusual for the time. The Depression and other events at the time made it hard on folks, this was just one way to survive. Good for her.

[@here_we_go_again2571]

Mothers and wives got the pensions; but not a surviving father. Railroad workers' pensions were set up so if the widow remarried she would lose the pension. (I do not know the rules regarding remarriage for Civil War widows)

[@evil1by1]

Seeing as she never collected the pension you cant just claim economics and shrug it off. Personally I think the man's daughter is an awful person to deny her that. Sure she married him for the money but had she been paid for the caregiving she was providing that the daughter wasn't? Much like today probably not or at least not much more than a token sum and like today uninvolved families take that with an astounding air of entitlement. They want free or cheap care but also dont want to pay for it or allow the estate to pay for it. Its never their job to care for dad but who boy can they do some mental acrobatics to make it your responsibility and their entitlement.

[@here_we_go_again2571]

@@evil1by1 I would not be so quick, as you, to label Helen as a "gold digger" It is not unusual for a person to want to reward a caregiver in some way (usually in a will) However, if all the man had to offer was (obviously) that pension (that his kids could not get a hold of). I am assuming the family controlled his money or at least his assets at that point (or at least had control of most of the property.) The Great Depression was a tough time for almost everyone. Even people with surplus money as well as middle class professionals felt the pinch. For all we know, he was living off his savings at that point of his life.

[@paulaneary7877]

@@here_we_go_again2571 Please re-read the comment. @evil1by1 is absolutely NOT calling the woman a gold digger, but is in fact in agreement with your comment.

[@sheilatagg2699]

But she didn't collect his pension?

[@bkind2025]

Her husband just wanted to take care of her as she took care of him. How sad that this happened to Helen. May she rest in peace.

[@rickwilliams967]

This is an Anna Nicole Smith situation bud. Probably some grooming involved too.

[@harbourdogNL]

100%. Or else she was a goldigger.@@rickwilliams967

[@harbourdogNL]

Clearly she was a gold digger.

[@sharonthebaron88]

@@harbourdogNL An equal exchange is no one's robbery.

[@harbourdogNL]

Money for pussy. has been going on since the dawn of time.@@sharonthebaron88

[@camoss3724]

The last person to collect a Civil War pension was a woman named Irene Triplett, who died in 2020 at the age of 90. Her father, Mose Triplett, was first a private in the Confederate army before defecting over to the Union. He was just shy of his 84th birthday when she was born in 1930, and was nearly 50 years the senior of his second wife, Elida Hall, who was 34 when Irene was born. Since she had mental disabilities, Ms. Triplett qualified for the pension as the helpless child of a veteran. She received $876 per year. According to VA statistics from 2020, there were still 51 widows and children collecting Spanish-American War benefits.

[@src3360]

Reparations to slave owners were finally paid off in 2008

[@clay1883]

Father at 84? Think he had some help?

[@Roddy556]

​@@clay1883probably just wanted to make sure his wife and her lover's child was looked after

[@toxichammertoe8696]

WOW!

[@BuzzKirill3D]

Several "holy shits" in that story. Not the least of which is the measly pension. "Interesting if true"

[@daenerysdivine1906]

A Vietnam veteran at a nursing home asked me to marry him, I kindly refused. He said he wanted me to have his house, car, etc. since I was so nice and I took good care of him. I still said no, but that it was kind of him to offer. He was so sweet. Always asking how I was and offering life advice. He told me some interesting things that happened in his life. He was a great guy.

[@joea5228]

You don’t have to be married to bequeath property to that person.

[@daenerysdivine1906]

@@joea5228 I feel as a former caregiver if you take a gift from a person in a nursing home that is so huge you are taking advantage of them. (if it's a house, car, a lot of money). I always politely refused it.

[@wholeNwon]

@@daenerysdivine1906 I agree and always declined to benefit from someone's vulnerability no matter how well-intentioned.

[@---kx1xc]

I wonder if that's how concubines worked in the time of the book of Judges, besides just a way to show their financial stability, but maybe some wanted just to take care of the lady.

[@misakit.4110]

in australia, its actually illegal to be given any substantial gifts, so anything more that things like flowers or chocolates violate the code of ethics

[@SWog617]

This isn't exactly what I thought of when I read "Civil War widow".

[@MsJellyBellyLove]

Same! I was thinking they unearthed something cool about the last CWW in an archive somewhere, showing she dressed like a man and fought on the front lines.

[@jacquigonzalez5447]

Yeah. Not just a stretch, a fabrication.

[@zoeyrochellezhombie829]

Or had married a released slave and had kids.

[@theoldhunter6090]

My great grandmother was born in 1896. Her father was a civil war veteran whose wife passed and left him with several children. He married a widow that was much younger with several children. They produced several children together. My great grandmother was the last of the yours, mine and ours children. She passed in 1997 at the age of 101. RIP Maggie Bolt of Jenks, Oklahoma.

[@conmanumber1]

This is very common for caregivers. I looked after a lady who was in this situation after looking after a Veteran. She was allowed to live on the estate till her last days.

[@robertwilson6144]

My coach, John Hottenstein, told us that his mother was the last surviving recipient of a Civil War veteran’s spousal pension. At Coach’s funeral in Humboldt, Kansas in the 1990s we observed at the family plot that his mother was 19 when she became John’s father’s third wife. John’s dad was born in 1848 and served as a drummer boy for the Union. He married John’s mother after his first two wives died when he was in his mid 70s. She survived into her 80s, still collecting the last Civil War pension.

[@ilovenoodles7483]

Wow! So, your coach's mother was this woman in the video. Pretty cool

[@mikep490]

@@ilovenoodles7483 Nope, a different woman. The woman in this story never received the pension.

[@lovemoves3312]

@@mikep490you don’t know what the lady in this video received 🙄 1st admit that. And since the Secretary of Defense wasn’t at the funeral you attended you don’t know if the coaches wife was last recipient either. You need to stop telling that story like you administer the pension fund or something. Just cuz your coach 🙄 said it doesn’t make it true, sir. Geesh

[@mikep490]

@@lovemoves3312 "The last person to receive a Civil War pension was Irene Triplett, a daughter of a Civil War veteran, who died on May 31, 2020." "Following [Mr] Bolin's death Jackson decided against applying for the $73.13 monthly pension after Bolin's daughters threatened to ruin her reputation." Widows who married Civil War vets often kept it private, thus the reason there have been several "last widow" announcements since the late 90's.

[@againstthegraingolf301]

@@lovemoves3312Lmaoo you sound miserable. People are telling their family history, and you seem mad about it. Have a cup of tea and relax.

[@johnwilliams7931]

That was actually more of a business Arrangement than a marriage

[@TragicallyDelicious]

That's what marriage was until more recently and still is and most of the world

[@LindyL1964]

That’s exactly what it was. Some of the comments on here! It was kind of her to care for him and kind of him to reciprocate.

[@SirenaSpades]

As most are.

[@EmilyGloeggler7984]

They were happy to be married.

[@lolmfs]

That's what marriage was back then

[@sharonloomis5264]

That was not nice her being threatened like that. Glad she was finally recognized. Now, who was it that said a woman cannot keep a secret?

[@maryh9569]

Well , She technically didn't keep it a Secret, We all know about it ,

[@ConfidenceinChrist90]

I know for a fact both my mother and great grandmother died with secrets that I we’ll never know for sure. We just have our speculations.

[@GiaHairston]

@@ConfidenceinChrist90do tell

[@LawrenceLaffer]

No one. What they said was, women can’t drive or build anything worth a damn. Lol

[@IndiaHavenwyck]

I met a man in 1989 who's father was a Civil War veteran. The man was 94 at the time. His father was much older than his mother. His parents were married in 1892, and he was born a few years later. His father passed away in 1942. He still had his father's fire arms, a uniform, a tent, his horse's saddle, and his discharge papers. I met with he and his wife on numerous occasion and heard many stories of what life was like for a Civil War vet.

[@janetclaireSays]

It's so sad that Helen wasn't able to get his pension since it was his wish. I'll bet she could have really used it back in those days.

[@Usmcto]

No it’s called Fraud

[@katbowen4800]

@@Usmctono it’s not

[@Usmcto]

@@katbowen4800yes it is I’m a combat Veteran that is receiving Disability but you know more than me never fails me

[@odietamo9376]

@@UsmctoWhy do you think it is fraud? She was his wife, therefore it would’ve been perfectly legal for her to collect his pension. That’s the law, is it not? It’s not as if she were claiming to be his wife when she wasn’t.

[@mika43889]

@@odietamo9376 Think about it like this. If this was modern day and they were, say, applying for a spousal visa or something the marriage would be deemed fraudulent because there is no proof of an actual marital relationship she never even lived with him

[@MyLateralThawts]

I remember another story less than five years ago about the last Civil War pension being paid to a daughter of a veteran. She passed on since then, but her father had an interesting service, as he was a veteran who first served with the Confederacy and later volunteered and saw action with the the US army while the war was still being fought.

[@TheOldDragoon]

I have an ancestor who did the same, but flipped. Joined the Union Army for the bounty, then deserted and joined the CS Army. I am guessing because our post-Germany roots are in Texas.

[@meri9214]

Helen should have NOT listened to the daughter! She was the wife; deserved that pension!

[@sweetpurple8812]

@@meri9214especially seeing as he had her marry him because he wanted her to have the pension.

[@89medic]

@@sweetpurple8812and caretaker

[@metalrooves3651]

I dont know how a daughter could have collected this!! I dont believe pensions can go to anybody but a surviving spouse

[@shariberry3123]

Truly remarkable, and very sad that she was treated like such a terrible secret, when it was he who asked her to marry him in the first place. I have a picture of my mother's paternal grandfather, a Union soldier who survived, with his wife, they both look extremely elderly and frail and this was taken in 1930. My son worked in an old building in Austin, Texas that used to be a nursing care home for widows of the Confederacy. The last widow they had living there left in 1963.

[@bryan5549]

RIP Helen. I hope you're with your family again in the afterlife.

[@Powerduo88]

If she and her family were believers and followers of Christ, they are togther...not like down here but all with God.😊

[@blahco4tt]

​@@Powerduo88May I suggest watching KZbin videos of people who have had near death experiences? You may be surprised at what Christians, non-Christians, and atheists have experienced. She is likely reunited with her family.

[@zoeyrochellezhombie829]

​@@Powerduo88if you believe in that.

[@barbkugler7568]

Sending sweet thoughts your way to her family. What a kind and wonderful lady she was !!

[@marjoriemoser3961]

Heartbreaking that her stepdaughter was as cruel as she was. Silence is a testament of pureness of heart💜

[@CeciliaMorris]

Explains why the father didn't want to leave the pension to his daughter.

[@susanc4622]

It was hardly a real marriage. They didn’t cohabit. The old man must have just seen it as a way of paying her something after he died.

[@ricofico]

@@susanc4622 she was his caretaker, it was told in the story.

[@bikinggal1]

I don't think the pension is then transfered to the daughter is it? I could be wrong. Just pure nastiness on her part

[@genextra4535]

I don't blame the daughter. Caregivers have a long and sordid history of marrying their clients. It's now considered unethical.

[@nelsontoondrawer7618]

I had a coworker whose father died when he was just 10 yrs old. He told me his dad had him late in his life: the dad having been born in 1875!

[@ArtGirl82]

There were a pair of sisters who appeared on a 1950's game show, because their grandfather had fought in the Revolutionary War. He was around 11 when he enlisted and then his youngest son had children later in life; so his youngest granddaughters lived into the late 1960's and early 70's. The video is on KZbin, if you search for "Delia and Bertie Harris"

[@fancyfeast4610]

My grandfather was born in 1906 and I'm only 36. He had my mother late in his life

[@SuicideSeason4545]

⁠@@fancyfeast4610 that’s a solid 26 years before my grandmother was born, that’s wild. And I’m 18.

[@liveinms9949]

My great grandmother was born in 1905 and her grandfather who fought in the war at the age of 11 would tell her war stories

[@StDavidpipes]

Drummer boy?

[@pinkiesue849]

11 years old? Wow, now that is young

[@larsonfamilyhouse]

The father should have made it clear to his daughter and in his final wishes. This should have never been a fight between those two.

[@billsloan]

She clearly knew what he wanted & she refused.

[@klavier285]

Think of it from the daughters perspective, who was probably an old lady herself considering her fathers age. Him leaving all his money to some 19 year old he barely knew. Stuff like this always gets messy even today.

[@kepckatherinec805]

I suppose technically the title of Civil War widow would be correct for any woman who married a veteran of that war. But I think it would be a lot more meaningful if the marriage began before, during or shortly after the war.

[@redessa01]

I agree. Yes, she was married to a civil war veteran, but she wasn't even born yet when the civil war happened.

[@intercat4907]

I suppose "technically" she was a "decent married woman" but, you know ... Wow. Do you even hear yourself?

[@odietamo9376]

If the law gave her the right to the pension, then she should’ve gotten it. It’s that simple. What “seems” right or more “meaningful” is not relevant.

[@SamStone1964]

​@@odietamo9376 Were they legally married?

[@odietamo9376]

@@SamStone1964 That is an important question. I don’t know.

[@seanrcollier]

"Civil War widow"... that technicality is doing a *lot* of heavy lifting in this story

[@rabbidlobo]

My great grandmother was born in 1889 and I was born in 1989. Anyway, she kept the shackles of her mother and we still have them to this day. Its just crazy how little time has passed since the Civil War if you think about it. I'm not making this up, my family seems to reproduce late Great Great Grandma 1857 Great Grandma 1889 Grandma 1927 Mom 1960 Me 1989 My son 2016

[@lloyannehurd]

Your great great grandmother was in shackles!!! That really brings the reality of that time in history closer and so uncomfortably real.

[@daisydukes8252]

My white European ancestors were in shackles in Africa before there ever was black slavery in America. All the white European slaves, men, women and children were murdered. The cruel Africans spared no white slave.

[@daisydukes8252]

@@lloyannehurdEveryone’s ancestors were in shackles at some point in time like my white European ancestors were slaves in Africa before there ever was black slavery in America. The cruel Africans spared no white slave, they murdered them all.

[@samgray49]

Same with my family. What is kind of crazy for me is that my family we had four generations alive. My great-great-grandmother was alive in 1993 and so there's a picture of my big cousin with my grandpa and my great-grandmother to prove it. Her dad was a civil war veteran having served as a private during the Civil War. What's crazy is that my great-grandfather served in World War 1 and lived long enough to see the invention of the modern car, man in flight, and man on the moon.

[@rabbidlobo]

@@samgray49 could you give their birth years as I did? Not that I don't believe you, I'm just curious and a bit confused. Your great great grandmother or just great grandmother? Regardless your story is still intriguing.

[@richardstall4351]

Dearest Helen 😢 I'm sry you lost your Husband and I'm Sry to hear that you had to keep that part of your life a secret 😢 I'm sure there were times you just really wanted to talk to someone about your exciting life and adventures I'm very glad you did get the chance to talk about it with someone. I hope you are with all of your family and friends now in that Castle in the sky and enjoying yourselves to the fullest cuz your All worth it ❤️ God Bless Everyone and Happy Holidays ❤

[@leondillon8723]

Must be a Confederate widow. Some Missouri regiments, like the 7th Cavalry, were CSA. Years ago Donald Sutherland played a Virginia (Virgin) Confederate veteran who married a girl 13 years old."The Last Confederate Widow" was the title. Another "Gold Rush" was started when President Theodore Roosevelt signed a bill giving a pension to northern living veterans. Girls, as young as 12, went out hunting for a veteran.

[@jstrahan2]

She was a Union widow.

[@laurie66]

And they clearly state in the beginning of the story that she chose not to collect the pension

[@xplorercolorado9224]

Why does it matter which side? She was still a young widow

[@Sydroo1969]

I saw that movie it was very good. My great great great grandfather fought for the North, he was from Illinois.

[@laurie66]

@@xplorercolorado9224 exactly! I have ancestors who fought on both sides and I love them all, because if not for them I wouldn’t be here. I will not judge either because in that time people fought for what they thought was right, whether we look back and feel it was wrong doesn’t matter we weren’t there period. So it doesn’t matter which side he fought on you are absolutely right. The story was about a young girl considered a widow who didn’t take money from her husband’s death. I am in agreement with you.

[@Roger-zx4ji]

She married him for his pension, and didn’t even live with him. Yet everyone here is basically saying, oh that poor woman. Hell, what was his state of mind when married her? Congrats to the daughter.

[@leephil100]

I lived in St Petersburg Florida back in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s and there were several retired ladies who collected Civil War pensions. One told me it was during the depression as a way to survive.

[@jjwats12]

Such a tender way of telling the story. I'm sure the local news would cover the story the same way if a 91 year-old Korean War vet married a 19 year-old girl today.

[@rachelmcdonough1506]

Tbf it sounds more like they just jumped through some legal hoops to get her money after he died than an actual husband/wife relationship.

[@tehrcanine4175]

In the early 90s I worked for a short time at Julian Pie co, in Julian, Calif. The owner told me that her mother, at a very young age, married an old Civil War veteran. That woman was still living in a nursing home in 1990. I think the family came to California from ALABAMA. I WOULD have loved to have had a conversation with her! Her decendants still live in that town.😮😮

[@basicallyno1722]

Yeah I’d like to know how old she was when she married him! She must’ve been pretty young, and he pretty old

[@willyjoerockhead]

I remember reading the same story of a different widow....I can't remember how long ago but they obviously didn't know about this .

[@Gonzo7HC]

That was I believe 2008 when president obama just got elected

[@dennisnaderhoff2008]

The worms know, read my comment.

[@44thala49]

That was a lady from Shorter, Alabama. She was still drawing a pension from her late husband’s service in an Alabama regiment in the late 90s (last time I heard about her). When asked why she married such an old man, her reply was “better to be an old man’s sweetheart than a young man’s slave”. I guess she’s had a point.

[@angelaf5040]

So very sad. Poor lady. It's also sad how her death now makes history truly history. It's sinful she didn't collect his pension or that it was paid to her before her passing. The man she cared for clearly cared for her and wanted her to be "looked after" after his passing. His daughter is rotten!

[@hatersgotohell627]

No she wasn't entitled to that. The daughter did the right thing. She was trying to commit fraud at the expense or her 90 yr old father. Hell to the no.. she was just an old gold digger. If this happen today we'd all call it what it is

[@SamStone1964]

He was living with his family full time and they were his primary caregivers. A 22 year old civilian woman does not need a lifetime government military pension. Were they legally married?

[@basicallyno1722]

@samstone1964 I would agree with you, but I’m unsure if this is really fraud considering lots of people married in the fashion of business arrangements in older times. Definitely doesn’t need a lifetime pension though at 20.

[@SamStone1964]

@@basicallyno1722 If the man leaves his own money to her it's nobody else's business. But this is a war pension which is government money which she had no right to claim.

[@basicallyno1722]

@@SamStone1964 that's a great point I had not considered. Youre saying the money wasn't "his" to give away like that. Thanks Sam. I think he may have wanted to protect this young girl he grew fond of at his deathbed. Times were tough in 1935 and many people weren't surviving the Depression. I understand why he wanted to do that and why she would be inclined to say yes. I also understand the fraudulence of the claim.

[@FromAcrossTheDesert]

A Civil War widow up until this video meant a wife of a soldier who died in the war. My Grandmother died a few years ago, but nobody would call her a WW2 widow because my Grandfather lived with her all the way until 1996. War widows were made widows by the war.

[@ghiansudelo2590]

My neighbors were a couple like this, her life was miserable by the veteran aggressive crisis and his children. Once he died they kicked her out of the house. Very sad these caregivers don't get recognition nor legal protection.

[@adamdavis8082]

So she married an old man to get his pension, then didnt do it?Thanks for your service, i guess?

[@opieshomeshop]

This is a real stretch at being a genuine civil war widow.

[@karenday9109]

That’s what I thought! Marriage was never consummated and they lived apart!

[@norman4628]

2:36 "She was just 19 in 1936 when she married...". The US Civil War ended in 1865. How was she a Civil War widow? If you married someone in 1965 and your spouse fought in WW2 does that make you a WW2 widow? Such nonsense.

[@Stan_in_Shelton_WA]

yes, words have meanings, use them accordingly. Media hype for a $'s

[@gray_mara]

"She was just 19 when she married in 1936 and he was 91." I think you paused the video too soon. She was the widow of a civil war veteran.

[@Stan_in_Shelton_WA]

@@gray_mara she was not alive during the civil war. she did not experience her husband dying in battle during the civil war. The widow of a civil war veteran is way different than being a civil war widow, there were too many of them and they should not be dishonored by this modern twisting of words.

[@gray_mara]

@@Stan_in_Shelton_WA As the granddaughter, daughter and sister of men who served in multiple wars and conflicts, I am deeply offended that you would infer dishonour from anything I said.

[@olivegrove-gl3tw]

is no one gonna talk about how she was 19 and she married him when he was 91.... while being his care giver... she probably just wanted the money but then got scared to actually go though with it

[@elliecherise1968]

True, but times were hard back than. Woman married for money because that's the way it was, but 91 is a little too old. People did desperate things. TBH: They both could have been broke and poor or maybe the daughter was just a mean greedy selfish - - - - and didn't want the daughter or anyone else to have anything.

[@silencemeviolateme6076]

No we aren't trying to earn Internet karma today.

[@SamStone1964]

He was 93 and she was 17. Odd they reported that incorrectly.

[@elliecherise1968]

Even in 1968 things were getting better. Michael Luttges02191968 Culver City, CA and Mama Luttges07271950 Germany and GF Amanda Russo

[@TimmyTOnTheFly]

So the fuck what! Let them rest in peace. It’s not your relationship. You’re a clown 🤦🏽‍♂️🤡💯

[@hardyerhardt5929]

Rest in Peace, dear Helen!

[@FranBenjamin-yg7qt]

Even though she was an adult when she married him, I am glad she continued to live at home with her parents. My great aunt is 88 and came from a family of 16 kids. Which means my great great grandparents were slaves. The troubling times of our country was not that long ago✌🙏

[@tangarooo]

No it wasn't long ago at all. I've just turned 60 and I remember a house at the end of the lane where a lady would sit under a tree most days and keep order over all the little kids who passed near her house. Of all the kids, everyone loved her and wanted to be near her, even though she was kind of strict , nobody ever had 'to be told'. Our mothers told us not to bother her and she didn't want us hanging around, but she never seemed to mind us. "Let her have her freedom." I have no idea how old she was, but she was OLD to a five year old. It wasn't until much much later I heard the adults talking and found out she and her mother had been slaves, with her being freed as a teenager. She was the last of her family and had no children of her own. I remember seeing water fountains that said "WHITE ONLY" and two entrances to some places. It wasn't that long ago at all.

[@kevin-vp1zd]

If your great aunt is 88, how old were her parents at the time of her birth? Slavery ended in this country 159 years ago.

[@FranBenjamin-yg7qt]

find someone else to troll troll@@kevin-vp1zd

[@daisydukes8252]

My white European ancestors were slaves in Africa before there ever was black slavery in America. The cruel Africans freed no white European slave, they murdered them all.

[@daisydukes8252]

@@tangaroooYes-just as the cruel Africans murdered all the white European slaves in Africa before there ever was black slavery in America.

[@bevygaines]

Someone in the comments said, he enlisted four days before the civil war ended. So there's that!

[@karnellreynoso-el3qf]

She didn't live during the Civil War.

[@MarkBobby-g2o]

How are you doing

[@hatersgotohell627]

To everyone who is against his daughter use ur heads. If your 90 yr old grandfather was getting married to a 19 yr old youe know it was for fraudulent gold digging reasons too and stop it. Its literally taking advantage of the elderly.

[@madnessintomagic]

Confused by this. I mean, she’s interesting, but aren’t you technically only a civil war widow if your spouse dies, you know, **in** the civil war? I could marry someone now who was in Desert Storm…. if he dies, that doesn’t make me a Desert Storm widow.

[@Oakleyracer]

Stories from that era are very interesting. Reading about it keeps me enthralled for a while. I keep finding more things I wanna look up.

[@Banana_Split_Cream_Buns]

That's like an 18 year old girl today marrying a WW2 veteran, and living another 80 years, dying in the year 2106. So someone in the 22nd century could be a WW2 war widow.

[@statesrights01]

The wife introduced me to a friend of hers many years ago. Her name was Della, she married a man back in the 20's at a young age. Her Father-in-law was a Confederate out of Kentucky. Being a WBTS reenactor, I would sit and talk too her about him. She told me a lot of interesting things. A real history lesson indeed. She died at the age of 98 (I believe). She is missed.

[@andrewgates8158]

Did confederates get pensions.

[@statesrights01]

yep, from the US at that.. @@andrewgates8158

[@azcardguy7825]

It’s insane how a civil war widow was alive up until a few years ago… makes sense if you realize a 16 year old married an 85 year old l

[@Doc_McStuffins]

This is a strange thing to celebrate. But nice that she lived to such old age.

[@davidmarrier2737]

Think of all the history never spoken that is now lost in time. Be honest and true with this precious gift you can give to your grandchildren.

[@magnusdunning6113]

The Dependent and Disability Pension Act of 1890 finally gave Civil War Veterans a pension. Many whom were disabled. Then in 1910, Teddy Roosevelt executive ordered all Veterans over 62 a pension. So a lot of young women learned that these old men had a guaranteed source of income that could be passed on to the widow when the Veteran died. Lots of very young girls married old men. My Great Grandmother did this. Hey, life was hard back then so any way you can make it is a good thing. So this particular woman, even if her civil war vet husband was 15 when he served in 1865 at war’s end, married a considerably older guy.

[@glensims3744]

My father was also born in 1918 and my great grand father was a civil war veteran he passed sometime in the 20's. Late enough that my father had vivid memories of him.

[@Stan_in_Shelton_WA]

Civil War widow sounds as if her husband died in battle. I disagree with such misleading use of words and phrases.

[@JK-br1mu]

She's not a Civil War widow, she wasn't even alive during the Civil War...........this is really stretching the term.

[@patavinity1262]

The fact that she married a 91-year-old as a teenager is sadder than her death.

[@DarqJestor]

He married her to try to provide for her, by trying to have her collect his war pension.

[@TeddyBelcher4kultrawide]

Scam

[@capers72424]

@@TeddyBelcher4kultrawidehow so?

[@liveinms9949]

I seriously doubt it was consumated

[@Mybpeterson]

It was a business arrangement. She kept living with her parents, and he wanted his caretaker to have his pension after he died. Times were tough in the depression.

[@paulette5313]

Not sure this is literally correct. She didn’t live during the Civil War, she didn’t live with her ‘husband’ and lived with her parents plus she never collected his pension. Confusing to say the least.

[@marks1638]

During the Reagan Administration there was a big push to reduce government agencies to save money. Most agencies of course fought to keep their budget and manpower. One man actually asked for his department to be shut down. He and his secretary were the only employees remaining of the Union Veteran's Pension Bureau. While some Veteran's Spouses were still alive, he felt that another agency should take over as no Union Veterans were left alive and only a few spouses were still alive. Many of these remaining spouses were women who married these Veterans, when the men were elderly and the girls were teenagers, to get their pensions.). Soon afterwards he got his wish. The Veterans Administration took over and handled the Union Veterans spouse's pensions until the last one died in 2020.

[@j.okroiag9368]

So many women in history are only remembered because of the men they married.

[@MaryAnglin]

She wasn’t a widow in the truest sense. Never lived with him. Most likely never consummated the marriage. Calling her a “Civil War Widow” is nothing but a headline.

[@DesertDog2]

She was the widow of an elderly civil war veteran. “Civil war widow” suggests she was married to a soldier who died in the civil war. Such a deceiving story.

[@robertpace8338]

She wasn’t really a Civil War widow. It was just a scam she didn’t have the courage to follow thru on.

[@karenday9109]

Yes! That’s exactly what I thought!

[@GrannieOakley44]

your mind is a sewer

[@ElenaArms]

Sounds like her family was upset about not receiving a pension that was not owed to her. As a veteran , If I don't receive a pension after serving 8 years, she doesn't deserve a cent neither does her family after marrying someone 60 years after the war.

[@karenday9109]

Agree!

[@GrannieOakley44]

Wrong to use our world to judge theirs. Many things have changed.

[@ronbly9146]

A veteran is always a veteran

[@palepride7530]

Vets have been shat on my whole life 😆 Statues get took down and everything 😝 don’t be a delusional goofball

[@reddisimmo]

She had no right to the pension. We have to be honest but she was a gold digger.

[@galndixie]

He's a Union man. He didn't enlist until 6 April 1865, and wasn't mustered into service until 10 April 1865, a day after the surrender at Appomattox, which date is used by every historian as the end of the war. So technically, he's not a Civil War Veteran. Yes, he got a pension, but for being in the US Army, not for being in the Civil War.

[@merlink8644]

If his enlistment date is DURING the Civil War then, regardless of active service, he was, and remains, a Civil War veteran. What's more, fighting continued after the 'official' end of the war as communications took time to travel to the widely spread units, his muster date after Appomattox does not automatically mean he did not fight. Don't forget that men who did not see action in Europe before Hitler's death, but we're posted to Germany in the aftermath are still considered WWII veterans.

[@galndixie]

According to the history of his unit, they were in Nebraska from the end of the war until their disbandment in Nov '65. They were fighting Indians, not Confederates. There were no Civil War battles, skirmishes, or occupations in Nebraska.

[@kevinkwiatkowski7197]

@@galndixie Battle of Little bighorn

[@wladmuir]

I read "On October 8, 1864, he enlisted in Company F, 46th Missouri Infantry, and was formally mustered in on November 7, 1864." then after his 6 months enlistment expired, he enlisted in Company F, 14th Missouri Cavalry in April 1865.

[@roberthudson1959]

Your basic premise is false, because every historian does not use the date that the ANV surrendered as the end date of the Civil War.

[@HunterShows]

How does that make her a civil war widow? The husband didn't die in the civil war, they weren't married in the civil war, she had virtually nothing to do with it since she was born decades later. If a teenager marries a WWII veteran, that doesn't suddenly make them WWII brides or widows.

[@TomByron-h7s]

RIP Helen. What a great woman

[@Railhog2102]

Upmost respect, Last connection to an unfortunate event in US history

[@CAROLDDISCOVER-1983]

With the intentions of being married so she could get his pension. That would most likely constitute a basis for fraud.

[@GrannieOakley44]

She didn’t persue. He offered. The man was thankful. She was a volunteer caregiver. I pity anyone who doesn’t see the beauty in this.

[@CAROLDDISCOVER-1983]

@@GrannieOakley44 I pity the blind that doesn't see it for what it is. What is she give up to the ancient old man to get what he promised. Just to be intimidated out of it later! I'm sure her parents were behind the whole arrangement. Talk about Big Daddy pimping out his little girl

[@BrotherPatriot]

@@CAROLDDISCOVER-1983 Not in the least. The old man wanted to be able to provide for his caretaker and knew that by marrying her, he could do that since he couldn't pay her. There is no fraud in this and yes, she should have stood up for herself and claimed her rights...but it was a long time ago and things were different back then.

[@johnranallo424]

Years ago I read a book (fiction) with this same story line. Old Confederate veteran marries a young gal shortly before his death. She gets his pension and lives a long life. I think it was titled "Last Confederate Widow Tells All". Good story.

[@CAROLDDISCOVER-1983]

So who is paying the Confederate pension?????

[@MrFirstone23]

Confederate soldiers were declared equal to U.S. veterans by an Act of Congress in 1957. They were called to arms by their state government to defend their homeland from invasion. Some Confederate widows and children even drew a pension, few applied. @@CAROLDDISCOVER-1983

[@Legendary_UA]

​@@CAROLDDISCOVER-1983 Confederate veterans are by law US Veterans

[@CAROLDDISCOVER-1983]

@@Legendary_UA not true according to Reuters. Honestly found your statement fascinating so I did a quick check. You know today that means Google it. Several items on this. Basically Facebook is not always right. Besides the Confederate for traders and why would they be given the same rights as the US veterans? But then I thought that the government does odd things. Here's a snippet from Google. Is this where you got your information. This 1958 law? Posts shared hundreds of times on Facebook claim that a 1958 law “gave Confederate veterans the same legal status as U.S. Veterans,” citing U.S. Public Law 85-425, Section 410. The posts allege that “all Confederate graves were declared those of U.S. war dead.” This claim is false. Examples of such posts can be found here; and here; Public Law

[@shakey2634]

@@Legendary_UA Politicians buying votes after the war I’m sure.

[@ericheine2414]

This is a lovely story. She was a real sweetheart. She was even kind to his daughter. Nice is nice. Godspeed.

[@NGMonocrom]

Recognition for what?? A failed scam? Come on. He just offered her his pension out of the kindness of his heart. Rather obvious what really occurred.

[@dwo2895]

If the "husband lived in his home. And the "wife" lived in her mom's home. Was the marriage consumated?

[@pnwflipper2089]

Probably not. It seems like it was just him trying to be kind. Times were tough during the Great Depression.

[@kennedysingh3916]

Amaing, watched from Old Harbour Jamaica.

[@usnchief1339]

A gold digger that was checked by the daughter. Why celebrate this person?

[@EB-vl4ki]

It kind of shows you that it wasn't that long ago

[@Frozo-nt2ky]

It was a long time ago, maybe not relatively though

[@bravesoul5743]

I agree

[@01denese]

Very strange him having a daughter but marrying a girl so she can get his pension.

[@sandraford8505]

Why I don’t understand why this is history. Wasn’t she just trying to draw benefits she did not deserve ?

[@stanleyhape8427]

🎯

[@tko8218]

Sounds like people are working the system.

[@knowledgetree7134]

So we’re celebrating a 19 year that married a 91 year old, she had nothing to do with the civil war… she thought she was gonna collect on that pension… 😂 She didn’t fight for that money because she know that money belongs to his children!

[@SamStone1964]

He was 93 and she was 17. Odd they would misstate it.

[@basicallyno1722]

This was in the middle of a Depression - old dude probably wanted to die knowing the nice girl taking care of him was going to make it through. People weren’t making it through the Depression. Old lady probably has a lot of her own stories to tell.

[@shericontrary2535]

Why the music. Even with the closed captioning I have no idea what this story is about

[@bethgott9768]

Ohh

[@MarkBobby-g2o]

Read the story again to understand. Where are you from?

[@sherriianiro747]

There is a whole documentary on this subject - many Civil War veterans had child brides when they were old timers. They were a close - knit bunch that had to fight for their pensions because at that time they were considered hand outs and rhe government budgeted a third of its resources for them. Pension fraud was prevalent after 1865 so that could be why the sister stepped in too.

[@basicallyno1722]

Technically she, woman in story, could’ve been entitled to it - but she was only married for about a year…and she wasn’t born anywhere near the ending of the civil war. She was born almost 50-60 years later ¯\_(ツ)_/ morally she’s not entitled to a lifetime pensioner’s fund

[@sherriianiro747]

@@basicallyno1722 Age doesn't matter when collecting a pension - as long as she was old enough to marry and can prove marriage she was entitled to it, despite duration of marriage . They said the two were married three years til he died, but did not live together so I can see his sisters' point. The Civil War pension was even offered to women that remarried.

[@GratitudeGriot]

Such an interesting way to phrase this....she got married 71 years after the Civil War was over. She was born 52 years after the civil war was over. Her husband was a Civil War veteran; she didn't collect his pension and she's still considered a "Civil War widow"? wierd.

[@jacquigonzalez5447]

Right? REALLY stupid story. Gee lady, sorry your scam fell through. I think she was a manipulative hussy and the daughter was onto her. The violin music didn’t fool me.

[@mirzaahmed6589]

Why not? Widow does not require you to draw a pension. If she was legally married to a Civil War veteran, then she's a Civil War widow. What's so hard to understand?

[@pnwflipper2089]

It is kind of a Click bait title, but still an interesting story.

[@isgoodovsubhuman1972]

Touching story! RIP!

[@DeBee-dc9ce]

People had harder times. My step-grandmother was sold at about 14 to take care of man and his house (blonde, white and basically a slave). She ended up having 4 children with the man. Then when he died she married my grandfather, and she was quite a bit older than him.

[@TragicallyDelicious]

He was absolutely not basically a slave

[@TragicallyDelicious]

He was absolutely not basically a slave

[@TragicallyDelicious]

He was absolutely not basically a slave

[@TragicallyDelicious]

He was absolutely not basically a slave

[@Alexis-rt3cu]

Lmao no girl she was not slave

[@nunyabiznez6381]

No she's not. My aunt is still alive and she's a civil war widow. Her husband was born in 1848 and was a private in 1865. He was 93 in 1941 when he married my grandmother's sister who was 16 at the time. She's 98 and still kicking. She also didn't collect a pension. He died two years later and she also never remarried. He never collected a pension himself because he came from money and had no children so she got everything. Not rich per se but he never needed to collect a pension so she didn't but we have photos of her wedding day which was no secret. We have all the pertinent records including birth, death, marriage. We have the obituary from when he died listing her as his widow. We have photos of him in his uniform alongside other members of his unit. We have over 30 photos of him taken before 1900 so there is an extensive photographic record of his life. We have the letter from the congressman turning down the appointment to officer that is addressed to his father. The letter states that at 17 he was too young to be an officer in the union army but not a private. He never completed high school which probably factored into that. There are also three living witnesses to the wedding besides the documentation and all have signed affidavits. Census records from 1850 to 1940 show him as living in the same house that entire time beginning as a minor and eventually as head of house with siblings and a maid at one point. City directories exist from the 1880's to the 1943 one showing his last entry as being alive and married to my aunt. Probate records show her as widow and sole heir. I could go on but you get the point. Her autobiography will be published within a year of her death whenever that happens. She's still writing it. The two years she was married to him are very interesting. They traveled all over the place for about a year until he got sick. FYI, he was also a veteran of the Spanish American war and met 7 presidents, the Wright Brothers, Edison AND Tesla and Einstein. He sailed on the Carpathia to Europe to explore Europe and returned on the trip immediately prior to the one where the Carpathia rescued the passengers from the Titanic. At various times he owned three businesses, was a school teacher, a Sunday school teacher, a Teamster and in his later years got his PhD and taught history for a while. In the year he was married to my aunt they explored from Alaska to Argentina riding motorcycles and mules and trains and whatever was available and even spent a little time in the Amazon rain forest. I still have the orchid she brought back for my mother when Mom was little. I believe her book will be titled "My Life As A Civil War Widow And Other Adventures." But that might not be a final title.

[@tangarooo]

I'm going ot look for it!! Has she considered applying for the pension now? It would certainly make the news. I bet the VW would make a special exception to him not fighting on foreign soil, lol.

[@SamStone1964]

Has your aunt published any stories ahead of her book?

[@you2angel1]

What a beautiful story. I'm glad the civil war vets life was honored and his wife was recognized. °~•.☆.•~°

[@Usmcto]

Why did she rate to be recognized she didn’t have to go through what my wife went through every time I deployed into a combat zone hell she wasn’t even alive during the civil war

[@bleeka325]

I feel like there’s more important stories from the civil war we can focus on. What side did this person fight on anyway

[@drewskij2175]

Who cares.

[@DG-dy4tv]

This is a bit of a click bait stretch.

[@sum12see]

Wow what a sad story...RIP Helen...

[@BlinkbCk]

Damn she was predator to elderly people.

[@WalkDisneyWorld]

My father was a WWII vet who lied about his age. He was born in 1928. My grandfather on his side was born in 1898 In Oklahoma when it was still a territory. I’m only 37. He had me at 58 and had my sister at 60. He had children from 15 till 60. 3 doctorate degrees and was a body builder in the silver era.

[@dolandlydia]

Wow he was 12 when the war broke out 1940. So he was at the most 17 when the war ended. Amazing story.

[@WalkDisneyWorld]

Yes, I can’t imagine lying about your age at 15 and enlisting. Men were built differently back then. Or should I say boys were men…. That also means my mother might be one of the last WWII widows alive unless one of these 95+ men that are still alive marry an 18 year old now like this story

[@antichrist_revealed]

I wouldn't call her a gold digger, but if that happened today that's what she would be called.

[@pnwflipper2089]

It was the Great Depression so I can’t exactly blame her, but it seems fraudulent at the worst and dishonest at best, which is why the little boy was told not to tell anyone.

[@Vudrio]

She was the last of her era, the last to have met civil war veterans. Soon, WW1 widows will die out, since WW1 was 100 years ago. This is quite a rare circumstance of a 20 year old marrying a 91 year old, and there are few WW1 widows left, but most of them are now in there 90's or over 100. Its sad to see entire generations just disappear in front of our eyes, but its natural. This is the way of time.

[@TBagr]

A little misleading. While she did marry a Civil War soldier, she did not live during the war so it’s a bit different.

[@williamfulgham2010]

I can remember seeing several small houses on the shore near Bovouer on the Mississippi Gulf coast in the 1950s, that were furnished and provided residences for widows of Confederate Veterans provided by the UDC.

[@dolandlydia]

Surely no one could still be alive as a widow. That would have been 85 years since the Civil War ended. Even if the widow married at 15 that would make her 100. So they must have been built decades before.

[@williamfulgham2010]

​​@@dolandlydia Those shelters were built in the early 20th century and they survived the 1947 hurricane on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I think there were about 2 still living in 1950, and the houses remained empty for several years. Hurricane Camille in 1969 probably destroyed them. They were adjacent to Beauvior, Jefferson Davis's retirement home and library. Beauvior sustained some damage during hurricane Katrina in 2005, but was fully restored shortly thereafter, and remains open for tourists today.

[@redtra236]

@@dolandlydia What man? Who said they got married the year that the civil war ended...? Anyways there were still a few actual civil war veterans living in the early 50s at least so it's definitely possible. As we can see here a widow of a civil war veteran died in 2021....

[@hard-truthsbetter-than-swe6543]

she she was a gold digger. 19 married a 92yo

[@sylvan47070]

The fact she never collected on the pension is very respectable.

[@hensonlaura]

If I'd had a sham marriage to fraudulently collect benefits I wasn't entitled to, I'd keep quiet about it too. Kudos to the daughter.

[@Usmcto]

Agree

[@hatersgotohell627]

Finally someone with critical thinking skills. I can't believe all the comments saying shame on the daughter and how greedy she must have been etc etc...

[@basicallyno1722]

I don’t exactly fault her, he asked her. The old man probably knew how hard it was to live considering he asked her to wed him in the middle of a depression (1935), and wanted to make sure his caretaker was taken care of too. Do I think she’s entitled to a lifetime pension? Probably not….but I can imagine the old man married her specifically to ensure this young girl taking care of him was going to be okay. Mid 1930s, times were tough!

[@MarkBobby-g2o]

Beautiful comments. How are you my friend