Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-08

| the country ulNiue
the honors of the century pension plants
| The oldest pensioner was a Kentuckian,
but he lives now at Redand, Cal and his
name is David Mccoy. David is recorded
| on the books Of the commissioner of pen
sions as 104 years old. Hosea Brown. who
| enlisted from New York, but who lives now
| at Grants Pass, Oregon, is 102 years old
Zephania Bacon is a settled old man. He
| enlisted from New York state and he still
| lives in New York state; 1O1 years old, and
a pensioner of 1872. His home Is at West
Fort Ann. Anon 8. Root, now living at
| Whitewater, Wis, enlisted from Connccti-
cut He is 1O1 years old. OF the same age
is Andrew Franklin of Burlington, Kan,
who enlisted from Ohio. Then. among
those who are just a century old, or pos
| sibly within a few days of 1t, are Israel
| Sowle Of Massachusetts,, now living at
| Westport, Mass; Geo. r. Allen OF New
| York, now living at Norwood, NY; Elias
E. Covenhoven Of New York, now living at
! Petries Corners, NY; Davis Parks Of
| New York, now living at Dewitt, Mich.
Fred. C. Markle of New York, now living
at Hurley. NY; Henry Phillips, who did
not enlist from anywhere In particular, and
who is now a resident of Lawton Station,
| NY; John CIPHER Of New York, now iiv-
| ing at Farmers Creek, Mich: Saul c. Hig-
| gins of ssachusetts. now living at West
| Gorham, Me-. Frederick Limits Of New
| York, now living at Alder Creek, NY. and
| Chas. Miller of New York, now living at
| Boonville, NY.
An entertaining fact about these old pen
| sioners which the records show is that
| out of thirty-three whose place Of enlist
ment is given, seventeen are now living
| in the state in which they resided in 1872.
| And it is interesting to note that most of
| them have spent their lives in rural COM
| munities away from the hurry and hustle
| and the nervous strain OF the crowded city.
| There are in the list a few jewellers in
Jones, youth of ninety-one James Hoop
| er, who is of the same age, lives in Balu
| more. John Lumberson, lightweight years
| old. also lives in Baltimore. Oren Toilet,
ninety-seven, lives in Sandusky. Elijah
Glenn, ninety-eight, lives in Newark. N. J.
Widows Of the Revolution.
1t is just possible that some of these old
| fellows have died by this time; but so far
| as the official records show they still
| alive. Even more interesting than these
| pensioners are the twelve women who are
on the pension roll as widows or daughters
of soldiers of the revolutionary war. 1t
| seems odd to think that the war of the
| revolution is so near in history that repre-
| sentatives of the generation which fought
| for liberty are still drawing bounty from
| the public treasury. None of these widows,
| though. saw anything of the Revolutionary
| war. They all married the pensioners long
| after the wis over In fact not one
| of them was born when the war occurred.
| The Oldest OF them is not ninety-five yet .
| Probably some of them married with
| view to inheriting pension. 1t seems al
| most absurd that the government, in men,
| DRY of the war of the revolution, should be
/ supporting people who were not born at
| the time the war occurred. In the list of
| 969, 544 spensionerS now drawing money
| from the government however, and in the
| total OF Sl4O,OOO,OOO paid them, the list of
! widows and the amount Of their scanty
pensions is not worth considering seriously.
he p-hi oh hos 10
| such enormous proportions of late years
| had its origin at the time of the revolu-
| tionary war. The First Congress of the
| United States passed a pension law for the
! benefit of those who suffered by the war
| of the revolution, and m 1892 the amount
| paid in pensions was less than $4,000.
| Fourteen different pension laws were pass
| ed in the first five Congresses One, which
| became law May 6, 1892, was probably
| the most liberal pension law ever enacted.
| 1t provided that IF any person, whether
| officer or soldier, belonging to the militia
| Of any state and called into the service of
| the United States be wounded or disabled
| when In actual service, he shall be taken
| care of and provided for at the public ex-
penSe." Thus was Inaugural ted the most
| remarkable pension system in the history
| OF the world The fathers who provided in
| the general terms given above for the care
| OF the veterans of the war of the revolu-
| ton never dreamed of the possibility of
| system which in thirty-three years would
|
A Pensioner for Eighty Years.
The way the revolutionary widows have
enjoyed the fruits of another's service was
| well Illustrated in the case of Anna Maria
| Young, who died year or two ago. She
| married in 1916 pensioner of the revolu-
| ton, who lived to enjoy his married life
only six months. For this six months SER
| vice to the veteran the widow drew pension
| for seventy-seven years from the govern
| ment. Her husband was especially short
| lived, though. The actual survivors of tho
| revolutionary war were not wiped out
| until 1867, when Samuel Downing died.
| Downing had drawn for more than eighty
| years pension from the government His
| is considered by the pension Office the long
| distance record in pension drawing. Down.
| ing was native of Massachusetts, and he
| was born in 1761. He was more than one
| hundred and five years old when he died,
| so his case was unique in many ways. His
| application was the last granted for a rev.
dictionary pension, and the amount he re-
| ceived was $3.50 a year.
| Congress has always been liberal in the
| matter of pensions The first action by the
| Continental Congress on this subject was
| taken August 20, 1776 when resolutions
| were passed providing that every officer,
| commissioned and non-commssioned, as
| well as every private soldier who received
| such disability as would render him inca
| pable of earning his bread should receive
from the public funds a sum equal to one
| half his active pay in the army. In case
of partial disability the legislature Of the
| state where he lived was to determine the
| amount Of pension to which he was en-
| titled. In ITS resolution was passed
| granting half-pay to the survivors of the
war for seven years. There were also GER
| tain special pensions voted to those who
| had assisted the country to become free.
| Congress gave to the family Of Lafayette
| sum equal to his pay as major general for
| five years-the term during which he was
confined N an Austrian prison. In 1924 the
sum of 100000 and township Of land was
| voted to the distinguished Frenchman. The
| Congress also voted $4,000 each and $500 a
| year each to the four daughters Of the
Count de Grasse. This pension lasted five
| years
Growth of the System.
| Under the early laws Of Congress grant
| ing pensions to revolutionary soldiers the
district judges OF the United States con-
sidered applications for pensions and
passed on them. The pension bureau was
not thought Of until the present century
was one-third gone, and 1t was then
| created a part Of the War Department.
Later, when the Interior Department was
established, the pension bureau was trans
ferred to that department. but there has
been much discussion in recent years Of