The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-06

ordinary pension list and married d
year before his death girl of eighteen,
and she, in turn, had lived as long as
her aged husband, viz, to the age of
109, Uncle Sam would be paying that
woman a pension up to the year 1850.
There are now seven widows Of revo-
lutionary soldiers on the pension rolls.
The oldest of these is Lovey Aldridge,
end her age is ninety seVen. She lives
in Los Angeles, Cal. The other widows
are Nancy Cloud, of Virginia, aged
eighty-four; Esther S. Damon, OF Yer
mont, aged eighty-three; Nancy Jones,
of Tennessee, aged eighty-three; Re
becca Mayo, of Virginia, aged eighty
four; Mary Snead, of Virginia, aged
e:ighty-one, and Nancy Weatherman, of
Tennessee aged eighty-seven. 1t has
been estimated that widows of the vet
Grams of the late Civil war may be liv-
ing in the year 1000 A. D.
Some Big Pensions.
The presidents widows get, you
know. $1,000 a year by special act Of
congress. Mrs. Gen. Grant and Mrs.
Garfield and Mrs. Tyler, [ think, are
still drawing pensions. Mrs. President
Lincoln received $4,000 a year from
1870 to 1882, when the amount was in
creased to $1,000. Mrs. John A. Logan
gets $40 a week. and the widow Of
Admiral Farragut received $1,000 a
year A number Of widows of noted
generals of the late war have received
or are receiving pensions. Among
these were the widows of e. D. Baker,
George H. Custer, the Indian fighter,
Of Robert Anderson, the hero of Fort
Sumter. of Daniel McCook and Frank
T. Blair.
Among the biggest single pension
amounts now granted are those given
\ Of al IN
the pension act of 1896, which makes
the widows pension date back to the
death of her husband. The other day
a widow who had been married in
1858, and whose husband had died in
1867, applied for a pension. She claims
the right to be paid So a month for
every month back to the death of her
law, 1 am told, will give her the pen
sion. Another widow from Ohio,
whose husband died in 1871, married
again about fifteen years later. She
now claims a pension on account Of
the death Of her first husband for her
fifteen years of widowhood, and wants
it in lump.
Famous Autographs.
There are many rare old papers
among these pension records. Among
the widows, for instance, 1 find an
autograph showing that Blaine's
great-grandmother drew a pension for
a long time as a revolutionary widow
This woman was the wife of Col. Eph-
rain Blaine. He was a rich man, a
great friend of Washington, and he
did good service during the revolution.
He died in 1904, and the application
for pension was not made until 1S4S
Mrs. Blaine's autograph was evident
ly made with trembling hand, but
the letters are almost as plain as those
which her famous grandson used to
make. There are papers here from
Benedict Arnold, there are autograph
letters of George Washington, and
there are applications for land war
rants from Abraham Lincoln, U. S.
Grant, w. T. Sherman, Winfield Scott
and Jefferson Davis. I have traced
the autographs of these men as they
were made in applying for warrants
when they were young. Sherman
asked for two quarter sections of land,
one for his Florida services, and the
other for his record in the Mexican
war. Gen. Scott got his bounty for
his bravery in the war of 1912, and
Jefferson Davis was granted his for
services as an officer in our war with
Mexico. President Lincolns grant
was given for his services in the Black
Hawk Indian war, and John A. Logan
received 160 acres for his Mexican war
record.
If Pensions Were Jumped.
During my walk through the office
with the commissioner l referred to
the petition which is being circulated
in Indianapolis among the old vet
Grams This petition requests congress
to pay the pensions in a lump on the
basis that every solcier now living will
last for twenty years These men
want the twenty years pension given