The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1911-11-30
COVER n N EN:T
REVOLUTIONARY
Forty-seven Daughters of
Soldiers of rs Are
Still LiyinQ
.HAT the United States commits
sioner Of pension should be a
poet or a man Of romantic i'm.

sioner Of pension should be a
poet or man Of romantic i'm
agination during Office hours
is hardly to be expected, but that he
should record the death of the govern
ment's last Revolutionary war pension
'er in the tersest Of routine bureau Ian
guage, without so much as a footnote
or wreath in pen and ink to call at
tention to the entry, seems to the lay
man like missing an opportunity
Buch such was the manner in which
the death Of Mrs. Phoebe M. Palmeter,
daughter of Jonathan Wooley, a SOL
der of the Revolution, has just been
recorded in Washington. thereby re-
moving the last name. from the pension
roll Of 1776.
1t was five years ago that the last
Revolutionary war widow pensioned
by the government died at the age of
ninety-two in the old house at Plym-
outh Rock, VT. in which she had lived
for three-quarters Of a century. She
was Mrs. Esther S. Damon.
Although with the death of Mrs. Pal
meter at her home in Brookville, N. Y,
the paying of Revolutionary war PEN
sions by the government ends, there
are still forty-seven women in the Unit
ed States who draw their pensions
each month from the National Society
of the Daughters Of the American Rev
olution. Each of them is the daughter
of soldier of '76. The quaint, almost
archaic nomenclature of the list would
indicate that. There are Lucindas and
Belindas among them, names that sug-
gest the minuet, the brocaded satins,
rich old laces and huge fans of painted
satin and ivory of a century ago.
Then, too, there are gentle Lavinias
and sweet Melissas, who Immediately
appear before the minds eye in deli
cately figured prints and beribboned
silk hoods. The stately and very vir-
tuous sounding names Of Sophronia,
Samantha and Abigail are also found
among the forty-seven. and one i'm
AGNES them excellent mothers of many
children, busy all day and far into the
night with their spinning. baking,
mending and manifold other household
cares. Elmira, Adelia and Aurelia are
on the list, too. with an occasional
dainty Narcissa or Cinderella. Eliza
Ann, Mary Ann, Sarah Ann and Susan
are Of the company. of course.
Proof Of Relationship.
10 obtain pension from the Daugh-
tiers Of the Revolution a woman must
show her eligibility by proving that
she is daughter Of a soldier of the
Revolutionary war. She must be able
to give the date Of her birth. the date
OF birth Of both her father and mother
and the names Of all their children.
These requirements are seemingly sim
pie enough, but several aged women
have been debarred from receiving pen
sions because they could not meet
them. The application to the national
organization for a pension must come
through the regent of some local chap
ter and must be accompanied by let
tiers from a minister and from repre-
sentative citizens Of the pensioners
town vouching for her good name and
character. Having satisfied all these
requirements she will receive So a
month. The pension papers used are
similar in wording and appearance to
those of the government. and when a
woman has demonstrated her eligibil-
1ty to receive one she is made an hon.
orary member of the society. exempt
from dues and taxes of the organiza-
ton and receives massive gold spoon
ornamented with the D. A. R. insig-
mia.
There never was a general law un-
der which the widow or daughter of a
Revolutionary soldier could receive a
pension from the government. Any
woman who obtained such aid was en-
;abled to do so only by special act of
congress, and there were but three
such acts. The granting of these three
pensions. however. occasioned such a
flood of applications from daughters of
Revolutionary and war of 1912 fighters
that word went forth from Washing