Helen Viola Jackson, the Last Known Surviving Widow of a Civil War Veteran, Dies at 101

Source: https://www.insideedition.com/helen-viola-jackson-the-last-known-surviving-widow-of-a-civil-war-veteran-dies-at-101-64097
Published: Jan 5, 2021
Author: staff
Post Date: 2021-01-05 12:40:23 by Ada
Views: 1754

Helen Viola Jackson, the last known surviving widow of a U.S. Civil War veteran, has died. Jackson died in a Missouri nursing home at the age of 101 on Dec. 16, officials said.

Jackson was only 17 when she married James Bolin, a 93-year-old widower who served as a private in the 14th Missouri Cavalry through the end of the Civil War. Jackson, who was one of 10 children, helped care for Bolin and assisted him with daily chores after school, an arrangement that was made by Jackson’s father. After a period of time, Bolin asked for Jackson’s hand in marriage, as a way to provide for her future, according to the Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival.

On Sept. 4, 1936, the couple married in front of a few witnesses in Niangua, Missouri. Bolin said that the marriage would be on her terms, which included keeping her last name living on her family farm with her immediate family, the website said.

"He said that he would leave me his Union pension," Jackson told the historian Hamilton C. Clark during an interview. "It was during the depression and times were hard. He said that it might be my only way of leaving the farm."

The marriage lasted for three years until Bolin died in 1939. Jackson never officially applied for his pension after one of Bolin’s stepdaughters threatened to ruin her reputation. The Daughters of the Union Veterans confirmed Jackson's marriage using historical documents, including a signed affidavit from the last living witness at the wedding, the website reported.

“All a woman had in 1939 was her reputation,” Jackson said at the 2018 Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival, an annual festival that has taken place since 2003. “How do you explain that you have married someone with such a difference in age. I had great respect for Mr. Bolin and I did not want him to be hurt by the scorn of wagging tongues."

For decades she kept the marriage private. It was only as Jackson worked on the details of her own funeral with a minister that she decided that it was time to share her complete life story. During an oral history recording in 2018, she said that she never wanted to share her story with the public. "I didn't feel that it was that important and I didn't want a bunch of gossip about it."

In an interview with "Our America Magazine," Jackson shared how kind Bolin was to her and how he wanted her to have a future. “Mr. Bolin really cared for me,” she said.

The pair never had children, nor did Jackson every remarry. She did, however, became a historical icon in her small town and served as grand marshal in the hometown’s annual Independence Day Parade.

Bolin recorded the wedding in his personal Bible, which is now part of a rotating exhibit on Jackson that has traveled to several museum locations, including the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri, according to the site.

Jackson was the last known surviving widow of a Civil War veteran. Maudie White Hopkins, who grew up during the Depression in Arkansas, was 19 when in 1936, she married William Cantrell, a Confederate Civil War veteran. He was 67 years her senior. In 2008, Hopkins died. She was 93, the Seattle Times reported.

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#1: Fred Mertz    To: Ada (#0)

Jackson never officially applied for his pension after one of Bolin’s stepdaughters threatened to ruin her reputation.

That word "officially" has me scratching my head. Her husband would likely have to sign paperwork to make her beneficiary after their marriage. I'm just curious what a Civil War pension amounted to on her behalf.

Fred Mertz posted on 2021-01-05 13:03:42   Reply   Private Reply

#2: Ada    To: Fred Mertz, neoconsnailed (#1)

Pension was about $73 a month, which was worth something in the Depression when elderly veterans married young women in order to provide for them. Fairly common practice and the motive was to help out a friend of the family.

Ada posted on 2021-01-05 13:09:10   Reply   Private Reply

#3: BTP Holdings    To: Fred Mertz (#1)

what a Civil War pension amounted to

The average pay for a Civil War soldier was likely $1 a day. Plus you get room and board, or tent as the case may be.

Apparently, those pensions were discontinued in 1934. ;)

BTP Holdings posted on 2021-01-05 13:14:36   Reply   Private Reply

#4: Fred Mertz    To: Ada (#2)

My dad made $7 a week as a teenager delivering bagels, etc. for a local bakery. This would be in the late 1930s and not a full time job. His ex told me that was good money back then. He got a freebie of a bagel, cream cheese and lox on Sunday, which he kept in his family tradition (us).

Fred Mertz posted on 2021-01-05 13:24:00   Reply   Private Reply

#5: NeoconsNailed    To: Ada, All (#2)

Interesting. Are you sure it wasn't the other way around -- elderly veterans needing help getting thu old age?

NeoconsNailed posted on 2021-01-05 13:27:15   Reply   Private Reply

#6: BTP Holdings    To: Fred Mertz (#4)

He got a freebie of a bagel, cream cheese and lox on Sunday, which he kept in his family tradition (us).

Oy vey! ;)

BTP Holdings posted on 2021-01-05 13:32:59   Reply   Private Reply

#7: Fred Mertz    To: NeoconsNailed (#5)

I agree with your deduction. I need to find a 25 year-old to marry and avoid those thousands of dollars a month in nursing home costs. She has to have big boobs.

Fred Mertz posted on 2021-01-05 13:35:20   Reply   Private Reply

#8: TommyTheMadArtist    To: Fred Mertz (#7)

I like you Fred.

TommyTheMadArtist posted on 2021-01-05 14:04:09   Reply   Private Reply

#9: Lod    To: Fred Mertz (#7)

I agree with your deduction. I need to find a 25 year-old to marry and avoid those thousands of dollars a month in nursing home costs. She has to have big boobs.

You would have liked the "nursing" home we discussed back when, on fr, staffed mainly by ex-strippers, allowed smoking, and had an open bar 24/7.

Lod posted on 2021-01-05 14:04:14   Reply   Private Reply

#10: Fred Mertz    To: Lod (#9)

Some nursing home candidates go on non-stop cruises because it's cheaper and lots more fun, and the booze is often included. I've seen them with walkers enjoying the fresh air and the scenery.

Fred Mertz posted on 2021-01-05 14:08:58   Reply   Private Reply

#11: BTP Holdings    To: Fred Mertz (#7)

I need to find a 25 year-old to marry

I met an old boy here who had a house in Florida. He was 89 y/o. He had a 42 y/o girlfriend.

He told me had made arrangements for her to get the house when he passed away.

In Chicago we called those kinds of women "gold diggers". LOL

BTP Holdings posted on 2021-01-05 14:20:37   Reply   Private Reply

#12: Cynicom    To: Fred Mertz, Lod, BTP Holdings (#7)

I agree with your deduction. I need to find a 25 year-old

For Christmas, I asked Santa for a 21 year olde "bed warmer".

He left me an olde used electric blanket.

Cynicom posted on 2021-01-05 15:26:17   Reply   Private Reply

#13: Lod    To: Cynicom (#12)

Ooops - bad Santa

Lod posted on 2021-01-05 15:47:51   Reply   Private Reply

#14: Cynicom    To: Lod (#13)

As a kid I thot Santa was a fraud.

Now he is a mean olde man also.

Cynicom posted on 2021-01-05 15:56:59   Reply   Private Reply

#15: Esso    To: Cynicom, 4um (#12)

For Christmas, I asked Santa for a 21 year olde "bed warmer".

He left me an olde used electric blanket.

I wish I would've thought about that, but I'm pretty sure my present would've involved lots of asbestos.

Esso posted on 2021-01-05 17:06:34   Reply   Private Reply

#16: Ada    To: NeoconsNailed (#5)

Interesting. Are you sure it wasn't the other way around -- elderly veterans needing help getting thu old age?

If they needed help, they wouldn't have married a teenager. No, this was to help out a friend of the family. In those days $73 a month was useful.

Ada posted on 2021-01-05 17:46:13   Reply   Private Reply

#17: Ada    To: Fred Mertz (#7)

What's in it for her?

Ada posted on 2021-01-05 17:47:25   Reply   Private Reply

#18: NeoconsNailed    To: Fred Mertz (#7)

Well make sure to put that in your National Enquirer personals ad.

NeoconsNailed posted on 2021-01-05 21:25:04   Reply   Private Reply

#19: NeoconsNailed    To: Ada (#16)

Well gee, I'm sure it was airtightly 100% to help her then even tho she'd helped him with his daily chores leading up to his proposal.

NeoconsNailed posted on 2021-01-05 21:35:49   Reply   Private Reply

#20: StraitGate    To: NeoconsNailed, Ada (#5)

Wasn't Strom Thurmond about 127 when he married Nancy?

StraitGate posted on 2021-01-05 21:42:09   Reply   Private Reply

#21: StraitGate    To: BTP Holdings (#3)

South Carolina paid Confederate widows pensions until the last widow died here in 1990.

StraitGate posted on 2021-01-05 21:47:51   Reply   Private Reply

#22: BTP Holdings    To: StraitGate (#21)

South Carolina paid Confederate widows pensions until the last widow died here in 1990.

She must have been at least 150 years old. ;)

BTP Holdings posted on 2021-01-05 22:01:33   Reply   Private Reply

#23: Ada    To: NeoconsNailed (#19)

With most of the old Civil War veterans, it was a favor to a family.

Ada posted on 2021-01-05 22:52:01   Reply   Private Reply

#24: titorite    To: Ada (#0)

“All a woman had in 1939 was her reputation"

In today's world a woman has tiktok,twitch,onlyfans,pornhub,a leftist media, a crooked system... everything she needs to degenerate an honest man...

And the reputable among em are shunned by legions of bimbos and their simps.

titorite posted on 2021-01-05 23:13:24   Reply   Private Reply

#25: Ada    To: titorite (#24)

I see your point. The comments here seem to suggest modern morals, i.e., trading sex for money, was the motive for these old men/young girl marriages. Lechery/gold digging. It wasn't at least in most cases.

Ada posted on 2021-01-06 09:44:46   Reply   Private Reply

#26: Ada    To: NeoconsNailed (#19)

More likely to have been a long-time family friendship.

Ada posted on 2021-01-06 09:46:46   Reply   Private Reply

#27: NeoconsNailed    To: StraitGate (#20)

No idea.

NeoconsNailed posted on 2021-01-06 10:28:58   Reply   Private Reply

#28: Fred Mertz    To: Ada (#17)

What's in it for her?

Free room and board, I'll buy her a vehicle and she can get my military retirement share when I perish. If my pension isn't transferable I'll get a fat life insurance policy. You got me thinking now. My current girlfriend might not go for it.

Fred Mertz posted on 2021-01-06 10:43:19   Reply   Private Reply