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gener4 t1_iwegu73 wrote

Since your source is broken the math for this to work has to be pretty fucked.

The war ended in 1865 and let’s say the guy was only 15 at the end of the war thus born in 1850. If he married a 25 year old at the age of 70 in 1920, SHE would still have been 100 at her death.

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Jaded_Prompt_15 t1_iwehfsn wrote

> The war ended in 1865 and let’s say the guy was only 15 at the end of the war thus born in 1850. If he married a 25 year old at the age of 70 in 1920, SHE would still have been 100 at her death.

She was like 17 and his caretaker while he was on his deathbed.

They got married in name only right before he died because there wouldn't have been any work for her.

I don't even think there was a priest, but he wrote something in the family bible saying they were married and back then that was good enough.

So she got a widow's pension until the day she died.

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TheDrMonocle t1_iwelb5t wrote

>So she got a widow's pension until the day she died.

I may be wrong, but isnt it only $25? Also OP copied the article, apparently she never took the pension.

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Jaded_Prompt_15 t1_iwell13 wrote

It was a substantial amount around the Great Depression...

Which I'm pretty sure was around when they married.

But I'm going off memory, this just gets reposted constantly

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[deleted] t1_iwelox5 wrote

[deleted]

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[deleted] t1_iwgmfzc wrote

My grandmother claims to be a war widow even though her WW2 vet husband died of tongue cancer in 2001 and she didn't even meet him until the 1950s.

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RevengencerAlf t1_iwf8t7l wrote

What I've read is that she never claimed the pension and she didn't openly acknowledge it until very late in her life for fear of people jumping to the rather obvious (but in this case incorrect) conclusion.

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heisdeadjim_au t1_iweh1jt wrote

It's my understanding that this happened fairly often. Young woman marries Civil War Veterans many decades their senior.

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Aurelian_Lure t1_iwehcab wrote

Saw this on YouTube a few days ago. She married a 90+ year old when she was a teenager.

Edit:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War_widows_who_survived_into_the_21st_century

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j4ckalop3 t1_iwehj3g wrote

Yikes.

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SaborW t1_iwf0o3u wrote

It's really not that yikes-y. We are talking the Great Depression era after all, and she was basically voluntold by her father to help care for the old dying man, in return since he had no money to pay her, they could get married and she could claim his benefits from being in the civil war. During that time, that amount of money could be everything to someone. They kept the marriage a secret, didn't live together, and to my knowledge she never even bothered taking advantage of the benefits after he died

There are still 12 states in the US where there is NO minimum age for marriage, and most states are okay with 17 and under. All requiring parental consent obviously. Now that's pretty yikes

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misfitx t1_iwehonb wrote

It wasn't uncommon, she would inherit his veterans benefits.

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JuzoItami t1_iwek7ej wrote

Which was a huge thing in the middle of the Great Depression, not just for her but for her parents and siblings as well.

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DL_22 t1_iwflfob wrote

If you want something a little juicier than this good deed, John Tyler was President 1841-1845 and he has a grandson still living. He just turned 94.

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