Believe it or not: The last Civil War Widow Died in 2008

[N.J.THer]

Over the weekend I took the family to a small Civil War reenactment they do in our town each year. While there I got involved discussing the role of women in some of the camps. One of the older people in the group mention that the last Civil War widow just died not too long ago. Turns out that this is true....here is some information I found on-line (I had to Google it):

"Maudie White Hopkins age 93 died in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas on Sunday
August 17, 2008. She was the wife of Confederate veteran William M. Cantrell.

Hopkins married 86-year-old William M. Cantrell on Feb. 2, 1934, after he hired the 19-
year-old to clean his house. Hopkins, a great-grandmother, met Cantrell at the height of
the Great Depression. Cantrell, widowed five years earlier, had hired her to clean his
house. She said Cantrell supported her with his Confederate pension of “$25 every two
or three months'' and left her his house when he died in 1937."

Information above taken from this link: http://suvcw.org/kids/CWkids.pdf

I thought this was interesting and something I never really thought about so I thought I would share.
NJ

 

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[diggummup]

Well who'd uh thunk it? Darn sure not me. Thanks for sharing

 

[allen]

wow, that is interesting !!

 

[Kentucky Kache]

I think I'd heard something about this before. Interesting, to say the least. Thanks.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

gee, when I get 86, I hope I get to marry a 19 yr. old cutie like he did

 

[N.J.THer]

gee, when I get 86, I hope I get to marry a 19 yr. old cutie like he did

Tom,
All you need is a nice big pension of $25 every two or three months...lol.
NJ

 

[Tank69]

wow....pension pffffftttt I can scrape up that much in clad lol