Posted on 08/20/2016 4:31:20 PM PDT by Leaning Right
The Civil War ended more than 150 years ago, but the U.S. government is still paying a veteran's pension from that conflict.
"One beneficiary from the Civil War [is] still alive and receiving benefits," Randy Noller of the Department of Veterans Affairs confirms.
Irene Triplett – the 86-year-old daughter of a Civil War veteran – collects $73.13 each month from her father's military pension. The identity of Triplett was first reported by The Wall Street Journal in 2014.
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
Hit the WSJ link there: http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303603904579493830954152394?mod=e2tw
Great stories about Mose and the times...
“...Eight days later, he disappeared. Pvt. Triplett was “present or accounted for until he deserted on June 26, 1863,” state records say.
He missed a terrible battle for his regiment, and the South, whose loss at Gettysburg portended its final defeat. Of the regiment’s 800 men who fought at Gettysburg, 734 were killed, wounded or captured.
...
After Mary Triplett’s death in the 1920s, Pvt. Triplett married Elida Hall, nearly 50 years his junior. She was a distant relation of Thomas Dula, whose 1868 hanging for his girlfriend’s murder was recounted in the folk song “ Tom Dooley, “ which was made popular by the Kingston Trio in a 1958 recording.
Such May-December marriages weren’t uncommon...
Irene said her teachers beat her with an oak paddle. Her parents continued the beatings at home, she said: “When you got a whooping in school you’d be getting tore up when you got back in those mountains.”...
“A lot of people were afraid of him,” Charlie Triplett said. “Most of the time he sat on the front porch with his old military pistol and shot walnuts off the trees just to let people know he had a gun.”
Off-topic, but does anyone knew that President Tyler’s grandchildren are still alive?
Well, President Tyler, who was born in the 1700s, still has at least one living grandchild.
LOL. Last source I found had one still alive earlier this year.
Well, we know he wasn’t shooting blanks!
And people think the government should be in charge of all of our pensions. 73 bucks a month. Wow!!!
In a hypothetical fistfight between Obamacare’s Pajama Boy (in his 20’s) and Mose Triplett (in his 80’s), I’d go with ol’ Mose.
How much would the payment be if adjusted for inflation?
I wonder if Elida had a boyfriend?
Lots and lots and lots of young women married Civil War veterans who where, shall we say long in the tooth, for the lifetime pensions. This is the problem with guaranteed pensions. They all must be stopped and or reformed.
I looked it up. The father passed away in 1938. Let's assume the daughter started getting her payments then. If adjusted for inflation, $73.13 would now be worth $1,248.12.
http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
Oh !!!! I was thinking they were married during the war!
Your right. If he married a young wife in old age she could easily be alive.
It is not only possible it is factual.
An 18 year old in 1898 could live to be ninety or greater.
A ninety year old veteran of The Spanish-American war would have lived to 1960. Lots of young 20 something women, particularly in poor areas, would have been well served to marry an eighty year old, even a 90 year old.
A woman of 20 in 1960 would be 76. She could live another 20 years, easy!
Unless you are a democratic senator from West Virginia...
My Revolutionary War 4x great grandfather was granted something like $1.50 a month in 1832 and a Civil War private was making $11.00 per month for his pay.
Thanks for the link info.
Wait until the first wealthy mini-millionaire decides that he so loves his son he wishes to marry him. Maybe his grand daughter or grand son. After all, love is love and who are we to judge. And all love is equal, bigots!
Real nice to be able to intergenrationalize a large pension, a large plot of land or a small fortune without going through probate or be subject to the death tax.
“Most of the time he sat on the front porch with his old military pistol and shot walnuts off the trees just to let people know he had a gun.”
...
I thought I was the only guy who did that.
Alas, the calculator only goes back to 1913.
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