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 ...
Born, roughly, 1930.
65 years after the end of the war.
Father must have been at least 80...
Her father must have been related to Anthony Quinn.
Interesting that he was a Confederate deserter.
According to the liberal meme of today, once a Reb always a Reb and one must be hated accordingly.
Good calculating on your part. From the article: Triplett's father was Mose Triplett, born in 1846. He joined the Confederate army in 1862, but later deserted and signed up with the Union. His first wife died and they did not have any children. He later married Elida Hall who was at least 50 years younger. They had five children, three of whom did not survive infancy. But Irene, and her younger brother Everette did. Mose Triplett was 83 when Irene was born...
Incredible! Very interesting article.
I hate to think how many people are employed managing that pension program
Very interesting article.
A chart lists the number of veterans, children and surviving spouses from each war starting with the civil war. I would never have imagined that there were 46 children and 42 surviving spouses from the Spanish-American War.
I get a kick out of telling that my great grandfather on my father’s side of the family fought in the War Between the States. Yet, I remember all four of my great grandparents on my mother’s side of the family.
there can't be any surviving spouses from the spanish american war which happened in 1898!
Even if they married a veteran at 1 years old .. they would be 119 now, older than anyone alive.
I can imagine. Overlapping agencies, intertwined with programs. But, I would love to speak with her!
Not necessarily.
Say a hypothetical veteran was born in 1880. Then late in life, say at age 60, in 1940, he married a woman age 20. She would be 96 now. Highly unlikely but still possible.
Sounds just like my Confederate GGF. 16 kids. Married twice. Quite the lad. Hopeless soldier (kept getting caught by the Union). Must’ve been a power house on the feather bed.
Not too hard to understand actually. In the South they were in almost perpetual poverty and one of the few ways a woman could assure she would always have an income to live was to marry a war vet, quite often they would target the particularly old so they wouldnt be married that long. Rarely was the marriage done for love. You will see fewer and fewer cases the further you get from the 1930s because our economy has improved to the point where such arrangements arent necessary.
Mose was 83, Elida Hall was 33 or younger.
There might have been some rockin' goin' on, that Mose wasn't aware of.
Let's assume the vet was 20 in 1898. Then he would be 80 in 1958. He then marries a 20 year old girl. That girl would only be 78 today.
I've read that such marriages were not all that uncommon. Not for romance, but out of kindness. The old vet would marry (on paper) a family friend who was destitute. Then the wife would be guaranteed a pension.
If the veteran of the Spanish-American War married much later in life to a much younger woman it would easily be possible.
I remember reading about this a couple years ago(probably here on FR) when there were still 2 surviving CW pensioners. I wonder who passed away...
The last three surviving veterans of the war were all Confederate.
Two of them may well have been frauds which would make William Lundy of Crestview, Florida the last one.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.