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Turns out there may be more "Confederate widows" still living!
Woman Recognized As Confederate Widow
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 15, 2004
Filed at 5:28 p.m. ET
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- News reports that the last widow of a Civil War soldier had died last month in Alabama prompted relatives of an Arkansas woman to verify her claims, kept private for decades, that her late husband also was a veteran of that conflict.
Now the United Daughters of the Confederacy recognizes Maudie Celia Hopkins as a surviving widow of a Civil War soldier -- and the group says there may be others like her still alive.
Hopkins married 86-year-old William M. Cantrell on Feb. 2, 1934, after he hired the 19-year-old to clean his house. But she says she never talked about it much.
``I thought people would gossip about it and say, 'Oh, she married an old man, she married an old man.' I thought that if I didn't talk about it, people would keep their mouths shut,'' Hopkins, 89, of Lexa, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Monday.
Last month, Alberta Martin of Elba, Ala., died at age 97. News reports, including those of the AP, described her as the last widow of a Civil War veteran.
Dr. Kenneth Chancey, an Alabama dentist who was Alberta Martin's caretaker, said Tuesday he was unaware of Hopkins' claim until Sunday, when he received an e-mail from a friend. He said a number of Confederate heritage groups all believed Martin was the last surviving widow based on research and the lack of similar claims from anyone else.
``It was really a shocker to me, but a delightful shock that there's another one,'' Chancey said.
When Hopkins' relatives heard the reports, they talked to Confederate historians, who researched Hopkins' story through the UDC research library, Arkansas pension records and U.S. Census Bureau data.
``It was an easy thing to prove. The only thing was proving the links by finding her marriage licenses and other records,'' said Glenn Railsback, president of the Arkansas Society of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars.
Patsy Limpus, president general of the Richmond, Va.,-based UDC, said her organization is processing paperwork to make Hopkins a member and possibly qualify her for survivor's benefits.
``The proof is there that she was a Confederate widow,'' she said.
Hopkins told the AP she married Cantrell to escape poverty.
``My mother and daddy had a bunch of kids and it was hard times back then. My daddy couldn't make a living for us and I didn't have no shoes,'' she said.
She said Cantrell supported her with his Confederate pension of ``$25 every two or three months'' and that Cantrell left her his home when he died in 1937.
``After Mr. Cantrell died I took a little old mule he had and plowed me a vegetable garden and had plenty of vegetables to eat. It was hard times; you had to work to eat,'' she said.
The pension benefits ended at Cantrell's death, according to Baxter County records filed with the state Pension Board.
Railsback said it wasn't uncommon for young women in Arkansas to marry Confederate veterans with military pensions -- until the state Legislature passed laws restricting and then prohibiting delivery of pension benefits to young women who quickly became widows.
Railsback traced Cantrell's military service to Company A, French's Battalion, of the Virginia Infantry. Cantrell enlisted at age 16 in Pikeville, Ky., and was captured at Piketon, Ky., in 1863, and sent to Ohio where he was later exchanged for a Northern prisoner.
Hopkins said she had fond memories of her first husband.
``I sure took care of him like he was a baby and he was as good to me as I was him. He was lonely and that's the reason he wanted to get married,'' she said.
Regards,
Mark Jaeger
Turns out there may be more "Confederate widows" still living!
Woman Recognized As Confederate Widow
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 15, 2004
Filed at 5:28 p.m. ET
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- News reports that the last widow of a Civil War soldier had died last month in Alabama prompted relatives of an Arkansas woman to verify her claims, kept private for decades, that her late husband also was a veteran of that conflict.
Now the United Daughters of the Confederacy recognizes Maudie Celia Hopkins as a surviving widow of a Civil War soldier -- and the group says there may be others like her still alive.
Hopkins married 86-year-old William M. Cantrell on Feb. 2, 1934, after he hired the 19-year-old to clean his house. But she says she never talked about it much.
``I thought people would gossip about it and say, 'Oh, she married an old man, she married an old man.' I thought that if I didn't talk about it, people would keep their mouths shut,'' Hopkins, 89, of Lexa, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Monday.
Last month, Alberta Martin of Elba, Ala., died at age 97. News reports, including those of the AP, described her as the last widow of a Civil War veteran.
Dr. Kenneth Chancey, an Alabama dentist who was Alberta Martin's caretaker, said Tuesday he was unaware of Hopkins' claim until Sunday, when he received an e-mail from a friend. He said a number of Confederate heritage groups all believed Martin was the last surviving widow based on research and the lack of similar claims from anyone else.
``It was really a shocker to me, but a delightful shock that there's another one,'' Chancey said.
When Hopkins' relatives heard the reports, they talked to Confederate historians, who researched Hopkins' story through the UDC research library, Arkansas pension records and U.S. Census Bureau data.
``It was an easy thing to prove. The only thing was proving the links by finding her marriage licenses and other records,'' said Glenn Railsback, president of the Arkansas Society of the Military Order of the Stars and Bars.
Patsy Limpus, president general of the Richmond, Va.,-based UDC, said her organization is processing paperwork to make Hopkins a member and possibly qualify her for survivor's benefits.
``The proof is there that she was a Confederate widow,'' she said.
Hopkins told the AP she married Cantrell to escape poverty.
``My mother and daddy had a bunch of kids and it was hard times back then. My daddy couldn't make a living for us and I didn't have no shoes,'' she said.
She said Cantrell supported her with his Confederate pension of ``$25 every two or three months'' and that Cantrell left her his home when he died in 1937.
``After Mr. Cantrell died I took a little old mule he had and plowed me a vegetable garden and had plenty of vegetables to eat. It was hard times; you had to work to eat,'' she said.
The pension benefits ended at Cantrell's death, according to Baxter County records filed with the state Pension Board.
Railsback said it wasn't uncommon for young women in Arkansas to marry Confederate veterans with military pensions -- until the state Legislature passed laws restricting and then prohibiting delivery of pension benefits to young women who quickly became widows.
Railsback traced Cantrell's military service to Company A, French's Battalion, of the Virginia Infantry. Cantrell enlisted at age 16 in Pikeville, Ky., and was captured at Piketon, Ky., in 1863, and sent to Ohio where he was later exchanged for a Northern prisoner.
Hopkins said she had fond memories of her first husband.
``I sure took care of him like he was a baby and he was as good to me as I was him. He was lonely and that's the reason he wanted to get married,'' she said.
Regards,
Mark Jaeger
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