Dueling widows?

Chatting in another thread the issue came up of two women applying for a widow's pension for the same soldier. Does anyone know that this ever happened?


I've seen stories like this and may have saved one or two? You could see where it would have happened- bigamy could have been a lot easier during a war where families were separated for such long periods. That excuses nothing, point being if someone lacked enough character to have more than one wife at a time, it'd be a perfect op.

Story where one poor woman did it accidentally. She'd received official notifications of her husband's death. Remarried and a year ( I think? ) later the dead man came home. Can't imagine!
 
I've seen stories like this and may have saved one or two? You could see where it would have happened- bigamy could have been a lot easier during a war where families were separated for such long periods. That excuses nothing, point being if someone lacked enough character to have more than one wife at a time, it'd be a perfect op.

Story where one poor woman did it accidentally. She'd received official notifications of her husband's death. Remarried and a year ( I think? ) later the dead man came home. Can't imagine!
Frankly, I can’t imagine having two husbands...one’s enough! :bounce:
 
Chatting in another thread the issue came up of two women applying for a widow's pension for the same soldier. Does anyone know that this ever happened?
It absolutely did. There is an entire section of pension applications in NARA for "contest widows". Where money was concerned, the government tended to examine pension claims carefully: what appears online is merely the index to the applications--the files themselves are filed with genealogical information. Not only were there the dueling widows (where both women were usually innocent of wrong doing) but there were a number of simply fraudulent claims (a colleague of mine gained a great deal of information by reading the material surrounding a claim by her ancestor who tried to get an invalid pension based on the service of a relative).

Several years ago I read an account of a young confederate officer who was killed during the War. At his funeral, 3 women showed up in widow's weeds.
 
contest widows


Those poor women- there were so many there was a label for them? That's thought provoking. Do you have any idea what happened when children were involved? Wish I could remember more about bastardy laws of the time. Just had a shot at looking something up in era newspapers but all the hits are just people calling each other names in print.

a colleague of mine gained a great deal of information by reading the material surrounding a claim by her ancestor who tried to get an invalid pension based on the service of a relative).


Interesting! There's a really baffling application that came back when we sent for records for a grgrgrandfather- someone we know wasn't a dependent applying, claiming a child we know was his brother's. Grgrgrandfather had been dead for quite awhile before the application was filled out too. Odd stuff.
 
One of my great-great-grandmothers was asked for proof of her marriage. She got a statement from her niece stating she (the niece) had been at the wedding. Interestingly it's the only written clue we have (so far) to the relationship between my great-great-grandfather and a man who is either his father or his half-brother.
 
That's thought provoking. Do you have any idea what happened when children were involved?
I haven't researched the bastardy laws outside of the colonial period but my guess is that informal treatment would have been on a case-by-case basis. In many cases the 2nd wife (who would have lost out) had been living as the vet's wife for many years and the community would have considered her to be his widow; it would have rallied behind her as it would for any widow with children. Legally, alas, these poor children were out in the cold. It can get worse: Maine towns (I don't know about elsewhere) differentiated between the "worthy poor" and the "unworthy poor". If the town fathers determined that the family was "unworthy," the amount of aid given would have been minimal.
 
One of my great-great-grandmothers was asked for proof of her marriage. She got a statement from her niece stating she (the niece) had been at the wedding. Interestingly it's the only written clue we have (so far) to the relationship between my great-great-grandfather and a man who is either his father or his half-brother.
As long as your g-g-grandmother was not seeking a pension, the government wouldn't investigate--and the niece's testament would have been sufficient to prove the marriage. In Maine, such a statement would have been accepted as a "deposition". There are many births here that have been recorded per the deposition of a relative or neighbor. If you know where the marriage took place (or where your g-g-grandfather died), you might contact the town clerk to see if there is more information.
 
As long as your g-g-grandmother was not seeking a pension, the government wouldn't investigate--and the niece's testament would have been sufficient to prove the marriage. In Maine, such a statement would have been accepted as a "deposition". There are many births here that have been recorded per the deposition of a relative or neighbor. If you know where the marriage took place (or where your g-g-grandfather died), you might contact the town clerk to see if there is more information.
There is an actual record of the marriage so I don't know why she needed her niece to give the statement. Maybe that was easier for her.
 
There is an actual record of the marriage so I don't know why she needed her niece to give the statement. Maybe that was easier for her.
Who knows? Perhaps some clerk misfiled it and the local authorities questioned its existence. But I'm glad that it all worked out for her: it couldn't have been nice--in those proper days--to have it suspected that she was living in sin. 😊
 
Who knows? Perhaps some clerk misfiled it and the local authorities questioned its existence. But I'm glad that it all worked out for her: it couldn't have been nice--in those proper days--to have it suspected that she was living in sin. 😊
At that point she was living with an unwed daughter who had an illegitimate child so maybe she didn't care much.
 
I haven't researched the bastardy laws outside of the colonial period but my guess is that informal treatment would have been on a case-by-case basis. In many cases the 2nd wife (who would have lost out) had been living as the vet's wife for many years and the community would have considered her to be his widow; it would have rallied behind her as it would for any widow with children. Legally, alas, these poor children were out in the cold. It can get worse: Maine towns (I don't know about elsewhere) differentiated between the "worthy poor" and the "unworthy poor". If the town fathers determined that the family was "unworthy," the amount of aid given would have been minimal.
@JPK Huson 1863 Amendment to my own post! I was thinking about this when I recalled the case of one local soldier. He married a lady from another Maine town but the marriage seems not to have worked out from the beginning. She went back to her family while he went to Canada; in Canada, he married another woman--while still married to the first. He brought his second wife back to town here and had at least two children. Then he went off to the Civil War where he was killed. Both women applied for a widow's pension which was awarded to the first wife (the unfavored one). However, his family wrote letters to the pension office--supported by the neighbors--requesting benefits for the children. Although the 2nd wife was ruled out, the government awarded guardianship of the children to their paternal grandfather (who was supporting the 2nd wife & her children) and granted minor children benefits to those "illegitimate" youngsters. I think it was the strong support from the husband's family that made a difference. I guess the pension office had discretion in such matters.
 
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@JPK Huson 1863 Amendment to my own post! I was thinking about this when I recalled the case of one local soldier. He married a lady from another Maine town but the marriage seems not to have worked out from the beginning. She went back to her family while he went to Canada; in Canada, he married another woman--while still married to the first. He brought his second wife back to town here and had at least two children. Then he went off to the Civil War where he was killed. Both women applied for a widow's pension which was awarded to the first wife (the unfavored one). However, his family wrote letters to the pension office--supported by the neighbors--requesting benefits for the children. Although the 2nd wife was ruled out, the government awarded guardianship of the children to their paternal grandfather (who was supporting the 2nd wife & her children) and granted minor children benefits to those "illegitimate" youngsters. I think it was the strong support from the husband's family that made a difference. I guess the pension office had discretion in such matters.
Pensions have been revoked snd denied women who had children out of wedlock. As you say the pension office or the investigating officer had a lot of discretion in the matter.
 
@JPK Huson 1863 Amendment to my own post! I was thinking about this when I recalled the case of one local soldier. He married a lady from another Maine town but the marriage seems not to have worked out from the beginning. She went back to her family while he went to Canada; in Canada, he married another woman--while still married to the first. He brought his second wife back to town here and had at least two children. Then he went off to the Civil War where he was killed. Both women applied for a widow's pension which was awarded to the first wife (the unfavored one). However, his family wrote letters to the pension office--supported by the neighbors--requesting benefits for the children. Although the 2nd wife was ruled out, the government awarded guardianship of the children to their paternal grandfather (who was supporting the 2nd wife & her children) and granted minor children benefits to those "illegitimate" youngsters. I think it was the strong support from the husband's family that made a difference. I guess the pension office had discretion in such matters.


I just got stuck at worthy v unworthy poor. It may not be written down anywhere in those words but I'm not sure that concept has gone anywhere.

Interesting stuff, thank you! There's a lot written and said about how stuffy/archaic/prudish and straight laced were Victorians. Seems maybe not always? If a pension board could decide who was and was not illegitimate it means judgement was at least withheld depending on who said so. At least this idea where somehow the child born to unmarried parents is to blame ( which seems beyond crazy ) has vanished. Poor kids. We thankfully don't do that any more. I remember when adults spoke in hushed whispers about THAT girl in ' trouble '. Just the other day I ran into someone I hadn't seen for awhile- she said her daughter had a baby and I ( like an idiot ) said " OH, when did she get married? ". Looked at me like I had 3 eyes, " OH she's not married. Maybe later. " One of those days where you walk away thinking " Boy am I getting old. "
 
I just got stuck at worthy v unworthy poor. It may not be written down anywhere in those words but I'm not sure that concept has gone anywhere.

Interesting stuff, thank you! There's a lot written and said about how stuffy/archaic/prudish and straight laced were Victorians. Seems maybe not always? If a pension board could decide who was and was not illegitimate it means judgement was at least withheld depending on who said so. At least this idea where somehow the child born to unmarried parents is to blame ( which seems beyond crazy ) has vanished. Poor kids. We thankfully don't do that any more. I remember when adults spoke in hushed whispers about THAT girl in ' trouble '. Just the other day I ran into someone I hadn't seen for awhile- she said her daughter had a baby and I ( like an idiot ) said " OH, when did she get married? ". Looked at me like I had 3 eyes, " OH she's not married. Maybe later. " One of those days where you walk away thinking " Boy am I getting old. "
That is the expression used in the town reports. I agree with you 100% on the motivations of the pension board--just like today, it's often a matter of who you know. I smiled to read about your 3 eyes because I made that mistake with my own brother 😢 regarding his daughter. Yeah, I felt about 102.
 
That is the expression used in the town reports. I agree with you 100% on the motivations of the pension board--just like today, it's often a matter of who you know. I smiled to read about your 3 eyes because I made that mistake with my own brother 😢 regarding his daughter. Yeah, I felt about 102.


SO funny. It's not that I have some personal longing for a return to the days when children of unmarried parents got to pay for it forever and ever or that everyone's personal business is open for the whole world to pass judgement on. Good to see we're actually kinder in some respects. It's just made it much easier for our generation to commit a faux pas every, other sentence. Guilty but trying hard.
 
I have occasionally pondered the predicament of a woman who remarries after the death of her spouse, only to have the "dead" spouse come home later. If this ever happened to a "widowed" husband, I've not heard of it, but I suppose it is possible. What would a woman do in such a situation?
 
I have occasionally pondered the predicament of a woman who remarries after the death of her spouse, only to have the "dead" spouse come home later. If this ever happened to a "widowed" husband, I've not heard of it, but I suppose it is possible. What would a woman do in such a situation?
What an interesting thought! Having done a lot of genealogical research here in central Maine--as well as my town-based Civil War project--I've never encountered that. This doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Either the situation was handled so quietly that I missed it OR the missing "dead" husband had some other agenda that didn't include returning home. The fighting units here were pretty geographical (and I suspect that this was the usual case) so fellow soldiers were not clueless.

If the "first" husband had been declared to be dead, I guess that he had to have himself re-declared as living. If he were listed as "deserted" (which meant that he simply didn't show up for the next roll-call), his wife back in Maine wouldn't have been considered to be a widow.

Widowed husbands were easier. When a wife went missing, the husband usually filed for divorce. If she returned, the couple was no longer married so there was no issue.
 
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