The August 3rd Belleville (Il) News-Democrat had a column by Roger Schueter where a JW of Collinsville said that a friend had told him that there were still Confederate widows alive. Hedidn't believeit and there was a bet for a Cardinalsgame involved.
Schueter replied that ther was a handful left, perhaps more.
This is of special interest because of the death of Maudie Celia Hopkins a few weeks ago. Martha Boltz, public relations chairman of the United daughters of the Confederacy says ther are more remaining. When the media made a big deal about the death of supposed-last-Confederate widow, Albert Martin onMay 31, 2004, Maudie Hopkins came forward to say she had been married to a veteran.
Boltz says she knows of two more widows in Tennessee and one more, but they don't want to be "found" because of the huge age difference when they married.
LAST UNION VETERAN'S WIDOW
Gertrude Janeway died January 17, 2003 in Blaine, tennessee at age 93 and is presumed to be the very last Union widow, but, again, there may be others.
She was 18 when she married 81 year-old John Janeway who died ten years later. She continued to live in their three roomlog cabin for 65 more years, collecting her husband's monthly $70 pension from the VA until she died.
Mighty Hard Times Make Young Girls Do Desperate Things. --Old B-Runner
The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.
