8/7/2019 A Civil War Widows Story - Spring 2011

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Winter 2010

PieCes oF histoRy

Intriguing discoveries are made all the time in the NationalArchives. Tis tintype o a woman and child doesnt looklike the typical ederal record, let alone one associated with

military records. But it was ound in one o the 1.28 million

Civil War Widows Certicate Approved Pension Case Files.

Since 2007, a team o volunteers has been working on a project

to digitize these records and make them available online, and

rom time to time, unexpected treasures turn up.

Te le o one widow, Adelia M. Fish, holds quite a story.

Her rst husband, Joseph Springer, died at Andersonville

Prison in October 1864. She had our children under the age

o 16 when she applied or her pension in June 1865.

In July 1872 Adelia married Jason B. Webb, and she was

dropped rom the pension rolls. Webb let their home in

the all o 1872, and Adelia never saw him or heard rom

him again. Presuming him dead, she married a third time

to Washington A. Fish in 1883, and ater he died in 1915,

she applied or restoration to the pension rolls based on

Springers service.

Because Webb had disappeared, the Pension Bureau

investigated the legality o Adelias widowhood. In afdavits,

Adelia and her daughter, Mrs. Elva C. Blackett, also a

widow, claimed they had received a letter in 1874 notiying

them o Webbs death. Signed A Friend, it had enclosed a

ve-dollar gold piece and stated that Webb had asked that

the coin be sent to Elva.

Te examiner noted that Webbs description closely

corresponded with that o a Jason B. Webb who had served in

the 14th U.S. Inantry rom 1872 to 1877 and whose widow,

Rosanna, had applied or a pension ater he died in 1907.

Rosanna testied that she and Jason had married in 1876,

and she had no reason to believe he had been married beore.

When the examiner showed her a daguerreotype provided by

Elva Blackett, she identied the man as her husband. She then

produced a tintype o a woman and child that her husband

had possessed and which he prized very highly. He had told

her that it was a picture o a riend o his mother. Te image

was presumed to be o Adelia and Elva.

In May 1917, Adelias pension claim was rejected because

she had contracted more than one marriage since the death

o the soldier and had ailed to establish that her marriage to

Webb had ended legally either by death or divorce.

STORYa cIvIl War

WIDOWS STORY

Tintype of Adelia Springer and her daughter.

Spring 2011