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Archiver > APG > 2004-04 > 1081278892


From: "Paula Wiegand" <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Civil War Pension question
Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 15:14:52 -0400
In-Reply-To: <20040406184441.11231.qmail@web9703.mail.yahoo.com>


On 6 Apr 2004 at 11:44, Ann L. Wells wrote:

> A friend forwarded to me information about her ancestor who was in the
> Civil War. The pension application shows two wives - one is listed as
> the widow and the other as "Cont. Widow." The Pension Index at
> Ancestry.com shows two widows with the second one shown as "Contest
> Widow." My friend wonders if this means her ancestor was a bigamist?.
> Was this term "contest widow" a common expression in regards to the
> pension applications? And, does anyone know the definition of this
> expression.
>
> Interestingly enough, according to the ancestry.com listing, two
> states were listed as "state filed."

Ann, these situations were a lot more common than you might
imagine. The term is contesting widow and it simply means that two
different women claimed to be the widow of the deceased soldier.

In some instances it does indeed mean the soldier was a bigamist,
but in other cases I have seen applications by ex-wives. I have heard
of, though never personally seen, cases where a woman claimed to
be married to a soldier she had no connection with whatever, a
simple scam to receive a pension.

Once your friend views the actual pension file, the facts of the
applications in this particular case should become clear.

_
Paula L. Wiegand

Genealogy Quest
"Military records at reasonable prices"
http://www.genealogy-quest.com/Military/index.html

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