Show pay AV widows of vets of 1812 U S still gives pensions to widows of men who fought I 1 I 1 years ago washington ilow etow long a pension list persists after war Is over la Is shown in a striking manner by the rolls of vie government for the war of 0 1812 and for the I 1 mexican war there la Is not a veteran of the war of 1812 alive yet it cost the government for pensioners of that war during the past year on june 30 last there were 38 widows oa s and on one e dependent daughter of veterans of 1812 on the pension list the seventy fifth anniversary of the close of the mexican war was celebrated on may 30 last and yet during the fiscal year 1923 there were 49 veterans and widows of veterans who fought in that war receiving in pensions from the government it Is a curious carious tact fact that not one of 0 the pensioners of the war of 1812 was born when the war was concluded the oldest Is one hundred and tour four years old while the youngest Is sixty three one other Is over the one hundred mark the rest range between eighty and one hundred years the explanation is that the veterans married women much younger than them afele sf ele s in the case of the widow pen aloner sixty three years old her husband must have been from forty live five to fifty five years older mexican vets over ninety all of the veterans of the mexican war are over ninety years of age the oldest one being urbaan changeur Chan deur of san francisco Franci geo who 4 lio passed the one hundredth milestone on june 6 1923 A unique mexican war case Is tha ha of Will william fain crown brown of camden N J who at the he tender age of eight years enlisted in the marine darlne corps and fought throughout the war war Is a costly business not only fronk from the point of view of actual fighting expenses but also that of paying pensions to the old and disabled veterans sand and their dependent widows and children officials of the bureau of pensions assert back bach in 1877 there were persons on the pension rolls of the goi eminent involving an annual disbursement of this was when the largest number of war of 1812 and mexican war pensioners were on the rolls A few years later civil war veterans began to ake advantage of the pension privilege end and the expense jumped much mu ch higher pensions pension total while there are no separate fig figures ures available as to just what the disbursements bur were to war of 1811 1812 and mexican war pensioners for those years it Is known that they figured very heavily in the total rn la 1885 the pension disbursement amounted to with persons on the rolls from then on it gradually increased until 1919 when the cost was with persons on the rolls for 1923 the total amount 0 of f pensions paid out was 0 most of this amount of course was paid to civil war bad and spanish war pensioners less than ot of it going to pensioners of the war ot of 1812 and mexican war there are no longer any soldiers who actually fought in the war of 1812 on the pension rolls the st one being niram cronk who died in ava N Y in 1905 at the age of one hundred and five the last soldier pensioner of the revolutionary war was daniel F r bakeman who died at freedon freedom N Y in 1869 at the age of one hundred and nine years while the last pensioner of the revolutionary war was esther S damon widow of noah damon who died at plymouth union vt in loog at the age of ninety six years widows pensioned all told approximately widows of soldiers of the war of 1812 were granted service pensions the high water mark being reached in 1879 when there were on the rolls the original widows of sol diers of the war of 1812 who were granted pensions had shrunk to only 10 40 on june 30 since that time death lias has claimed one of them reducing the figure to 39 of the many thousands of veterans and widows of veterans of the 2 mexican war who were granted pensions only 49 veterans and 1030 widows of veterans remain an idea of how fast the number Is decreasing can be gained by the figures for the last fiscal year on june 30 1922 there were 49 40 pensioners of the war of 1812 compared to only 40 one year later on june 30 1922 there were 1851 1031 mexican war pensioners on the rolls compared to only 1685 one year later the amount paid to pensioners of the war of 1812 2 ranges anywhere from 10 to a month but most of them receive not over 50 a month it all depends on the extent of their disability and the amount necessary to insure them proper medical attention |