The last known widow of a Civil War veteran has died in Missouri. She was 101

The last known widow of a Civil War veteran died after concealing the marriage for much of her life.

Helen Viola Jackson died at a nursing home in Marshfield, Missouri, on Dec. 16, according to an obituary. She was 101.

In 1936, Jackson married James Bolin, a private in the 14th Missouri Cavalry, according to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. She was 17 and he was 93, the organization says.

Jackson shared details of the unique marriage in the final years of her life as she planned her funeral with a minister, according to Our America Magazine. The magazine is a publication of the Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival Auxiliary, of which Jackson was a charter member.

Her father arranged for Jackson to care for Bolin every day after school and help with chores, according to the magazine. With no way to pay her, Bolin offered to marry Jackson and leave his Union pension to her while she continued to live with family and keep her last name, she told the magazine.

However, Jackson never applied for the pension after Bolin died three years after the nuptials and never remarried, according to Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

“All a woman had in 1939 was her reputation,” she told Our America Magazine. “I didn’t want them all to think that I was a young woman who had married an old man to take advantage of him.”

Jackson was born in Niangua, a small town in southwest Missouri. She was preceded in death by her parents and nine siblings, according to an obituary. She attended school through eighth grade and received an honorary high school diploma at the Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival in 2018.

The last reported widow of a Civil War veteran to die was Maudie Perkins, who married Confederate soldier William Cantrell, The Associated Press reported. Similar to Jackson, she married Cantrell as a teen after caring for him late in life, according to the AP.

This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 3:14 PM with the headline "The last known widow of a Civil War veteran has died in Missouri. She was 101."