Gertrude Janeway

Gertrude Janeway (July 3, 1909 – January 17, 2003) was the last known widow of a Union Civil War veteran.

Life
Gertrude Grubb was born in Blaine, Tennessee, and was courted by John Janeway beginning when she was only 16. Her mother, widowed when Gertrude was only 13, would not allow her to marry until she was 18. She married John Janeway, an officer in the 14th Illinois cavalry, in 1927 when she was 18 and he 81. The marriage ceremony took place in the middle of a dirt road with family and friends in attendance. They lived together in a log cabin in Blaine, Tennessee until John Janeway's death in 1937. She was a member of the Green Acres Missionary Baptist Church. Gertrude continued to live in the cabin for nearly 70 years after her husband's death. She received a $70 pension check for veterans' benefits from the government every two months until her death in 2003.

Pension Legacy
On April 9th, 2011 The Economist commented on her as an example of the length of pension obligations: "WHEN GERTRUDE JANEWAY died in 2003, she was still getting a monthly cheque for $70 from the Veterans Administration—for a military pension earned by her late husband, John, on the Union side of the American civil war that ended in 1865. The pair had married in 1927, when he was 81 and she was 18. The amount may have been modest but the entitlement spanned three centuries, illustrating just how long pension commitments can last."