Annie E. Stiles

Pension File: 1138701
P.O.: Washington, D.C.
Service: National Hotel Hospital in Baltimore, May, 1861 to May, 1865
Applied: 1892
Status: Rejected

This file was odd enough that despite the fact it's on the small side I decided it needed to be posted.  Stiles' application was very straightforward.  She was on record at the National Hotel Hospital from Sept. 11 to Nov. 28, 1861, and from May 29, 1862 to April 17, 1865, so she had no problems proving six months service or competent authority.  Stiles was rejected, however, on the grounds that she was already drawing a pension as the widow of an 1812 veteran.  The whole thing sounded entirely plausible until I found the marriage record.  Annie E. Cooper married William Stiles on November 24, 1870.  Even if Mr. Stiles served as a drummer boy during the War of 1812, say age 10 or so, he would have been around seventy years old when he married Annie.  Annie herself was born c. 1822, making her 48.  So, at the least, there's a twenty year age difference.  The only thing I can think of to explain this was that they found love very late in life, or that it was a marriage of convenience--William had someone to look after him in his last years and Annie would be able to draw a pension after his death.  If I remember correctly, many Confederate veterans actually did the same thing, marrying young women specifically so these women would have pensions when their husbands died.  What do you think the chances are that Annie and William were the same?