Esther Graves

Going through this file reminded me of one of the reasons I post about these women--not just to share their stories, to pull this women out of the shadows, and preserve and share those stories somewhere so they don't disappear into the shadows again.  It's also to gather information, to reach out, because there is no one way I can tell each story on my own.  And because if I don't, Esther Graves will likely remain something of an unknown.

Pension File: Cert. 120147
P.O.: Bowdoinham, ME
Service: regimental nurse with the 3rd Maine
Applied: 1868
Status: Accepted (SA)

This file was practically empty.  Now in some cases, that's entirely normal.  I've come across files with as few as seven papers.  But the difference is, all the necessary paperwork is there, I can watch the bureaucratic machinery at work, so to speak.  Not with Graves.
Graves' paperwork went missing in 1875.
So what little do we know about her?  The pension records reveal that she died December 28, 1888, that to that point she'd been receiving an $8 pension, which she'd received in 1868, but which Congress backdated to January 1, 1865, which suggests she ended the war destitute, very ill, or both.  We also know she lived in Bowdoinham after the war.  But that is it.
The census records were a little more helpful.  The 1870 Census shows her living in Bowdoinham, working as a milliner.  By 1880, she'd expanded a bit, and was running a boarding house while keeping up with her millinery.  Without an idea of how the milliner business was going, however, its hard to say if taking in boarders was a sign that she needed the extra income, was a budding entrepreneur, or simply wanted company.  We also know she was a Universalist--she is mentioned in passing in Our Women Workers: Women Eminent in the Universalist Church by Mrs. E.R. Hanson.
But none of these tell me what she did in the army.
There are days I thank my lucky stars that people during the late 19th and early 20th century expressed a keen interest in local history, and wrote dozens of books on their town's history.  Where would we be without The History of the Town of Bowdoinham, 1762-1912?  This books is, as far as I know, is the only piece of evidence that tells us anything about Graves' wartime experiences.  "She went out upon her own responsibility," author Silas Adams wrote, not something you usually see in regimental nurses, but not unknown either.  Graves served all four years of the war, following the 3rd until midway through 1862 when she was transferred to Port Royal Island.  Most of the time she received no pay.  She came out of the service with just $24, all she had saved after four years of hard labor--that boarding house is starting to look like an economic necessity.
Adams also mentions there was a second female nurse in the regiment: Sarah Sampson.  There is much better documentation for Sampson than Graves, but I have yet to find anything that links the two other than their simultaneous service in the 3rd.  For now, though, Sampson and the 3rd Maine remain my best leads on Graves.  Hopefully I'll be able to turn up something!