I think this is an interesting article -- and, who knows, she may be one of your ancestors.. Nancee ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Chariton Leader, Chariton, Iowa Thursday, December 10, 1908 'Refuses To Accept Pension' Woman Toils in Preference to Taking Government Cash. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Kansas City, Mo. -- In a restaurant kitchen, where the shouts of the waiters as they give their orders mingle with the rattle of the dishes, stands a woman every day washing dishes. The work is hard and the woman, MRS. MARY CARPENTER of 902 Central Avenue, has reached that time of life when work is not so easy as it was ten years ago. But she seems contented with the work, with the $2.50 she receives every week as her wages and with her secret. For this woman, the widow of a Civil War Veteran, has a secret that, so far, no one has been able to fathom. It was four years ago that MRS. CARPENTER's husband died. A pension of $12 a month was awarded her, but when the pen was offered her to sign the papers and receive the money she demurred. "I'll not sign," she said stolidly. "Why?" "Ill not sign." That was the only answer. No reason was given, the money seemed to produce no interest in MRS. CARPENTER, she refused to sign the papers and she refused to give any reason. On the $2.50 a week she earns MRS. CARPENTER lives, clothes and feeds herself. She might have three dollars a week without working, but evidently she doesn't care for it. When Judge Van B. Prather, probate judge of Wyandotte County, appointed the Banking Trust Company of Kansas City, Kan., the guardian of $500 pension money now in the trust company's vaults and of future payments, recently, there was no remonstrance from MRS. CARPENTER. She is content to allow the money to be held in trust for her -- and to keep the secret which seems a whim to others. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert April 20, 2005 iggy29@rnetinc.net