In late May 1865, more than a month after Robert E. In the spring of 1865, the cavalrymen-including Bolin-guarded the Wire Road in Missouri, a frequent target of guerrillas because of the telegraph line along the vital route. Although they were busy, neither unit saw much serious fighting. The 5-foot-8 private served honorably with the 46th Missouri Infantry from fall 1864 to March 1865 and, later, with the 14th Missouri Cavalry. When he enlisted in 1864, Bolin-a 21-year-old farmer from Webster County-had dark hair and a fair complexion. It’s a pity the photo isn’t in color, because the veteran had vivid blue eyes. In a photo from the 1930s, a seated Bolin-wearing a bowler hat, suit jacket, and dark vest-sported a large, white mustache. Twice-married Civil War veteran James Bolin, a widower, also lived in Niangua, alone, in a small house near a lumber yard and train tracks. His service rarely took him out of the state. He then joined the 14th Missouri Cavalry until November 1865. But the pace of life was typically slow in this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it place.Ĥ6th Missouri Infantry until March 1865.
And, in March 1936, a tornado ravaged the area, killing four.
In the late 1920s, Route 66-the legendary “Mother Road”-pumped a little energy into sleepy Niangua, known mainly for its dairy and cattle farms. Hardworking and humble, she was the seventh of 10 children of Thursa and James Jackson, a farmer and longtime member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Helen Jackson was “The Last Civil War Widow,” and, oh, what a story this old woman had to tell.īorn August 3, 1919, less than a year after the end of World War I, Helen Jackson grew up in Niangua (population about 275), a railroad and farming town about 25 miles northeast of Springfield. “Well, he was in the Union Army,” she said. Jackson paused, then revealed even more stunning information. “What do you mean you were married?” replied the incredulous Inman, who thought Helen had been single her entire life. Jackson was no jokester, so this must be serious. “I was married,” she told the 35-year-old pastor. But on this afternoon, Jackson-almost a member of the Inman family now-also planned to reveal an 81-year-old secret.
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Still full of life despite physical challenges, the lifelong Missourian intended to plan her funeral with the pastor, whom she befriended after they first met in church three decades earlier in rural Marshfield.
Jackson liked the heat on full blast and the curtains closed. “My God, it’s hot as hell in here,” Pastor Nicholas Inman said as he entered the sparsely furnished room at Christmastime 2017. Hanging on a wall, near a collection of birthday cards, was a photo of Jackson’s parents and one of her nine siblings-Helen, nearly 100, had outlived them all. A Missouri woman sacrificed much of her own life to help an aged Union veteranīarely five feet tall and weighing no more than 100 pounds, Helen Viola Jackson sat on the edge of a bed in a private room of a nursing home, her tiny feet grazing the floor.