More Libbey Family Fabrications

The Pension File of Thomas Libbey

Fold 3 recently did a free weekend offer that I took advantage of. Not all states have their Civil War pension files online, but Missouri just happens to be one that does. Thomas H Libbey served in the Civil War and died during his service. It took all of 15 days for his wife Elisabeth Nelson Libbey to start the process of trying to claim her widow’s pension.

The first piece of Thomas’s file is a statement written on 16 Feb 1865 by clerk Levi Alden in Janesville, WI in which he states that Elizabeth Libbey appeared before him. Elizabeth states that day that she is 30 years old and married Thomas H Libbey in West Troy NY on 19 Nov 1847 after which they moved to Illinois. She further swore that she had two daughters, Mary Elizabeth age 14 on 1 Jan 1865, and Laura Jane aged 8 on 22 March 1864. Elizabeth brought along Robert Wilhems and AW Parker to testify that they knew her to be who she claimed and that Robert was also present at the wedding in West Troy, NY.

The next paper is the Declaration of the Widows Pension dated 21 Sep 1865 on which date Elizabeth is 32 years old and states her maiden name as Elizabeth Nelson. She brings Thomas Laphin and JD King as character witnesses this time and appears before the same clerk.

A letter from Thomas Libby to Elizabeth was included in the pension file. In the letter Thomas doesn’t mention anything about what he is doing in the war, or ask about the children, or make any sort of effort to discuss anything other than how little money he can send home and when he should get his bounty so that Elizabeth can buy wood and flour without going into debt. Thomas’ signature is at the bottom of the letter. Oddly, it does not match the signature from his pension file on an earlier document saying that he should be credited to the county of Rock in the 2^nd Ward of Janesville for his address. This letter was signed 3 June 1864 and the letter to Elizabeth was dated July 22 1864.

A letter dated 25 Sep 1865 from John Conroy and from James M Doyle stating that Conroy baptized Laura Jane Libby on 8 August 1859 in the presence of Sarah Morehouse at “the catholic church” in Janesville was also included in Elizabeth’s request. She is awarded her widow’s pension of $8 per month as of 24 February 1866.

The next piece of interesting information provided by Elizabeth is on 12 March 1867 when she tried to get an increase in her widow’s pension for the support of her two daughters. She said that she had no way of contacting anyone present at the births of her children. On the original request form, she states the birth dates of her children as 1 Jan 1852 and 22 March 1858. Elizabeth eventually ended up producing a record for the births of the girls saying that the only record of the births was in the family bible. This record was written by her husband and stated that Mary Elizabeth was born 1 Jan 1851 in Chickopee, MA and Laura Jane was born 22 March 1856 in Newark, WI. This was sworn before a notary public, MM Phelps, in Rock County WI. Elizabeth brought John M Case and Willard Marril along on this occasion to testify that they had seen the records in the bible and that the entries were written in her husband’s handwriting. In the file there is a letter saying that Elizabeth was mistaken about the birthdate of her youngest daughter and she corrected the information to the previously stated 1856 birthdate. (It was in Elizabeth’s interest to keep her girls as young as possible as her increase in pension would only remain as long as the girls were under 16 years old)

Elizabeth continued her quest for increase in her pension with a sworn statement of one Isabella Kelley who swore that she was present at the birth of Laura Jane on 22 March 1856. Isabella was from Newark, Rock County and was apparently illiterate as she signed her name with an “x”. One of the witnesses who signed this document was Mary E Libbey.  Another witness to the birth was one Rose McManus whose statement was also witnessed by Mary E Libbey. This evidence was submitted 20 April 1868 and Elizabeth was awarded a $2 per month increase for each child on 13 Nov 1868.

There is no further information in the file regarding the pension except the note that the pension was stopped at Elizabeth’s death in 1895.

I am personally suspicious of the witnesses brought forth to testify to anything regarding the life of Mrs. Libbey. My guess is that she paid most of them to vouch for her. I find her audacity to try to make her daughters younger to stretch her pension increase longer amazing. I mean, who forgets their children’s birth dates?

The signatures of the 2 Thomas Libbey’s that don’t match also make me believe that she hired someone – or maybe it was even her daughter – to forge the letter. The signature on the military document would have been signed in the presence of other officers, so I think it is safe to say that one is genuine. The tone of the letter is also strange. I find it odd that there is no discussion of home life, his life in the camps – nothing but talk about money.

I am happy to say that Find A Grave has updated Laura Jean’s memorial to make it more truthful to her life. I bet these ladies are happy that people are still talking about them almost 100 years after their deaths.

The previous chapters of the Libbey saga start here.