Jacob Erion had Red Hair! Who Knew? VII - The End

Jacob B. Erion ca 1878

Mary Leonard Erion ca 1878

Jacob B. Erion ca 1920

My grandfather once told me he would like to know more about his grandfather.  However, it was during a time when I was having my own children and the days were filled with raising the next generation.  There was no time to look back.  But now there is.  My Granddad passed away in 1983 but I have always remembered his words to me and this blog is a result of that remembering.   I have sourced my information.  These are my own words except where indicated. 

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Jacob and Mary were living at 1056 Eslava Street, Mobile, Alabama, when Mary Frances Leonard Erion died on 15 Sep 1914.

            "Deaths
    Mrs. Mary L. Erion


  MOBILE, ALA., Sept. 15—Mrs. Mary Leonard Erion, 50 years of age, wife of Captain J. B. Erion, died this afternoon at the family home, 1056 Eslava Street, after a lingering illness.  Captain and Mrs. Erion on January 1 last, celebrated their golden wedding at their home here.  Besides her husband, deceased is survived here and in Chicago by a number of relatives.”

 (From obituary published in The Montgomery Advertiser, 16 Sep 1914)

Despite the discrepancies in the obituary, i.e.: Mary was 69 at the time of her death; Jacob’s and Mary’s wedding date was 31 Dec 1863, (Source: Ancestry.com, Linn County, Iowa, History to 1878); and she also had relatives in Nebraska, Mary was dead.  She had given birth to and raised to maturity six children; she took care of the home; and she supported her energetic husband in his endeavors.  A copy of her death certificate issued by the State of Alabama on 27 Apr 2007, obtained by Bleu,  states that Mary had undergone curettage of the uterus on March 25, 1914.  She had been ill with carcinoma of the cervix for over a year preceding her death.  The death certificate also said that Mary was buried at Pine Crest Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama. (Copy of death certificate appears at the 10 Jun 2010 posting of this blog.)

Did Mary’s death slow down Jacob?  No.  Always on the go, Jacob continued to attend meetings of the Grand Army of the Republic.  One meeting, where Jacob was Mobile’s Junior Vice Department Commander, was held in Washington, D. C., between September 27 and October 2, 1915.  (Source: Journal of the Forty-ninth national encampment Grand Army of the Republic. Washington, D.C. Sept. 27 to Oct. 2, 1915. Truncated Title Date: 1916-01-01; Author: U.S. Congress. House of Representatives.)    In August of 1918 Jacob traveled to Portland, Oregon, this time as a representative of the Grand Army of the Republic from Mobile. (Source: U.S. Congress House Serial Set Vol. No. 7577, Session Vol. No. 108, 65th Congress, 3rd Session, 1919-01-01; Author: U.S. Congress. House Serial Set Vol. No. 7577)

Some time after Mary’s death, Jacob moved from 1056 Eslava in Mobile, Alabama, and entered the National Soldiers’ Home, Mountain Branch, in Tennessee.  Documentation found in Jacob’s Pension File shows that he lived in the National Soldiers’ Home in Tennessee from 4 Aug 1916 to 4 Apr 1917. From 07 May 1917 to 26 Jun 1917, Jacob lived in the National Soldiers’ Home, Northwestern Branch, in Wisconsin.  From 27 Jul 1917 to 19 Sep 1917, Jacob lived in the National Soldiers’ Home, Central Branch, Ohio.

At some point, Jacob went back to Alabama because he went to Portland, Oregon, August 18-24, 1918, fifty-second national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) as the Representative from Mobile, Alabama. (Source: U.S. Congress House Serial Set Vol. No. 7577, Session Vol. No. 108, 65th Congress, 3rd Session, 1919-01-01; Author: U.S. Congress. House Serial Set Vol. No. 7577, Session Vol. No.108, 65th Congress, 3rd Session, H.Doc. 1613.)

On 19 Jul 1919, Jacob was back at the National Soldiers’ Home, Central Branch, Ohio.  1920 must have been an interesting year for Jacob  because the 1920 US Census, dated 3 Jan 1920, shows Jacob boarding with a German couple involved in real estate, Adolph and Ida Brown and their daughter, Florence, at 106 South Jackson, Mobile, Alabama.  Boarding there also was a private practice attorney, Charles Rogers, and a maid, Mary Yalrie.  This arrangement did not last long.  Just 11 days later, Jacob appears on the 1920 census at the National Soldiers’ Home, Central Branch, in Dayton, Ohio.

According to Declaration for Pension, dated and signed by Jacob B. Erion on 3 Aug 1921, from the time of Mary’s death, he had lived in the Mobile, Alabama National Military Home; the Tennessee National Military Home; and the Wisconsin National Military Home.  The Declaration was signed by Jacob while living at the National Military Home in Ohio.  (Source: Declaration for Pension-Civil War, dated 3 Aug 1921, original in the Pension File of Jacob B. Erion, National Archives)

His second born child, a daughter, Luella Matilda Erion, a registered nurse living in California, came to his rescue.  Documents in Jacob B. Erion’s Pension File reveal that she used her savings to buy a house for her father and her to live in and she gave up her full time job to take care of  Jacob.  She also took up the battles with the Commissioner of Pensions. The 1926 California Voters Registration, 1900-1968 found on Ancestry.com shows Jacob B. Erion living at 4832 Kansas, San Diego, California as is Luella.

A 29 Mar 1928 physical examination conducted by a physician at the Naval Hospital in San Diego, California, stated:

“This is old Civil War veteran is 85 years of age and appears all of that.  He is weak and debilitated and must be helped in and out of bed.  . . . His mind is clear but he is very irritable and peevish in his mental attitude.  He requires constant care. . . .  I do not feel that he will ever be any better.”


                  (Source: Affidavit of Physician, Pension File of Jacob B. Erion, National Archives)

Jacob and Luella were living on his pension of $90 per month.  He received an increase from $72 after the 29 Mar 1928 physical examination.

Jacob was in and out of the Naval Hospital at San Diego as his health continued to deteriorate.  His last admittance to the hospital was on 22 Oct 1928.

The death discharge filed for Jacob showed the following:

“Patient showed slight improvement for a while, 1-10-29, complained of pain in chest with a little more cough.  Normal temperature.  Vomited some, showed loss of appetite.  1-14-29  No improvement, was markedly weaker and death was sudden.”

(Source: USVB Form 2593, signed by Capt. H. A. May, dated 14 Jan 1929, filed with the Veterans’ Bureau 21 Jan 1929, copy in Pension File of Jacob B. Erion, National Archives.)

Jacob passed away on 14 Jan 1929.  According to the Report of Death filed for Jacob, his “remains were cremated by a contract undertaker, per instructions of next of kin.”   The undertaker was Davis-Bonham Bros, Mortuary, San Diego, California, and Jacob’s remains were cremated on 16 Jan 1929. (Source: Standard Certificate of Death from the State of California, Department of Public Health, filed 16 Jan 1929, copy of which is in the Pension File of Jacob B. Erion, National Archives.)

A copy of the invoice from Davis-Bonham Mortuary to the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau in Los Angeles, California, dated January 22, 1929, shows that Jacob’s casket was $65.00 with an outside case of $10.00.  Embalming and care of body was $10.00, personal services and hearse $15.00, and the Cremation at Greenwood Crematory was $35.00.

Recently, through www.FindAGrave.com, I learned that Jacob was buried by his wife Mary Leonard Erion at Pine Crest Cemetery, Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama.  A photograph of Jacob‘s and Mary‘s gravesite, taken by Tim Childree, can be viewed at FindAGrave.  I’ve also posted a picture of Jacob and Mary Erion and their children at this same site.