It's interesting to note links to historical events by very young observers.

The last of the civil war widows passed away only a few years ago (2008). As young women, they married octogenarian civil war veterans - and continued receiving the widow's pension for decades...

http://www.radiodiaries.org/transcripts/OtherDocs/civilwar.h...

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/national/16widow.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maudie_Hopkins