#41--John Wesley Hannah--Applying for a Pension

This is the last installment in my entries about John Wesley Hannah and his service in the Civil War.  After John‘s resignation in 1865 as Captain of Company D of the Illinois 62,  he returned home  to Edgar County, Illinois to take care of his business.  I am not sure when he moved, but by the following year, he was in Butler Missouri.  There, he married Jennie Willie( # 20 Romance in Real Life--Jennie Sophia Willey and John Wesley Hannah), and raised five children.  John built and was the proprietor of the Palace Hotel (# 5—Build Me a Palace—John Wesley Hannah)

Since he was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Butler, I assumed that he lived there until his death.  However, once I received his application for a pension, I discovered that that assumption was not true. His pension request was filed in November of 1897 in St. Sterling, Kentucky where he was living with his oldest daughter, Gertrude Hannah Turner.  On his application, he said that he suffered from rheumatism, heart trouble, paralysis, and general disability.  Those conditions were confirmed, under oath, by his son-in-law and the individual who was taking care of him.  Both individuals indicated that these difficulties were not due to "vicious living."

Initially, the Bureau of Pensions ordered John to appear for a physical exam in Butler, Missouri. That order was appealed because Butler was no longer his home.  Hence, he was examined by three physicians in St. Sterling who concluded that he was “permanently disabled in a degree requiring the regular aid and attention of another attention and is entitled to a pension of $72 a month.”  Further, they concluded that his illness during the Civil War was the cause of his present illnesses.  John lived several more months and died on March 10, 1898 in Mt Sterling.