sion herein granted to the widow on account of the child or children of the husband by a former wife shall be paid to her only for such period of her widowhood as she has been, or shall be, charged with the maintenance of such child or children; for any period during which she has not been, or she shall not be, so charged, it shall be granted and paid to the guardian of such child or children: Provided further, That a widow or guardian to whom increase of pension has been, or shall hereafter be, granted on account of minor children, shall not be deprived thereof by reason of their being maintained in whole or in part at the expense of a State or the public in any educational institution, or in any institution organized for the care of soldiers' orphans.1

WIDOWS AND MINORS; CAUSE OF DEATH NOT MATERIAL.

ACT JUNE 27, 1890 (26 STAT. L., 182).

SEC. 3.2 That if any officer or enlisted man who served ninety days or more in the Army or Navy of the United States during the late war of the rebellion, and who was honorably discharged has died, or shall hereafter die, leaving a widow without other means of support than her daily labor, or minor children under the age of sixteen years, such widow shall, upon due proof of her husband's death, without proving his death to be the result of his army service, be placed on the pension-roll from the date of the application therefor under this act, at the rate of eight dollars per month during her widowhood, and shall also be paid two dollars per month for each child of such officer or enlisted man under sixteen years of age, and in case of the death or remarriage of the widow, leaving a child or children of such officer or enlisted man under the age of sixteen years, such pension shall be paid such child or children until the age of sixteen: Provided, That in case a minor child is insane, idiotic, or otherwise permanently helpless, the pension shall continue during the life of said child, or during the period of such disability, and this proviso shall apply to all pensions heretofore granted or hereafter to be granted under this or any former statute, and such pensions shall commence from the date of application therefor after the passage of this act: And provided further, That said widow shall have married said soldier prior to the passage of this act."

WIDOWS AND MINORS; NET INCOME.

ACT MAY 9, 1900 (31 STAT. L., 170).

That if any officer or enlisted man who served ninety days or more in the Army or Navy of the United States during the late war of the rebellion, and who was honorably discharged has died, or shall hereafter die, leaving a widow without means of support other than her daily labor, and an actual net income not exceeding two hundred and

1 The $2 additional pension granted under this section on account of minor children under 16 years of age may be continued in cases of insane, idiotic, or helpless children during the life of such children or during the period of their disability, under the proviso of the third section of the act of June 27, 1890, and amendment of May 9, 1900. 2 See joint resolution, Feb. 15, 1895, p. 31.

8 Fee for prosecution of claim not to be greater than $10. (See sec. 4, act June 27, 1890, p. 115.)

fifty dollars per year, or minor children under the age of sixteen years, such widow shall, upon due proof of her husband's death, without proving his death to be the result of his Army service, be placed on the pension roll from the date of the application therefor under this Act, at the rate of eight dollars per month during her widowhood, and shall also be paid two dollars per month for each child of such officer or enlisted man under sixteen years of age; and in case of the death or remarriage of the widow, leaving a child or children of such officer or enlisted man under the age of sixteen years, such pension shall be paid such child or children until the age of sixteen: Provided, That in case a minor child is insane, idiotic, or otherwise physically or mentally helpless, the pension shall continue during the life of said child, or during the period of such disability; and this proviso shall apply to all pensions heretofore granted or hereafter to be granted under this or any former statute; and such pensions shall commence from the date of application therefor after the passage of this Act: And provided further, That said widow shall have married said soldier prior to the passage of the said Act of June twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety.1

INCREASE, WIDOWS AND MINORS; REGARDLESS OF INCOME.

ACT APRIL 19, 1908 (35 STAT. L., 64).

SECTION 1. That from and after the passage of this Act the rate of pension for widows, minor children under the age of sixteen years, and helpless minors as defined by existing laws, now on the roll or hereafter to be placed on the pension roll and entitled to receive a less rate than hereinafter provided, shall be twelve dollars per month; and nothing herein shall be construed to affect the existing allowance of two dollars per month for each child under the age of sixteen years and for each helpless child; and all Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed: Provided, however, That this Act shall not be so construed as to reduce any pension under any act, public or private.

SEC. 2. That if any officer or enlisted man who served ninety days or more in the Army or Navy of the United States during the late civil war and who has been honorably discharged therefrom has died or shall hereafter die, leaving a widow, such widow shall, upon due proof of her husband's death, without proving his death to be the result of his army or navy service, be placed on the pension roll from the date of the filing of her application therefor under this Act at the rate of twelve dollars per month during her widowhood, provided that said widow shall have married said soldier or sailor prior to June twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety; and the benefits of this section shall include those widows whose husbands if living would have a pensionable status under the Joint Resolutions of February fifteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, July first, nineteen hundred and two, and June twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and six.2

1 Fee for services in prosecution of claim not to be greater than $10. (See sec. 4, act June 27, 1890, p. 115.)

2 No fee for prosecution of claim under sec. 1. Under sec. 2 fee shall not be greater than $10. (See p. 117.)

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CONTINUOUS COHABITATION; DATE OF MARRIAGE.

ACT MARCH 3, 1899 (30 STAT. L., 1379).

Provided further, That hereafter no pension under any law of the United States shall be granted, allowed, or paid to the widow of a soldier, sailor, officer, naval or military, marine, marine officer, or any other male person entitled to a pension under any law of the United States, unless it shall be proved and established that the marriage of such widow to the soldier, sailor, officer, marine, or other person on account of whose service the pension is asked, was duly and legally contracted and entered into prior to the passage of this Act, or unless such wife shall have lived and cohabited with such soldier, sailor, officer, marine, marine officer, or other person continuously from the date of the marriage to the date of his death, or unless the marriage shall take place hereafter and prior to or during the military or naval service of the soldier, sailor, officer, marine, or other person on account of whose service the pension is asked or claimed. This proviso shall not apply to or affect the widow of any soldier, sailor, marine, officer, or marine officer serving or who has served in the war between the United States and the Kingdom of Spain.

LEGITIMACY OF CHILDREN.

SECTION 4704, REVISED STATUTES.

In the administration of the pension laws children born before the marriage of their parents, if acknowledged by the father before or after the marriage, shall be deemed legitimate.

WIDOWS OF COLORED AND INDIAN SOLDIERS.

SECTION 4705, REVISED STATUTES.

The widows of colored and Indian soldiers and sailors who have died, or shall hereafter die, by reason of wounds or injuries received, or casualty received, or disease contracted, in the military or navaĺ service of the United States, and in the line of duty, shall be entitled to receive the pension provided by law without other evidence of marriage than satisfactory proof that the parties were joined in marriage by some ceremony deemed by them obligatory, or habitually recognized each other as man and wife, and were so recognized by their neighbors, and lived together as such up to the date of enlistment, when such soldier or sailor died in the service, or, if otherwise, to date of death; and the children born of any marriage so proved shall be deemed and held to be lawful children of such soldier or sailor, but this section shall not be applicable to any claims on account of persons who enlist after the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.

ABANDONMENT OF CHILDREN BY WIDOW.

SECTION 4706, REVISED STATUTES.

If any person has died, or shall hereafter die, leaving a widow entitled to a pension by reason of his death and a child or children under sixteen years of age by such widow, and it shall be duly cer

tified under seal by any court having probate jurisdiction, that satisfactory evidence has been produced before such court, upon due notice to the widow, that she has abandoned the care of such child or children, or that she is an unsuitable person, by reason of immoral conduct, to have the custody of the same, on presentation of satisfactory evidence thereof to the Commissioner of Pensions, no pension shall be allowed to such widow until such child or children shall have attained the age of sixteen years, any provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding; and the said child or children shall be pensioned in the same manner, and from the same date, as if no widow had survived such person, and such pension shall be paid to the guardian of such child or children; but if in any case payment of pension shall have been made to the widow, the pension to the child or children shall commence from the date to which her pension has been paid.

DEPENDENT RELATIVES.

SECTION 4707, REVISED STATUTES.

If any person embraced within the provisions of sections forty-six hundred and ninety-two and forty-six hundred and ninety-three has died since the fourth day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, or shall hereafter die, by reason of any wound, injury, casualty, or disease, which under the conditions and limitations of such sections would have entitled him to an invalid pension, and has not left or shall not leave a widow or legitimate child, but has left or shall leave other relative or relatives who were dependent upon him for support, in whole or in part, at the date of his death, such relative or relatives shall be entitled, in the following order of precedence, to receive the same pension as such person would have been entitled to had he been totally disabled, to commence from the death of such person, namely: first, the mother; secondly, the father; thirdly, orphan brothers and sisters under sixteen years of age, who shall be pensioned jointly: Provided, That where orphan children of the same parent have different guardians, or a portion of them only are under guardianship, the share of the joint pension to which each ward shall be entitled shall be paid to the guardian of such ward: Provided, That if in any case said person shall have left father and mother who were dependent upon him, then, on the death of the mother, the father shall become entitled to the pension, commencing from and after the death of the mother; and upon the death of the mother and father, or upon the death of the father and the remarriage of the mother, the dependent brothers and sisters under sixteen years of age shall jointly become entitled to such pension until they attain the age of sixteen years respectively, commencing from the death or remarriage of the party who had the prior right to the pension: Provided, That a mother shall be assumed to have been dependent upon her son within the meaning of this section if, at the date of his death, she had no other adequate means of support than the ordinary proceeds of her own manual labor and the contributions of said son or of any other persons not legally bound to aid in her support; and if, by actual contributions, or in any other way, the son had recognized his obligations to aid in support of his mother,

or was by law bound to such support, and that a father or minor brother or sister shall, in like manner and under like conditions, be assumed to have been dependent, except that the income which was derived or derivable from his actual or possible manual labor shall be taken into account in estimating a father's means of independent support: Provided further, That the pension allowed to any person on account of his or her dependence, as hereinbefore provided, shall not be paid for any period during which it shall not be necessary as a means of adequate subsistence.1

PARENTS' DEPENDENCE AT DATE OF FILING CLAIM.

ACT JUNE 27, 1890 (26 STAT. L., 182).

SECTION 1. That in considering the pension claims of dependent parents, the fact of the soldier's death by reason of any wound, injury, casualty, or disease which, under the conditions and limitations of existing laws, would have entitled him to an invalid pension, and the fact that the soldier left no widow or minor children having been shown as required by law, it shall be necessary only to show by competent and sufficient evidence that such parent or parents are without other present means of support than their own manual labor or the contributions of others not legally bound for their support: Provided, That all pensions allowed to dependent parents under this act shall commence from date of the filing of the application hereunder and shall continue no longer than the existence of the depend

ence.

STEAMER JEANNETTE.

ACT JANUARY 3, 1887 (24 STAT. L., 883).

SEC. 2. That the twenty-third day of March, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, being the date of finding the remains of the commanding officer and others of the said expedition, shall be deemed and taken to be the date of the decease of the following-named officers and enlisted men of the expedition who lost their lives in the retreat from the wreck of the said steamer Jeannette, namely: Lieutenant-Commander George W. De Long; Lieutenant Charles W. Chipp; Passed Assistant Surgeon James M. Ambler; Jerome J. Collins, meteorologist; William Dunbar, ice-pilot; Walter Lee, machinist; Henrich H. Kaack, Carl A. Gortz, Adolph Dressler, Hans H. Erichsen, Ah Sam, Álfred Sweetman, Henry D. Warren, Peter E. Johnson, Edward Star, and Albert G. Kuehne, seamen; Nelse Iverson, George W. Boyd, and Walter Sharvill, coal-heavers; and seaman Alexy. SEC. 3. Provided further, That in any case where heretofore a pension has been granted, or may hereafter in fact be granted, to any such widow, child, or dependent parent, by reason of the death of any of the persons named in the second section of this act, in the payment of such pension account shall be taken of any sum paid under this act, and to the extent of its amount said sum shall be in lieu and stead of such pension, and no further.

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1 See sec. 1, act June 27, 1890, following. Claims filed after June 27, 1890, are adjudicated under sec. 4707, R. S., as amended by sec. 1, act June 27, 1890, the attorney fee being limited to $10. (19 P. D., 154.)