Esther Sumner Damon (August 1, 1814 – November 11, 1906) was cited as the last widow of the American Revolutionary War to receive a

state pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

. Esther was born in

Bridgewater, Vermont Bridgewater is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 903 at the 2020 census. Bridgewater contains the hamlets of Bridgewater Village, Bridgewater Corners, West Bridgewater, and Bridgewater Center (formerly called Br ...

. The family had eight or nine children. Esther's father was killed by a falling tree when she was eight years old. Esther attended school during the winter and worked during the summers to help support her family. At the age of seventeen, Esther became a

school teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

. Esther Sumner married Noah D. Damon (August 25, 1760 – July 2, 1853) on September 6, 1835, in Bridgewater, when she was 21 and he was 75. The couple had met two weeks prior.

Husband's war service

Noah Damon enlisted in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

on April 19, 1775, as a private with the Massachusetts troops. Over the next five years, he served from as little as six days to eight months in various companies and regiments. Noah applied for a war pension, as a resident of Plainfield, New Hampshire on November 13, 1848. Noah was penniless, though Esther may have thought he was a hardworking landowner. Esther supported him for three years before financial necessity forced him to move in with his daughter in New Hampshire. Esther supported herself by sewing and nursing. She also leased a farm near Reading. After Noah's death in 1853, Esther applied for and received his pension from October 1855. The pension was increased to $24 a month by the United States Congress on February 28, 1905. Towards the end of her life, Esther received additional financial support from the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

. Esther died on November 11, 1906, aged 92, and was buried at

Plymouth Notch Cemetery The Plymouth Notch Cemetery in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, is noted as the burial place for 30th President of the United States Calvin Coolidge, as well as his wife Grace, children (Calvin Coolidge, Jr. 1908–1924, John Coolidge 1906–2000), and ...

in Plymouth, Vermont. The gravestone was paid for by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Damon, Esther Sumner 1814 births 1906 deaths Widowhood in the United States