To the editor:
Going back in time we are hampered by the present. The feminist view of the late 1960s and early ‘70s and 9/11 color ours. Judging people in earlier times by these views is questionable.
Jewett Williams, Civil War veteran, was so judged in a Sept. 21 letter to the editor on the basis of a newspaper clipping from 1871. The writer reacted from her 2016 outlook and urged readers to join her. The article covered the divorce proceeding granting a divorce from Jewett to Emma Niles Williams, his first wife.
A divorce. She said he had abused, neglected, threatened and terrorized her, and later, her mother as well. His view was missing, but details suggest that he was upset and perhaps crazed at the threat of losing his wife and their only child. Today’s knowledge suggests that he may have had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Apparently, her mother was her only witness. Divorce on the basis of “cruel and inhuman treatment” requires only one witness, who will state that he or she knows the person and agrees with what that person says. There is no mention of the spouse, as in this case no mention of Jewett’s side.
He had left farming at 21 in 1863 to enlist, joining the 20th Maine Regiment (famous for Col. Joshua Chamberlain’s leadership), fought in eight battles and been mustered out in November, 1864. To fight even one battle in the Civil War should make him a hero. (Having visited Gettysburg and other battlefields, read books, lasted through the four-hour movie – interested only in seeing Col. Joshua Chamberlain’s performance at Little Round Top, and endured reenactments, I wanted a medal for every blast of a cannon.)
We cannot imagine Jewett Wiliams’ experience in battles, being discharged to look for work, marrying, having a child to support and then losing wife and child. However, he left for more plentiful jobs in the West and within a few months was working in Minneapolis and married to 17-year-old Nora Carey, A year later they had a boy, Franklin, who died of scarlet fever at 19 months. They remained married 28 years, which included six children and some separations.
He continued moving for jobs, at one point took in seven lodgers/boarders, and was still working, as a common laborer at 75. By 1919 he had moved to Oregon where he was a member of a group of veterans, who spoke at schools in the areas. The newspapers reported each school and date.
He died at 78, two months after being admitted to a mental institution for “senility” (dementia). Service people with PTSD are twice as likely to develop dementia as those without.
All in all, he lived 78 years without being in jail, without an alcohol or drug problem, without being on welfare. And he was available to census takers, for which we thank him.
A Korean War veteran I knew felt that his war was overlooked or forgotten. Later in life, while in the hospital, Korean doctors thanked him for his service and shook his hand. He was visibly moved.
My mother was born and grew up in Hodgdon, where her father, John B. Hand, owned the general store; she was 22 when Jewett died. When my niece and I went to the town offices for help in looking for graves in the cemetery, we were treated royally (and we found the graves.)
Hodgdon can feel honored to have Jewett there, and I would thank him, a bit belatedly, for serving in the 20th Maine. I thank the Patriot Guard Riders and all others who helped get his cremains to Hodgdon, as well.
May Jewett rest in a much-deserved peace.
