The humble hand-engraved (perhaps with a nail?) concrete tombstone of M. M. Chaney, the wife of T. W. Chaney, stands in stark contrast to her husband's impressive white marble tombstone in beautiful historic Hillcrest Cemetery in Canton TX.
Thomas W. Chaney was a Confederate Civil War veteran originally from Alabama. He died in 1903 and was buried in Hillcrest Cemetery under a beautiful marble tombstone.
His wife Mary McClellan Chaney was granted a pension based on his service in 1911. Wheh she died in 1924, a mortuary warrant to pay the expenses of her final illness and burial was issued by the State of Texas. Both documents are reproduced here:
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Widow's Application for Pension | 1911 | Van Zandt County, Texas
Form B, Widow's Application for Pension
Name of Applicant:
Mrs. M.M. Chaney
Van Zandt County
Postoffice, Canton
Filed: July 7th, 1911
Approved: March 7, 1912
Pension allowed from June 7, 1912
The State of Texas, County of Van Zandt
I, Mrs. M.M. Chaney, do hereby make application to the Commissioner of Pensions for a pension, to be granted me under the Act passed by the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Texas, and approved March 26, A.D. 1909 on the following grounds:
I am the widow of T.W. Chaney, deceased, who departed this life on the___day of March 1903 in the county of Van Zandt in the State of Texas.
I have not remarried since the death of my saide husband, and I do solemly swear that I was never divorced from my said husband, and that I never voluntarily abandoned him during his life, but remained his true, and faithful and lawful wife up to the date of his death. I was married to him on the 8 day of Feb 1867, in the county of Talidega, in the state of Alabama.
My husband, the said T.W. Chaney, enlisted and served in the military service of the Confederate Sates during the war between the States of the United States, and that he did not desert the Confederate Service. I have been a resident of the State of Texas since prior to March 1, A.D., 1880, and have been continuously since a citizen of the state of Texas. I do furthur state that I do not receive any source whatever money or other means of support amounting in value to the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars per annum, nor do I own in my own right, nor does any one hold in trust for my benefit or use, estate or property, either real, personal or mixed, either in fee or for life, of the assessed value of over one thousand dollars; nor do I receive any aid or pension from any other State, or from the United States, or from any other source, and I do furthur state that the answers to the following questions are true:
1. What is your age?
66 years
2. Where were you born?
Talidega Co., Alabama
3. How long have you resided in Texas?
39 years
4. How long have you resided in the county of your present residence? And what is your postoffice address?
39 years, Canton, Texas Route 7
5. What was your husband's full name?
Thomas Washington Chaney
6. What was the date of his death?
March 1903
7. In what State was your husband's command originally organized?Mississippi, I think
8. How long did your husband serve? If known to you, give the date of enlistment and discharge.
Do not know of my own knowledge.
9. What was the name or letter of the company, or name of the battalion, regiment or battery of artillery in which your husband served? If he was transferred from one branch of service to another, give the time of transfer, description of command and time of service.
Do not know of my own knowledge
10. Name branch of service in which your husband served, whether infantry, cavalry, artillery or the navy, or if commissioned as an officer by the President, his rank and line of duty, or if detailed for special service, under the law of conscription, the nature of such service, and time of service.
Do not know
11. Have you transferred to others any property of any kind for the purpose of becoming a beneficiary under this law?
No.
Wherefore your petitioner prays that her application for a pension by approved and such other proceedings be had in the premises as are required by law.
Signature of Applicant: Mrs. M.M. Chaney
Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 1st day of May, A.D., 1911, C.L. Stanford, County Judge, Van Zandt County, Texas
Affidavit of Witnesses
The State of Texas, County of Van Zandt
Before me, C.L. Stanford, County Judge of Van Zandt County, State of Texas, on this day personally appeared Robert McClellen and W.S. Pearson, who are personally known t me to be credible citizens, who, being by me duly sworn, on oath state that they personally know that Mrs. M.M. Chaney, applicant for a pension as the widow of T.W. Chaney deceased, is in truth and fact the widow of T.W. Chaney deceased; that they personally know that she has not remarried since the death of her husband, for whose service in the Army she claims a pension, and that they have no interest in this claim.
Signed: Robert McClellen
W.S. Pearson (his mark)
Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 5th day of July, A.D. 1911, C.L. Stanford, County Judge, Van Zandt County, Texas
Affidavit of Witnesses
The State of Texas, County of Van Zandt
Before me, C.L. Stanford, County Judge of Van Zandt County, State of Texas, on this day personally appeared Robert McClellen and W.S. Pearson, who are personally known to me to be credible citizens, who, being by me duly sworn, on oath state that they personally know the above named applicant for a pension, and that they personally know that the said Mrs. M.M. Chaney has been a bona fide resident of the State of Texas since prior to March 1, A.D. 1880, and that they have no interest in this claim.
Signed: Robert McClellen
W.S. Pearson (his mark)
Sworn to and subcribed before me, this 5th day of July A.D. 1900, C.L. Stanford, County Judge, Van Zandt County, Texas
Statement of Robert McClellan:
Robert McClellen says that he has known the siad T.W. Chaney since he was a boy and that he knows that T.W. Chaney left to go to the Confederate Army and was gone for the time of said war and that he returned after the war and that they lived in the same settlement and knows that T.W. Chaney served in the Confederate Army. (Personal Note: Death certificate of Mary M. Chaneys gives father's name as Robert McClellen, mother's name not given, witness, R.L. Chaney)
W.S. Pearson in addition to the above facts says that he served in the same regiment with T.W. Chaney for four years and that he made a good soldier, and that he knew of his own knowledge said facts, Said Reg. being 8th Confederate Reg. Wheeler's Brigade
Signed: Robert McClellen
W.S. Pearson (his mark)
War Department, The Adjutant Generl's office, Washington, July 11, 1911.
Respectfully returned to the Commissioner of Pensions, State of Texas, Austin: The records show that Thos. W. Chaney, private, Company A, 8th Confederate Cavalry, Confederate States Army, enlisted August 13, 1861, and was paroled at Hillsboro, North Carolina, May 3, 1865, with remark, "with wagon train"; date and place of parole also shown as May 25, 1865, at Talladega, Alabama" [end]
Mary M. Chaney died in 1924. As a Condederate pensioner, she was entitled to burial at state expense:
"Application for Mortuary Warrant |1924 | Van Zandt County, Texas
I, R.L. Chaney do herby certify that I am the person to whom is entrusted the paying of the accounts and indebtedness of the late Mrs. Mary M. Chaney, who was a pensioner of the State of Texas, and whose file number was 20680 and whose original county was Van Zandt.
The said pensioner Mrs. Mary M. Chaney, died on the 14 day of October 1924, in the town of Edgewood, Texas RFD#1, County of Van Zandt, Texas. The pensioner died at the home of R.L. Chaney who was related to the pensioner as his mother.
That warrant, which application is herby made for, shall be applied to paying all or part of the expenses incurred by the said pensioner....burial expenses and Doctor bills during last sickness.
I furthur certify that the warrant for the current quarter has not been cashed by the pensioner, to the best of my knowledge and belief.
I am related to the pensioner as Son that my post office address in Edgewood, Texas, RFD#1
Signed: R.L. Chaney
Sworn to before me this 14 day of November, 1924, H.J. Craft, County Clerk in and for Van Zandt County, Texas.
Certificate of Undertaker
I, S.F. Hilliard, do certify that I am undertaker in the town of Canton County of Van Zandt, State of Texas that body of Mrs. M.M. Chaney who died in the County of Van Zandt, State of Texas on the 14 day of October 1924. That said body was prepared for burial by me on the 15 day of October 1924 and that I am of the opinion that warrant herein applied for should be issued to said R.L. Chaney who makes the foregoing application.
Signed: S.F. Hilliard, Undertaker
Certificate of Physician
I, Willard C. Hearin, do certify that I am a practicing physician, and that I attended Mrs. Mary M. Chaney in his last illness and am of the opinion that his ailments were pneumonia and pellegra.
I furthur certify that I am of the opinion that the Mortuary Warrant above requested should be issued in the name of the aforementioned applicant, in accordance with Act passed by the Thirty-eighth Legislature and approved March 2, 1923.
Signed, Willard C. Hearin, Canton, Texas" [end]
It is left to history as to why T. W. Chaney has such a grand tombstone and his wife such a humble one. Perhaps poverty descended on the family when he died, and 20 years later there was no money for a matching stone for his wife.
That seems logical, given that the Confederate Widow's pensions in Texas were very small. When Mary McClellan Chaney was awarded her pension in 1912, the State of Texas paid $42 a year in quarterly increments. By the time of her death in 1924, she would have been receiving $127.00 per year in four quarterly payments as her pension.
The state began paying burial expenses via the mortuary warrant process in 1917. In 1924 the maximum amount Mrs. Chaney's heirs could have received would have been $65. [source: Texas State Library (
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Whatever the circumstances and reasons for the vastly different types of tombstones for a husband and wife, the visual impact of them are striking.