Servicemen were urged to take out insurance policies, which the Wilson brothers did. After the loss of Dale, Danny, and Junior, and after Leora was widowed, she didn’t have another source of income. At the time she lived with her oldest son Delbert and his family on the acreage near Perry.
I don’t know the circumstances for this deposition, but Leora declared her income and expenses as of April 1, 1947.
STATE OF IOWA
DALLAS COUNTY
I, Leora Frances Wilson, being first duly sworn on oath depose and say that I am 56 years of age, the date of my birth being December 4th, 1890, that the only source of income I have is insurance received as beneficiary on the insurance policies of my three sons, to-wit:
8BAAC
XC 6 085 514 Wilson, Daniel S. $54.80 per month
XC 4 134 793 Wilson, Clairborne [sic] J. $54.80 per month
XC 6 085 483 Wilson, Dale R. $52.50 per month
and then $90.00 per month pension, $30.00 on each above mentioned boy.
My expenses per month would be approximately $125.00.
___________________________
Subscribed and sworn to before me by the said Leora Frances Wilson, this 1st day of April A.D. 1947.
___________________________
Deputy Clerk of the District
Court, in and for Dallas County,
Iowa.
I wonder why….
I also wonder. No letters, no diaries from those days, and I just found the document.
Was it about the time she moved? Perhaps she requested assistance from the government?
Hmm, I wonder whether there’s still something I haven’t discovered yet. Still sorting through official papers.
This is an aspect of Leora’s story I hadn’t thought of. I wonder if town (or county) records might be able to shed some light on the circumstances around this deposition.
Thanks for the suggestion, Liz. Sis Gloria remembers that later in life, Grandma needed to prove she was still alive in order to still receive payments.
You’re welcome, Joy. That must have ben a surreal experience getting that notice.
Monthly expenses of $125!!!! Times sure have changed. What would be Lenora’s response if she came back today? We have to replace our dryer this week. We’ll be spending seven or eight times that figure to replace it. Ha ha. Yes, times have changed.
Yes, Leora (no N) hung her “washing” on the line in those days. She also lived with her son and his family for another year before making a home with her widowed mother in Guthrie Center, where she had electricity and running water and a real bathtub!
I wonder, too. As if she needed to justify her financial state in order to protect herself in some way? Maintain – or gain access to services or support?
She certainly did when she was older and still receiving payments, Vicki, but this wasn’t that long after the war.
So curious! Keep us posted if you uncover more…it looked oh-so formal! 💕
I will. Thanks, Vicki!
Leora must have been remarkably thrifty. Her income appeared to be about average for a nonfarm family in 1947. Interesting information. 🙂
Her oldest son and family moved home to be with her and Clabe after losing their three sons. After Clabe died, she still lived with them.
Praise the Lord for family.
Yes! She was blessed by grandchildren during that time, also living nearby for a few years. I’m working on her later years now and enjoy watching how often her brothers came from Omaha to see their mother, and also their sister Leora, when they moved together to the county seat town of Guthrie Center.
They were such a lovely family!
Thank you, Nancy. I didn’t realize it when they were still living.
Sad that her income came from the loss of her sons. 😣
Yes. . . .
[…] didn’t realize it then but that Grandma had bought those bonds with insurance money she received after the loss of Dale, Danny, and Junior. Those brothers helped me get started in […]
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