Sept. 17, 1912 A

Sept. 17, 1912 A

Togus, Me. Avenue

Notes: This scene is unlike what you will see today at Togus. Only one or two original out-buildings painted this sickly mustard color are still standing. This facility was among the nation's first veterans’ homes - established by Lincoln following the Civil War. The veterans’ pensions that Carrie Fifield mentions here were crucial concerns for years after the conflict. Eliza V. Paine Cotton (mother to Ben and Charles Nelson Cotton) collected a pension awarded following the death of her son, Hiram, during the War. Charles Nelson Cotton collected a pension and lived at Togus for a period. There is a very famous image painted by Eastman Johnson of the Pension Claim Agent (1867). Carrie Fifield’s reference to ‘brother John Cole” is clearly describing the death of her brother-in-law (Ellen Cotton’s husband). Ellen is buried at the Oak Grove cemetery in Pawtucket. She died quite a few years before her husband. John Cole is buried in Togus. Fannie and Florence were both daughters of John Cole, separated in age by almost twenty years. Fannie’s daughter, Grace, and Florence were about the same age. John H. Cole served in Company D. of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry. As Carrie Read wrote on her card, he was buried at the Togus facility, in the national cemetery located on those grounds.

The Hugh C. Leighton Co. Manufacturers, Portland, Me., USA 25237 Printed in Germany