“LONELY WAR VETERAN WANTS HANOVER WIFE”
That was the headline above the Hanover news section of the York Gazette on April 30, 1908.
Why did Civil War veteran George M. Prince write to Hanover, Pennsylvania Postmaster Hostetter asking for names of widows?
It seems that George M. Prince had been a member of the Fifth New York Cavalry, under General Kilpatrick, when they skirmished with Confederate troops at Hanover in 1863. Sometime in the 45 years that had since passed, Prince had moved to Federalsburg, Maryland. After his wife died, he remembered how kind the people of Hanover had been to the Union soldiers and wrote that “…he would be pleased to correspond with a Hanover widow of forty-five or fifty years of age, with a view to matrimony.”
I don’t know if he had any takers. The newspaper said that Hanover had a number of fine widows and “old maids.”
Does anyone know if George M. Prince found the Hanover woman of his dreams? Considering that he was probably about 65 years old by then, he had evidently had high hopes of finding a younger wife.
Click here to read about Confederate sword found at Hanover.
