COUNTY’S ONLY CIVIL WAR WIDOW - 1963

PICKARD, HARVEY, SCARFF, FICKEL

Posted By: Pat Ryan White (email)
Date: 9/19/2016 at 08:10:45

COUNTY’S ONLY CIVIL WAR WIDOW

“He was just like gold to me,” said Mrs. Lavinia Pickard, as she affectionately referred to her husband, the late John D. Pickard, Civil War Veteran who served with the Seventh Iowa Infantry, during the rebellion of 1861 to 1865.

Mrs. Pickard, one of Mt. Pleasant’s eldest senior citizens, and the only known Civil War widow living in Henry County, will celebrate her 91st birthday on Christmas Eve, 1963.

Born in 1872 in Lee County near West Point, she made her home in that area all of her life until a few years ago when she came to Mt. Pleasant to reside. Presently, she makes her home with Mrs. Ethel Scarff and her mother, Mrs. Cora Fickel, 205 South Jackson, Mt. Pleasant.

Born Lavinia Leana Harvey, she was one of five children of Mr. and Mrs. John Harvey. There were three sons and two daughters.

As a young woman of 32, following a one-year courtship, she married John D. Pickard in 1905. He was then 62 and a retired Civil War veteran who had come home to his beloved Iowa and Lee County after the war.

According to a diary kept by Mr. Pickard, he recorded dates and events in which he served during the rebellion and this is now a treasured possession of his widow.

[Excerpts from October 12, 1963, “Mt. Pleasant News”, article by Billie Turley]