Story appeared in the Las Vegas Sun, August 23, 2003 and written by Ed Koch
Dorothy Goodman listens to her mother, Ruby Drake (95 years young), daughter of Civil War veteran Harvey Holmes, speak about growing up in Indiana.
Surviving daughter of Civil War as told by Ruby Drake, daughter of Civil War veteran Harvey Holmes, speaks about growing up in Indiana.
Ruby Holmes Drake hardly remembers her father, but what memories she has of him make her laugh and help her forget the distance between them.
"I remember him sitting in a rocking chair under a tree," said Drake, a Las Vegas resident of two years who turns 95 on Tuesday. "My mother had hidden his crutches and he was demanding them. I thought it was funny at the time."
At the time, Drake was 3, her mother, Netta, was 29 and her father, Harvey Harry Holmes, was 69.
It was that unusual combination of ages that has made it possible for Ruby to attempt to join the Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War as a rare actual daughter of a man who fought in the War between the States.
Drake and her family are working with local Daughters of the Union Veterans officials to get her paperwork together to submit to the national organization so that she, her two daughters, two nieces and five grandchildren can join the Las Vegas Daughters of the Union Veterans Tent No. 79, which has just 17 members.
"We had Real Daughters when we started in 1948 as a chapter, but they're all gone," said Emmaline "Em" Becker, past president and spokeswoman for Tent 79. "To find a real daughter today is absolutely incredible."
In May the Sons of Union Veterans William B. Keith Camp 12 in Las Vegas, got a real son when 90-year-old Bruce Montgomery, a Las Vegas resident of 43 years, was confirmed by the national headquarters as the son of a soldier who had served in the Grand Army of the Republic.
There are only two dozen daughters of Union Civil War veterans known to be alive in the United States, according to the Daughters of the Union Veterans website.
"We occasionally find one or two who show up and want to join," said Anna Kinnison, of Bellwood, Neb., past national president for the organization that has about 3,500 members. "A few years ago we had one in Nebraska who joined. But unfortunately we lost her last year."
Kathy Wells, spokeswoman for the Latha Jane Boyd Tent No. 1 in Arlington, Texas, said "it's such a treasure" finding a Real Daughter.
"It is hard to fathom that there actually are daughters alive of men who fought in the Civil War," Wells said. "But in every case now, it has to be an older soldier, usually on his second or third marriage, marrying a young woman. "
Our tent had four Real Daughters at one time, but now, in the whole state of Texas, there are none that we know of who are alive.
" Drake, who was long active in the Apple Valley, Calif., Women's Club, scoffs at those who say she is too old to be active in an organization. Her daughter, June Farrington of Ridgecrest, Calif., said,
"Recently, when we told mom that Bob Hope died, she asked us what the cause was and we told her it was old age -- he was 100. She said 'Don't tell me 100 years is so old!' " Drake admits she is "not overly" interested in the Civil War. She says she is joining the Daughters of the Union Veterans now because her children, Farrington and Dorothy Goodman, and nieces Ruthie Esterling and Phyllis Parker, are history buffs who are intrigued with her and her father's lives.
"This is about our heritage -- I'm very interested in learning more about my grandfather, where he fought and how he lived," said Goodman, of Las Vegas. "Besides I get a kick out of telling people I'm 63 yet my grandfather fought in the Civil War. I love the expressions on their faces."
Harvey Holmes, according to his discharge papers, information from the Internet and Drake family archives, joined the 29th Regiment Indiana Infantry in 1861 at the same time his father, Samuel Holmes, joined the 9th Regiment Indiana Infantry.
Both men saw action at the battles of Shilo, Tenn., and Chickamauga, Ga.
In 1898 Harvey married 16-year-old Netta Della. Despite their vast difference in age and his deteriorating health from rheumatism that brought on paralysis, he fathered seven children by her -- Ruby was the second youngest.
At age 3, Ruby, along with her brothers and sisters, was sent to the Soldiers and Sailors Childrens Home near Knightstown, Ind., because Harvey was dying and Netta did not have the means to provide for them.
At age 7 Ruby was told by a teacher at the orphanage that her father had died at age 73.
"I asked my teacher if I should cry because I didn't feel like crying -- I really didn't know him," Ruby said.
Drake went on to graduate from the children's home high school in 1927, hopped a bus to California the next year and settled in Victorville, where she worked first as an office manager for a plumbing company and later as a longtime purchasing agent for the Victor Valley School District.
She also taught Sunday School, and some of the children of the town's most celebrated couple, cowboy stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, were in her class, Drake said.
Ruby married Tom Drake, who served in World War I. He died in 1965.
While Ruby could not pinpoint the happiest time in her life, she said "the saddest time had to be when my husband died because my children also were grown and they had their own families and lives."
Drake threw herself into her charity work with the women's club and traveled. Among the countries she visited were England and Mexico. She is the last survivor of her siblings.
Drake said the innovation during her lifetime that most impressed her was the airplane.
Although the automobile was invented before she was born, Drake said the first car she saw also was a marvel of her time because, as a young girl, she had traveled by horse-drawn carriage.
Drake said she never smoked nor drank -- "I never cared for it" -- but admits to enjoying her coffee with heavy cream.
She says the only secret to longevity she knows is "to keep breathing.
" Also, Drake says, "I don't let things bother me."
