The full title of this 1930 U.S. Government publication reads Pilgrimage for the Mothers and Widows of Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines of the American Forces Now Interred in the Cemeteries of Europe as provided by the Act of Congress of March 2, 1929. That law of Congress provided funds for widows and mothers to visit the graves of their loved ones in Europe who died in World War I. The "Letter of Transmittal" by Acting Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley as shown below explains the effort conducted to find these widows and mothers. The book is 339 pages and includes an index of states and counties, and then listings for each state organized by county where the women lived.
This copy was sent by the office of U.S. Senator from Alabama Hugo L. Black to a library, which at some point discarded this duplicate copy. An embossed stamp on the title page identifies that library as the one at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now Auburn University. The book is House Document 140 of the 71st Congress, 2nd session. The document is online via the Hathi Trust.
The vast majority of women listed seem to be mothers, which might indicate how many deceased soldiers and sailors were unmarried. I wonder how many women actually made the trip to Europe.
To quote from the "Letter of Transmittal":
"In making this investigation an effort was made to locate all of the mothers and widows who are entitled to the benefits of the act and to ascertain their wishes....On November 15, 1929, the investigation showed the following results:
(1) Total number of mothers and widows entitled to make the pilgrimages, 11,440
(2) Number of such mothers and widows who desire to make the pilgrimages, 6,730
(3) Number of such mothers and widows who desire to make the pilgrimages during the calendar year 1930, 5,323
(4) Probable cost of the pilgrimages to be made, $5,653,200"
The entire listing for Alabama can be seen below.
