Posted on 01/27/2015 7:40:15 PM PST by iowamark
RALEIGH, N.C. Luke Martin Jr., whose father was an ex-slave and Civil War Union soldier, has died 179 years after his father was born.
Martin was 97 when he died Sunday at his home in New Bern, North Carolina..
..lived in the house where he was born a house his father built in the 1890s.
Martin had little memory of his father, Luke Martin Sr., who died at age 84 in 1920 when the son was just a few years old, according to Martin-Williams. The elder Martin, who was born in 1836, was married twice, the second time to a much younger woman.
According to multiple historical references, Luke Martin Sr. was enslaved at a plantation near Plymouth, North Carolina, but escaped and became a member of the 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers, later called the 35th U.S. Colored Troops. The U.S. Colored Troops were established in 1863 and by the end of the Civil War, black soldiers comprised 10 percent of the Union Army.
Martin, a member of Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, also attended the 2013 unveiling of a historical marker at New Bern Academy that honors his father's regiment. The group's website said in announcing his membership last year that he was one of an estimated nine first-generation sons of Civil War veterans. One other man on that list died earlier in January.
All the recognition pleased her father, Martin-Williams said. "He was glad that he lived long enough to be recognized," she said.
In June, the Martin family loaned the elder Martin's Springfield rifle and a German-made Confederate sword to the state for one year. The items were part of a tour that also included North Carolina's original copy of the 13th Amendment.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
My father’s grandfather fought in the Civil War, on both sides. He joined up with irregulars on the Confederate side and fought at Shiloh Church and was captured and taken to Chase Prison camp. His brother and father came from what by then was West Virginia and he was paroled after they all promised to fight in the Union Army. He did and fought at Cedar Creek and one other battle close by I can’t remember. He later moved to Missouri where my grandfather and father were born.
“Luke Martin Sr., who died at age 84 in 1920 when the son was just a few years old...”
Wow, Hugh Hefner before there was a Hugh Hefner. Still getting lucky at 83...long before Viagra.
he would have been 80 at the birth.
I only have to live 11 more years to beat that record.
Im 76 now ao I have a good chance of making it since I can count on my 2 hands all my relatives that have died before 90 in the last 200 years.
I couldn’t find it with a quick Google, but I believe Benjamin Harrison’s grandson just recently died. I remember reading it and thinking the same thing.
A spouse, who was still receiving a pension check, passed away only a few years ago. Soldier married a young woman early in the 20th century and she lived into the 21st.
Wow.
When we moved to GreenAcres 10 years ago, I was remarking to a new business colleague and brother in The LORD just how much I was enjoying being smack in the midst of a treasure trove of Civil War history, including being not far from the RR line where The General ran.
This brother, warmly but firmly (with tongue planted solidly in cheek) responded in his warm southern voice, "...son, we don't refer to it as 'The Civil War'...in these parts here, it's known as The War of Northern Aggression..."
Still makes me smile today and I'm proud to be the "token Yankee" friend of many area natives...
I think it's John Tyler and I believe one or two are still alive.
Ahem...FIRST War of Northern Aggression.
It would not be that uncommon for a Civil War veteran with a pension to marry a much younger woman, who would take care of him during his old age in exchange for widow survivor rights to his pension. He might not even mind if she had a child by someone else, as long as she continued to take care of him.
https://buckeyemuse.wordpress.com/tag/betty-zane/
“The War Between the States”
LOL
In 1913 Pennsylvania hosted a reunion for the 50th anniversary of Gettysburg. It is written that the hosts did not count on Black Confederates attending the meeting and had no place to put them but the White Confederates made room for their Southern brothers.
Nice find.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.