One generation removed

December 22, 2012 3:11 PM

Albert L. Comer Sr., 91, Maryland’s (or the USA's - article ambiguity) last surviving son of a Confederate veteran, died earlier this week.

His full obituary. Albert was the son of James J. Comer, the youngest infantryman in General Stonewall Jackson’s 33rd Brigade.

Previously on MetaFilter. (1) Maudie Hopkins, the last widow of a veteran of the US civil war, died in 2008. (2) Alberta Martin, the last known widow of a civil war veteran, died in 2004.

Also, the last surviving United States war veterans.

posted by Wordshore (5 comments total)

Wiki seems to suggest that Hopkins superseded Martin? It's a little confusing. Also, iirc, there are potentially one or two others still alive (according to pension data, maybe?) that have chosen to remain anonymous.
posted by elizardbits at 3:59 PM on December 22, 2012

So crazy. I can't imagine talking to someone who served in WW1, much less the civil war.
posted by lumpenprole at 4:24 PM on December 22, 2012

Apparently, during the Long Depression (from the 1870's to 1890's) a Civil War veteran with a guaranteed steady income from a pension was quite a catch. My great grandmother was 16 when she married her veteran, in his 60's. My grandfather had nephews a decade older than he was. It really stretched out the generations around that time. My mother was born in 1930, nearly a century after her grandfather.
posted by pbrim at 4:25 PM on December 22, 2012 [10 favorites]

My Grandfather when he was a child knew men who fought at Gettysburg so it has never seemed so distant to me.
posted by three blind mice at 4:24 AM on December 23, 2012 [2 favorites]

My father, who just turned 93, remembers his grandfather telling him Civil War stories (he was in the Union Army) when he was young, and he has told them to me. His father was in WWI and knew Charles Nungesser. My husband's grandfather, who both of us knew well, was also in WWI. My grandmother was a governess on a big estate in Pomerania before WWI and told me stories about what life was like. My great great grandfather was in the War of 1812. My husband and I are in our 50s. Some families like ours marry late, and have their kids late. It stretches things out. It's kind of nice actually, and makes us feel connected to them and to history in a personal way.
posted by gudrun at 7:04 PM on December 23, 2012 [1 favorite]