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←The Lown Children

Frederick Martin

Frederick A. Martin’s monument draws our attention due to its size and the Civil War soldier standing atop, commemorating Martin’s military service. The inscription mentions his affiliation with the fraternal organization of Masons before it notes this location is also the burial site of his wife Susan (Near) Martin who predeceased him in 1899. Their only child Joseph Louis Martin predeceased him in 1902 in Red Hook at the age of 30. and his wife are also buried here. Frederick’s survivors included five sisters, a brother, and his son’s widow.

Martin was born in Barrytown, NY, on December 7, 1837, the oldest child of Joseph and Margarite Serena Barringer Martin. His father was a lawyer in Red Hook, and probably the attorney mentioned as having offices in the Conklin and Allendorf building, according to “Reminiscences of Red Hook,” the Edmund Bassett booklet.

Martin and his brother-in-law Beekman R. Near (who is buried in East Greenbush and lived to the age of 49) enlisted and served together in the Civil War. Martin enlisted in Company I of the 115th New York Regiment of infantry on August 21, 1862, in Ballston, NY. According to the National Parks Service website, the regiment left New York State on August 30, 1862, and was attached to Miles’ Command at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, for its defense from September 12–15, 1862, where they surrendered on September 15. They were paroled the next day and eventually sent to Washington, D.C., to help defend the city until the end of the year. Martin’s regiment moved up and down the mid-Atlantic region, and he served until he mustered out June 7, 1865, as a Corporal, still in hospital at Fort Monroe, VA, where he had been sick since August 25, 1864. (Martin’s friend and brother-in law Beekman Near, who was two years older than Frederick and eight years older than Frederick’s eventual wife Susan) was also injured in the Civil War, wounded in action at Fort Fisher, NC, on January 15, 1865. Beekman did survive, eventually dying almost 20 years later on December 3, 1884. One wonders if Frederick and Beekman’s connection as brothers-in-law preceded their military service or came after. Frederick’s occupation in Red Hook was described in the New York, U.S., Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, 1861-1900 as a carpenter/joiner. He was 5’5”, of dark complexion, had black hair and blue eyes. Based upon his monument, seemingly as important to Frederick as his military service was his affiliation with the Masonic order where he was a member, as the inscription notes:

There is no mention on his tombstone of his 25 years of work with the Boston and Albany railroad as a bookkeeper, which is not surprising as most people do not have their professions inscribed on their tombstones. Affinities supersede occupations.

A connection to Red Hook runs through Martin’s life given that he returned to and lived in his boyhood home of Red Hook and chose to be buried in St. Paul’s cemetery—under his monument, one that draws attention to his service during war and into peace.

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