Wesley Marken (1832 - 1864)

Born 30 Sep 1832 in Frederick, Frederick, Maryland, USA

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 13 Oct 1864 at age 32 in Andersonville, Sumter, Georgia, USA

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Biography

Wesley Marken was a farmer and a carpenter before he joined the Union cause in the Civil War. He joined on March 24, 1864 and was a member of Company F of the First Regiment Potomac Home Brigade Infantry, recruited in Washington Co., Maryland. The First Regiment marched with the Army of the Potomac to the Potomac River and performed guard duty on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Maryland and Virginia. During a skirmish at Duffield Station, Virginia, on June 6, 1864, Wesley was captured and taken prisoner and shipped to Andersonville Prison in Georgia, the worst Confederate Prison in the war. He died at Andersonville Prison on Oct. 13, 1864, and is buried there in Section H - Grave No. 10861.

Wesley Marken Wesley Marken was born in Frederick County, Maryland, on the 30th September 1832, the son of Samuel and Margaret Brunner Marken. He was a farmer and a carpenter, living near Wolfsville, Maryland. On the 20th of August 1854 Wesley Marken was married to Sarah Hurley Haynes. Wesley and Sarah were married by Rev. Christian Starchman in the St. John’s Lutheran Church.

Wesley and Sarah Marken were the parents of two daughters and two sons, Minetta Virginia, Sarah Ellen, Samuel Franklin, and John Wesley C. Marken.

On March 24, 1864 Wesley Marken volunteered to serve as a Union soldier in the Army of the United States for a period of three years. His enlistment papers have recorded that Wesley Marken had blue eyes, dark hair, and was six feet in height. During the Civil War he was captured and held in the Civil War Prison Camp at Andersonville, Georgia. On October 13, 1864, Wesley died in the hospital from dysentery. Wesley Marken is buried in the Civil War Memorial Cemetery at Andersonville, Georgia in Section H with grave number 10861.

When Wesley Marken died, his wife was left with four young children. The children were admitted to a foster home. Later Sarah Marken went to court to gain custody of her four children. To support her family Sarah worked as a seamstress. Later Sarah did receive a widow’s Civil War Pension.

Sarah Elizabeth Haynes Marken died in 1883 at the age of 46 years old. She was buried with her Haynes family in the Wolfsville United Brethren Cemetery (now Salem United Methodist Cemetery).

After Sarah Marken’s death, her daughter, Minetta Marken, moved to Lodi, Ohio. In 1886, Samuel Frank Marken, at the age of twenty-five years, also moved to Ohio. Later the younger brother, John Wesley Marken, left Maryland to live in Ohio. The other sister, Sarah Ellen Marken Myers lived near Hagerstown, Maryland. Sarah Ellen Myers died in 1891 at the age of 33 years from lockjaw after stepping on a nail. At one time Sarah Myers’s sons lived near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, raising and selling Draft Horses.

The Wesley Marken families in Ohio lost contact with the George Myers family in Maryland. In the Marken Book the genealogical records of the Myers families and the Saum families are missing.

The wife of James Wrestler Marken, son of Samuel Frank Marken, died young with infection from childbirth, leaving five very young children. The children were cared for by the grandparents (Frank and Mary Marken), aunts, and foster parents. James W. Marken was divorced from his second wife when his youngest son was only eight months old. Jack Walter Marken lived with his mother, Mary Likens, and his step-father. Sylvia Marken Waltz, daughter of James W. Marken, shared four photo-copied pages from the Big Bible belonging to the Wesley Marken family. The members of the Wesley and Sarah Marken family have thru the years written down in the Bible records of births, marriages, and deaths. Regardless of the early deaths in the Wesley Marken’s family, his children and grandchildren tried to keep the family together.

Many of the descendants of the Wesley and Sarah Haynes Marken were members of the Dunkard Church and the Dunkard Church and the Church of the Brethren. Several descendants of the Samuel Frank and Mary Kissel Marken family became ministers and missionaries. Most of the known descendants of the Wesley Marken family lived in Ohio.

Lawrence McKinley Marken, son of Frank and Mary Marken had a hobby of collecting antiques. He collected and repaired old mechanical music makers. His home became a museum full of antiques.

Wesley Marken suffered a horrible death. But he has a peaceful burial-site. The United States government takes excellent care of the Civil War Memorial Cemetery at Andersonville, Georgia. As you walk and tour the cemetery and the prison site, a calm, awesome atmosphere overcomes you.

Sources

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/167599131/person/172178043572/facts

• Source: S-1279086892 Repository: #R-1548427886 Title: Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Page: Ancestry Family Tree Data: Text: http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=50193025&pid=1097
• Repository: R-1548427886 Name: Ancestry.com