Epilogue
A Family Fades
This has been the tale of a family famous in their time but whose memory has faded. After the war, the family slowly dissolved. Honest John and his wife Susan survived the war only about ten years. Bob was killed accidentally soon after the war, and left no surviving children. Minnie and Josh died unmarried.
Three left children
Margaret, who married James H. Childs, died young, but left Ernest Lee Childs who was raised by his aunt Minnie. His son Ernest Lee Childs, Jr. lived in Fauquier and a son and granddaughter survive. Ernest Lee Jr.’s sister, Agnes Conway Childs Nixdorff, is dead, but her three sons and their families survive.
Bettie, who married Billy Bowen, left one adopted child, Malcom Bowen. His descendants live in Remington. Dick moved to Missouri and had three daughters. But, Dick’s surviving grandchildren have no surviving children.
Thus, Honest John’s three Black Horse Cavalrymen sons’ left no male children to carry the Martin name. Honest John’s daughters left children whose descendants are in Fauquier and Illinois. Thus, this branch of the Martin family has petered out and will be carried on through the allied families of descendants of his two daughters, Margaret and Bettie.
History Dimmed
The historical memory of the family and its famous brothers has also
dimmed. The “bravest man in Lee’s army” is only a footnote. The old hymn
says, “Now let us praise famous men.” Perhaps one day we can recover “the
pride of old Fauquier,” and find a way to remember Bob Martin, “the
bravest man in Lee’s army,” and his dauntless brothers. Until then, “the
Martin boys the pride of old Fauquier,” once famous throughout Fauquier
and the entire Confederate army, lie hidden from view and memory, denied
to us and our posterity, to our everlasting loss.
However, we are a people …a community. A community cannot afford to throw its heroes away. But, if we have, it is our duty as witnesses for the future to collect them again for the sake of our children and ourselves, and if necessary, bone by bone.