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A fun funeral
By Anne Calos
Thursday, June 10, 2026

With all the interest in the Civil War lately, I’m surprised that the story about the last Civil War widow’s death didn’t garner more media coverage. After all, the war ended nearly 140 years ago.

Just in case you missed it, Alberta Martin, 97, died — appropriately enough — on Memorial Day, at a nursing home in Montgomery, Ala.

The woman was the last direct living link to the Civil War, although the war was long over when she was born.

Born Alberta Stewart on Dec. 4, 1906, she was the daughter of sharecroppers. Her mother died when she was 11, and at age 18, she married a cab driver, Howard Farrow. The couple had a son before Farrow was killed in a car accident in 1926.

As a young widow with a baby, apparently Alberta didn’t have a lot of options, so in 1927, 21-year-old Alberta married 81-year-old William Jasper Martin, a Confederate War veteran with a $50-a-month pension.

Incredibly, 10 months later, Alberta gave birth to a son, William. Her veteran husband died in 1931. Not one to pine over her loss, Alberta married her late husband’s grandson two months later.

Many years later, Alberta was asked if she loved her elderly husband. Her quote is an interesting one.

“That’s a hard question to answer. I cared enough about him to live with him. You know the difference between an old man and a young man,” Alberta said.

Well, apparently Alberta did.

At any rate, Alberta is to be buried in an 1860s-style ceremony in Alabama on Saturday.

But local Civil War buffs don’t have to travel all the way to Alabama to attend an authentic Civil War-era funeral.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, Cold Springs Cemetery in the town will be the site of “A Sundae at Cold Springs.” The event will include an authentic Civil War-era military burial service for Private Wesley Steele, a volunteer soldier from the area who was killed in a Civil War battle at age 17. His tombstone is near the Chestnut Ridge Road entrance of the cemetery.

Re-enactors from Company H, 49th N.Y. Infantry, along with cemetery board members, will perform the ceremony. In addition to the burial service, the day will include talks by the re-enactors, self-guided tours of historic sections of the cemetery and a chance to socialize over a Perry’s ice cream sundae. The cost is $5 per person or $20 per family, and proceeds will benefit the cemetery’s maintenance fund.

So if you’re free on Sunday and want to brush up on some history, this sounds like a great event. Organizers are even encouraging attendees to wear their mid-19th century garb so they can truly feel like they belong.

Features Editor Anne Calos’ column appears Thursdays. Contact her at (716) 439-9222, Ext. 6239, or [email protected].
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