From the Captain's Treasure Chest - Newspaper Clippings

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Proving you never know what will be found in the newspapers, the following article contains valuable clues to the genealogist. It appeared in the Evansville Press on 21 February 1918, page 3. - BJJ

Civil War Vet Has 100 Descendants

Mr. and Mrs. Martin Zehner, 812 Garvin St., have so many grandchildren and great-grandchildren that they can’t remember all their names. They have an even 100 descendants, some of whom they haven’t seen. The couple have 10 children, 23 grandchildren and 67 great-grandchildren – all living in Indiana.

The Zehners were married in 1866 on a farm four miles from Evansville, where all their children were born. A chance acquaintance led to Zehner’s marriage. Zehner met the father of his wife, Conrad Colrazer, in an Evansville barroom a few months before he married Mary Ann. He spent the day with the Colrazer on their farm near Evansville and there fell in love with the girl who is now his wife. Tho he can’t name all his descendants, Zehner can tell you all about what happened at Shiloh, Chicamauga, Ft. Donaldson, or Murpheesboro. He served with the Union army in both artillery and infantry.

“I was stationed at the White House two weeks before my discharge, and use to salute Lincoln every day when he came out,” he said. “I served four months in Libby prison and lost 48 pounds.”

Zehner claims to be the only living man who helped lay the cornerstone of the First Catholic church in Warrick Co., St. John’s at St. John’s, Ind., built in 1863.

- Submitted by Brenda Joyce Jerome