Page One

"Bonny Blue Flag"

     Benjamin Richard Markham’s  father, Jesse Markham, was  born in Washington County, Virginia,   March 1808.   He moved to Botetourt County with his father, Nathaniel in 1820,   and lived on Jennings Creek, which is  located  in  the  heart  of  the    Blue Ridge Mountains. When Jesse Markham was 24 years old  he went to Bedford County, and married Mary Kennedy, on September 24, 1832.   Jesse and Mary lived with her father, Benjamin Kennedy, until 1837, at which time they moved with their family back to Jennings Creek; where they lived and raised a large family.

    Jesse Markham and Mary Kennedy Markham had four sons and three daughters.  Benjamin Richard was their second child, born May 22, 1835.  When he was twenty one, he returned to Bedford County and secured employment with Col. James Winston Watts near  Liberty, Virginia. When Col. Watts observed the sterling qualities of Benjamin Markham, he arranged for the young man to take a course of study preparatory to taking  charge  of  a  large factory  that  Col. Watts contemplated erecting  on his place.  In 1861 with the factory completed, work had just begun when WAR was declared, at which time both Benjamin Markham and Col. Watts took up arms in defense of their Native State.     

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