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At the close of the War, he returned to Bedford County; and again, entered the employment of Col. James Watts, with whom he remained until 1888, as a partner of Watts, Markham, Jones & Company.  They had  stores in  Lynchburg, Danville, Bedford,  Roanoke, and Salem, and  for a quarter of a century, theirs was the leading hardware house in Western Virginia.  In 1876, prior to leaving this business, he bought a  farm near Lowry, Virginia, where he lived and reared a large  family.

      In 1868, Benjamin Richard Markham married Jane Calpurnia Lee, a cousin of Col. James Watts, and  daughter  of Thomas Newell Lee and France S. J. Hardy, who lived near Otterville.  To this union were born seven children, three sons and four daughters.  They were James Richard, Walter Allen, George Jones, May Belle, Lillian Lee, Willie Calpurnia, and Ellie Watts. 

  Benjamin Richard Markham grew up on Jennings Creek, Botetourt County, Virginia.  He served his state in Colonel Anderson’s “Botetourt Artillery”, and returned to Lowry, in  Bedford County, where he lived and raised his family from 1866 until his death on March 16, 1914.  His funeral service was held at Timber Ridge Baptist Church, Lowry, Virginia, and regardless of the  weather and bad roads, the attendance was very large.  During the service, Reverend Theodore Kincanon who had a long and intimate acquaintance with Benjamin Richard  Markham, paid him the highest compliment.  “He was a good man.  He was a man of few pretensions, but of many good deeds.  He was a loving husband, and a kind and indulgent father, neighbor and friend, whose loss will be sadly felt as long as life last with those who knew him”.

Virginia, His Native State

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