While doing family genealogy research, Harold Markham of Spencerport learned that his great-great grandfather, Avery Markham, had served in the New York militia during the War of 1812. As a member of a unit from Western New York, Avery, who was living in Chili, served on the Niagara Frontier. In 1814, he was part of the Battle of Fort Erie in Ontario, Canada.

Markham located and acquired copies of the young soldier's military records from archives in Albany and from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Avery did have a small gravestone with only his first name in a plot that included a half dozen other family members in Brockport's Lakeview Cemetery. But Markham decided to request a military stone for the grave.

"I felt he deserved it," Markham said. "In a way, it seemed as though he was a forgotten veteran."

Markham filed the necessary papers with the Bureau of Veteran's Affairs. After a year-and-a-half, the granite stone was delivered and late last October was set in the cemetery.

Markham has planned a formal dedication ceremony for June 9, which will include an honor guard from the 140th Regiment, a Monroe County Civil War re-enactment group. A number of veterans have told Markham that they are interested in attending.

Avery Markham, born in Otsego County in 1796, settled in Chili about 1810 and married Anna Carey. In 1834, they moved to the Town of Sweden, and settled on the West Sweden Road, where he died in 1850. Markham and his sister, Florence Thayer, still own what was the family farm there.

Harold continues to research the Western New York militia involvement of the War of 1812.