Spencer Archer took his mother’s name (she was free) rather than his father’s (he was enslaved). His two unions produced 14 children. Archer died in the National Soldiers Home, Hampton, Virginia.
Invalid – 588,726 / 916,470
Widow – 966,475 / 726,509, Martha Archer
Questionnaire, Spencer Archer, 6 June 1897
“[Married] Martha Archer, Martha Sanderson
[When, where, by whom] according to customs of slaves about 5 years before the war of 1861-65 broke out
[Record] Not any that I know of
[Previously married] Yes to Diana Archer who died nearly 10 years before I married Martha Sanderson
[living children] I have ten (10) children living: Jane, Flora, Lizzie, George, Lena, Annie, Evelina, Clara, Essie and Aaron. I can’t just now tell the date of birth of each one but Clara and [illegible] are the only two under 16 years of age.”
Questionnaire, Spencer Archer, 19 March 1898
“[Married] Martha Ann Archer, before marriage Martha Ann Sanderson
[When, where, by whom] 1859 at Hickory Ground by her master John Sanderson
[Record] I don’t know and her master is dead and his daughter don’t know
[Previously married] No other wife before and no other children than my wife
[Living children] I have 11 eleven children living and three dead. I will give the names of them all in my letter as this blank won’t hold them all.”
Deposition, Spencer Archer, 9 January 1902
75 years old; retired laborer; residence, Berkley Ave., Berkley Va.
“I was discharged for disability before the regiment went to Texas. I cannot give date of enlistment or discharge for reason that I lost my discharge [certificate]. I gave it to Mr. Brown when I was trying to get bounty. I never got it back from him.
“I was born in Norfolk County, Va. and was a free man; was never owned by any one. My father was Daniel Reed. My mother was Nancy Archer. Father was a slave so I took my name after my mother. I have never gone under any name other than Spencer Archer.
“James Malburne who is now present was with me in service. He was a member of my co.
Allen Hill, John Noble, Cicero Pollard, John Jackson were friends of mine in service. Turner was a corporal.
“I was only in one fight viz Petersburg. Gordon of my company was cut with a saber in that fight. Dick Dabney of my company was killed in that fight. He was shot and killed. Private Ellis was also killed.”
General Affidavit, Martha A. Archer, 3 June 1911
“[S]he was married to said Archer according to customs of slavery about the year 1856; that she does not know the exact date, being uneducated, but knows that it was the year after what was known in this neighborhood as ‘the big snow’ which she is informed occurred in 1844; that she had never been married before her marriage to said Archer; that Archer told her that he had lived with one Diana Wilkins, but that she was dead before he married claimant; that claimant continued to live with said soldier as his wife from 1856 until the time of his death; that she never saw said Diana Wilkins after she became acquainted with soldier and certainly claimant was the only person with whom said soldier was cohabiting when the law was enacted which legalized slave marriages; that she was never divorced from said soldier and has not remarried since his death.”
General Affidavit, Jordan Wilson & Sarah F. Penn, 3 June 1911
89 years old and 70 years old, respectively; both residents of Norfolk County … “[T]hey both lived in the same portion of Norfolk County with claimant and Spencer Archer at the time that they first began to live together as man and wife and were well acquainted with them … they lived together continuously as man and wife that from that time until the date of his death, with the exception of the time that soldier was in the army and while he was an inmate of the Soldiers Home … that they also knew claimant when she was a young girl and before she married Archer.”
Letter from Commissioner of Pensions to Lyon & Lyon, Attorneys, Washington, DC,
19 June 1911
“[T]he claimant alleges that the soldier died May 20, 1911, while the report from the Surgeon of the Southern Branch, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers shows that he died May 26, 1911.”
General Affidavit, Martha A. Archer, 27 June 1911
“That her husband Spencer Archer was an inmate of the Soldiers Home at the time of his death; that on Saturday May 20, 1911 she received a telegram from the Home announcing his death; that she assumed the date of his death to be the same an the date of the receipt of said telegram; that his body was received at South Norfolk on May 22nd and he was buried on May 23rd, 1911; which was on Tuesday; that on Wednesday of the following week May 31st 1911, she executed her application for pension, that she does not know why the certificate of death from the Home gave the date of May 26, 1911.”
Letter from Martha A. Archer [on letterhead of Hubard & Hubard, Attorneys-At-Law, 145 Bank St., Norfolk, Virginia] to Commissioner of Pensions, Washington, DC, 18 September 1916
“I was his wife during the Civil War. … I am 78 years of age, having been born in August 1838, in Norfolk County, Va. … Martha A. Archer, 200 Avenue A., South Norfolk, Va.”
Application for Reimbursement, Georgia A. Cuffee, 30 November 1917
35 years old; post-office address, 200 Avenue A, South Norfolk, Norfolk County … Cuffee was the beneficiary of a life insurance policy (Life Insurance Company of Virginia, $102.00) on her mother’s life … “Cuffee paid for about 15 years at first 10 cents per week and later 15 cents per week.”
Q: When did the pensioner die?
A: October 19, 1917
Q: Where was the pensioner buried?
A: Mt. Olive Cemetery, Berkley, Norfolk, Va.
[The pension application folder includes a copy of Martha Archer’s death certificate and the bill from Hamilton Jackson, Funeral Director and Embalmer]
Letter from Laura Erie Barnes to Pension Bureau, Washington, DC, date unknown
“Dear Sir,
I would like to put in for relief being the daughter of Spencer Archer. I am a widow. My name is Laura Erie Barnes, 113 West 113 Street, N.Y.C., Apt. 20. My father was in the Civil War Co. C. First Regiment of the U.S. Colored Calvary [sic] name Spencer Archer … Wishing to get a reply as soon as posiable [sic].”
1st U.S. Colored Cavalry 