How did an American end up in Shanghai in 1867?

Tracking 25-year-old George E. Martin from Connecticut

I’ve been doing deep dives into branches off my main line. I’m currently working on grandchildren of my Lincoln ancestors. A couple weeks ago I was stumped by what happened to Cornelia Martin (which is still uncertain, though I think I have a good guess). My most recent research black hole though involves the inscription on the tombstone of Mrs. Harriet Martin (full genealogical name: Harriet F. (Cady) Fisher Martin) in Yantic Cemetery, Norwich, Connecticut.

Not her inscription, but that of her son, which appears below hers:

George E. Martin

Died

in Shanghai China

August 6, 1867

aged 25 yrs.

This made me raise my eyebrows. How did a not quite middle-class American (his sister ended up working in a cotton mill while her daughter lived with the grandparents) end up in China in 1867? It was a new one for me.

We always wish the past could talk to us. But even when it does, context is necessary to understand what it’s telling us.

His entire profile was problematic. His mother was his father’s second wife (her second marriage as well). His paternal half-siblings were born in Pennsylvania, but his parents were married and had him in Connecticut, where the family settled (without his maternal half-siblings) at that point. I couldn’t find a birth record but his listing on the census and inscription on Harriet’s stone indicates he was their son.

1850 US Census, Norwich, Connecticut - Martin household

He was on the 1850 census with the family, the first year to list names (hallelujah!), establishing his existence at a stated 8 years old. He was still living with his parents in 1860. According to registration records for Connecticut, he may have been drafted in the US Civil War in 1863 and unmarried. But that listed him as a farmer, when the census listed him as a salesman.

And then he’s noted on the stone as dead in 1867. Was he actually buried there? What was he doing in China?

A quick search for what was happening in that part of the world at that time and I came up with a few starting options: military, missionary, or the steamboat company.

1. There was the Rover incident and Formosa Expedition in 1867 that would fit a potential military death, though the Americans lost few to those operations.

2. Missionary records are scarce, but there were Protestant groups heading to Asia as early as 1807.

3. The steamboat was an option as he had a history of working as a salesman according to the 1860 census, but company records would be a challenge.

The first two had more possibilities for finding records to narrow it down, so I started there (Google and Ancestry searches were attempted with variations on the place, name, circumstance, and year). There were no additional digitized military records that could have fit him beyond the draft (including discharge records). There were other George Martins, but they were from different states or used a different middle initial. So I tried the church angle. But the missionary listings I could find were of major leaders, not every person. The death index for Connecticut lists the burial, but this doesn’t confirm anything without a death certificate proving the body was brought back to the US.

So I started tracking back through the family. Maybe one of them had a record that mentions him. His mother’s stone did, so I started with anything associated with that. It was actually right in front of me.

Her obituary:

Uploaded to FindAGrave by user patty ‘woodhull’ moreland

Many thanks to the one who found this, screenshot it, and added it to FindAGrave. Wandering around cemeteries is great for confirming the presence of stones and transcribing inscriptions, but the extra context tells a story.

Harriet was a devoted Presbyterian, so the missionary angle wasn’t too far off. However, it turns out George died of cholera aboard the US Navy ship “Supply”, where he served as paymaster’s clerk, just as he had in the war. “He sleeps in Shanghai” means he isn’t buried in Yantic Cemetery. He’s simply memorialized on his mother’s stone so he wouldn’t be forgotten.

And thus, the work shared by someone else solves the mystery. I just had to look in the right place.

It’s actually a rather boring tale all things considered. George E. Martin was born in 1842, the youngest son of a somewhat blended family that was waning (his parents and several half-siblings died before or around the same time as he). He didn’t marry. Was drafted into the military and then decided to stay. It took him to China, where he caught cholera. The end.