May 18: Funeral Procession for Hiram Cronk (1905)
Prayer Idea
Pray for veterans and their families, including those who struggle with the physical and psychological effects of war.
History Note
Hiram Cronk was born in 1800 in the town of Frankfort in central New York.
During the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom, Hiram enlisted in the New York militia with his father and two older brothers. At only 14 years old, Hiram spent about three months at the naval station at Sackets Harbor on Lake Ontario. Though his service was brief, he was eligible for a pension as a veteran.
Hiram Cronk helped dig the Erie Canal and worked as a shoemaker. He married Mary Thornton in 1825. They had seven children, one of whom died during the Civil War.
After the Civil War, Americans looked back on the time period of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 with nostalgia. The last veterans of the Revolutionary War died in the 1860s. Over the next few decades, Hiram Cronk was one of a dwindling number of veterans who had a connection to that early period of American history.
Mary Cronk died in 1885. A newspaper article published after Hiram Cronk turned 100 said, “He is a devout Methodist, and often while in conversation will start out in a fairly clear voice on some old familiar hymn.”
Cronk died in 1905 at the age of 105. Since he was the last known veteran of the War of 1812, New York City hosted a funeral procession in his honor on May 18. Thousands of people lined the streets as veterans of the Civil War escorted his casket to Brooklyn’s Cypress Hill Cemetery.
Hiram Cronk
Learn More
This is silent video footage from the funeral procession honoring Hiram Cronk.
Find other resources at Homeschool History.
