Civil war veteran honoured

Samuel Calkin's family can rest easy now their ancestor's grave has been located and his name honoured.
An American Civil War veteran, Samuel Calkin died in Whangarei on July 3, 1909, and was buried at Kioreroa Road Cemetery's Anglican section.
His was one of the graves that became nameless and forgotten as the cemetery fell into disrepair over the years.
His great grandson, Bruce Calkin of Tuakau, corresponded with the Civil War Veterans Association of Queensland after they found records of Samuel on the Calkin website.
On Sunday, more than 100 family members gathered at the cemetery to see a bronze plaque, paid for by the US Civil War Veterans Association, unveiled at Samuel's plot which was located through records by Whangarei District Council cemetery staff.
The ceremony was also attended by United States Consulate General management officer Matthew Wall and Samuel's last remaining grandchild, Maru Good, who is 103 and lives in Whangaparaoa.
Samuel Richard Calkin went AWOL while serving in the American Civil War and later re-enlisted under an assumed name.
The Navy steerage steward was born in England in 1841, emigrated as a teenager to  the US and enlisted at 19,  serving on two Union ships before going AWOL while in Chile.
He remained missing until 1864 when he deliberately re-enlisted under an assumed identity, Anthony Atkins, later stating the reason for changing names was to prevent his parents, especially his step-mother, from learning his whereabouts.
Samuel was honourably discharged from the navy on May 31, 1865, but  continued his seafaring ways aboard whaling vessels, eventually ending up in Russell, New Zealand - possibly jumping overboard to come ashore. He moved to Kawakawa and later married Louisa Ruiha Edmonds.
He became a school teacher, first in Onewhero Bay, then Mangakahia Native School and finally Kaeo's Te Maori School.
In 1889, Samuel and family moved to Whangarei, where he took up the manager's position for around eight years at Walton Street's Colonial Boarding House and Hotel and then ran the Coffee Palace on Cameron St.