Civil War ☆ WWI ☆ WWII ☆ Korea ☆ Vietnam ☆ Iraq I ☆ Iraq II ☆ Afghanistan
| Name | Narrative | Branch and Rank | Unit and Specialty | Conflict/Arena | Born/Died |
| Andrew J. Collum | Andy Collum was born in 1846 in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. At age 12 he launched a theatrical career in Vaudeville. At age 14 Collum enlisted in the Union Army as a drummer boy, using an assumed name and false age. He later joined a new regiment under his own name and age, serving a few months before the end of the conflict. His 1890 pension lists him as a Private in F Troop of 104 PA Regiment. He was reported to be an eyewitness to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox in 1865 and claims to have been the last surviving participant to have done so. Collum was a representative of the Grand Army of the Republic at countless Memorial Day Parades in Riverside. Andrew was one of three Civil War veterans honored on Memorial Day about 1920 (photos in Delanco Archive) and honored on Memorial Day in 1938. After the war, he returned to the Vaudeville stage. Collum was known as a leading banjoist and had a comedy act and went on to manage a New York theatrical house. He also left a legacy of popular music to the American musical scene. It is not clear when Andy Collum moved to Delanco. But, when he retired from the stage, he operated a small bowling alley in Delanco on Walnut Street and a small pool hall around the corner on Mulberry. Andy married (1st) Emma Ida Madigan in New York on December 27, 1873. She was a circus bareback rider. Children: Andrew, Martha Mary "Mamie" Fenimore and Annie Collum. Andy married (2nd) Mary Jane on September 10, 1884. Children: Herbert A., Anita L. Ballinger, Wilbur G. "Hap" Collum, Norman, John W. II (1895), Blanche E., twins Hazel Yearly Zelly and David M., and Mattie. Mary Jane died in 1936. When Andy Collum died after a stroke in 1940, a headline billed him as "The greatest banjoist in the United States." At the time of his death, Andy was also the oldest member of the Elks, having joined BPOE Lodge No 1 in 1873. His daughter, Anita "Aunt Neddie" Ballinger was living in the family home in 1976. | Union Army, PVT | F Troop, 104th PA Reg | Civil War | 1846 – 1940 |
Updated October 30, 2023