4/17/01
Historical Biography Report
of
General Joseph Martin
by
Tyler Elizabeth Surowicz
Tyler lives in Norman, Oklahoma and attends the Alcott Middle School. In December, 2000, Tyler was required to write a paper for her Eighth Grade History Class on some famous American who lived around the time of the American Revolution. She decided to write about General Joseph Martin because she is a descendant of the General. Because the paper was supposed to be extremely short, Tyler created within her teacher a desire to know more about the General. The questions asked and the comments made by the teacher (indicated by *(1), *(2), etc.) have been inserted into the original paper and brought about the need to add an Addendum to the original paper.
Tyler Surowicz
3rd hour 12/4/00
Historical Biography Report of General Joseph Martin
with additional material added in response to the teacher's comments
During the time General Joseph Martin lived, many things were happening in America. The Revolutionary War occurred. The Americans were exploring the west. The Native Americans were forced to move westward. The Constitution of the United States was written during this time.
General Joseph Martin was born on September 18, 1740, near Charlottesville, Virginia. He died of paralysis on his estate in Henry County, Virginia on December 18, 1808, at the age of 68. He was raised in Albemarle County, Virginia. His family originally came from Bristol, England. Like many other colonists, they came to America to seek more land and become more wealthy. Joseph Martin was married five times.*(1) His first wife was Sarah Lucas. He married her in 1762. There were seven children in this marriage. During the time of his marriage to Sarah Lucas, he also took an Indian wife, Betsy Ward. His wife Sarah did not care because she believed that the marriage would help the relations with the Indians. Sarah died in 1782. In 1784, Joseph married Susannah Graves. At a different time, Joseph was married to two other Indian sisters, Susannah Emory and Mary Emory. All total there were twenty-five children and forty grandchildren.*(2) General Joseph Martin did not have a good education. He always ran away from school. His father wanted him educated, but he could not keep him in school. His education ended at the age of 16 when he ran away with Thomas Sumter. They joined the army at Fort Pitt. General Joseph Martin was 6 ft. tall and weighed 200 lbs. The documents I have read do not talk about his religion.*(2a) He had a high social class.*(3)
As a young man he was a carpenter's apprentice. He owned an estate.*(4) He was a General*(5) and an Indian agent during the Revolutionary War. He also lead expeditions in Kentucky and Tennessee.
General Joseph Martin's historical contributions were in Indian diplomacy. His lasting and best service toward American independence was given during the British invasion of 1780-81. It was he who through his knowledge of the Indians, kept them quiet.*(6) Thus enabling the Watauga Men to leave home and strike a heavy blow for liberty at King's Mountain.*(7) Since this battle marked the turning of the tide of the Revolutionary War*(8), credit for victory seemed to hinge on Indian agent, Joseph Martin. Joseph Martin favored the adoption of the Federal Constitution and was a member of the Fayetteville Convention when the constitution was adopted. He served in the Virginia Legislature for Henry County for nine consecutive terms from 1791-1799, and aided James Madison with the resolutions during 1798 and 1799.
I am proud that I am General Joseph Martin's great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter. He helped America to be what it is today. His expeditions helped settle new territories in America. His ability to keep peace with the Indians helped the Americans defeat the British. He helped write the Constitution. The Constitution ensures people's freedoms and rights. I am proud to be a descendant of General Joseph Martin.*(9)
Tyler Surowicz
3rd hour 12/4/00
Works Cited
http://www.oocities.org/genjosmartin.html, March, 1999.
Filson Club History Quarterly, vol. 10, Louisville, KY, April, 1936, pp. 61-71.
ADDENDUM
Teacher's comments/questions.
Maybe not common, but certainly not without parallel. In a Master of Arts Thesis submitted by Richard A. Shrader, Joseph Martin, Indian Agent 1777-1789, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1973, Mr. Shrader compares the lives of five Indian Agents, Joseph Martin being one. Shrader states on page 116, "The experience of Joseph Martin resembled particularly that of George Croghan. Both men enjoyed gambling in their early life. Both took Indian wives which contributed to their success in dealing with the Indians."
Shrader also states on page 10, "During the year 1780 Martin took a Cherokee wife, Betsy Ward, whose half-breed mother, Nancy Ward, was a voting member of the Cherokee Council. The Indian agent's white wife condoned the intermarriage,
but their children bitterly criticized it. Martin defended the alliance as being necessary to give him prestige among the Cherokees and to insure his safety while visiting them."
In July, 1842, Colonel William Martin, oldest son of General Joseph Martin, wrote a letter to Dr. Lyman Draper which has become known as Draper Mss., 3xx4, concerning the marriage of General Joseph Martin to Betsy Ward. The Colonel says,
"In my other communication, I purposely omitted a pretty important item, in the history of my father's life, from a wish to throw a veil over it: but on reflection, conclude to give the particulars. Viz: When he was appointed agent of the Cherokees, he took a young half breed Cherokee, by the name of Betsy Ward , to wife. She was of the most distinguished clan of the whole tribe, and of one of the first families of that Clan. (For there was then, a marked distinction between families among them, as in civilized life.) Her mother, Nancy Ward, was said to have more character than any woman there, of her day - was wealthy etc."
"With this woman he lived the greater part of his long agency - Mostly at the Long Island, but sometimes in the Nation [Cherokee]. Once in a while he would go home to Va. stay a while & return. And strange as it may seem, it never produced any discord between him and my mother. Such was her affection for him, and such was his address, that he quieted all concerned except myself. For when I had
got to be a big boy, & had been there, and seen all, I became mortified and much disgusted, and when I went home, advised my mother, one of the best of women, to leave him, for which she rebuked me sharply."
"Although after my mother's death (of whom I was very affectionate) & which happened when I was 17 years old, he had me about him for several years, and I was obliged to connive at what I saw, but felt indignant - and all through life, it shaded, in some measure, my veneration for him. And more strange still, that a year or two after my mother's death, he married a lady of considerable distinction, she knowing all about it."[this was his second wife Susannah Graves]
"And he continued in this way, for several years, without discord with her. By this Indian woman, he had a son and a daughter, very promising. When he quit the agency, he took the boy home, to Va. and raised & educated him with his other children: and, at my insistence, enlarged his education, to a knowledge of the classics, as he was promising, hoping, that, with these advantages, he might, when grown, be of advantage to his people. But, after getting his education, he went to the Nation and disappointed all our hopes, and turned out badly."
"That girl married a respectable white man, and did well." [This girl was Nancy (Nannie) Martin, born 1778(?). According to the book Descendants of Nancy Ward by David Keith Hampton, ARC Press, Cane Hill, AR, 1997, Nancy Martin married Michael Hilderbrand and their descendants number in the thousands and many are settled in Tahlequah, Oklahoma today(December, 2000).]
"My father plead in defense of his general character, that this course was indispensable, to usefulness in the agency - that without it, his life would not be safe, at times - but with it, he could be with them in their nation, and exercise and
influence, which would otherwise be impossible. All this I admitted, but the moral turpitude I could not be reconciled to, even when a boy."
"That this connection did protect his life, more than once, was verified, for he sometimes, and at critical junctures, would go to the nation, at great hazard of life, and was frequently guarded and protected, by the clan, he being adopted as a member. To his family he argued, that he was making a great estate for his children etc. and quieted them in that way. And as I said in my other paper, that he had the greatest talent, of any man, to become all things to all men. And he could step, with more convincing to himself, from the sublime to the ridiculous, and vice versa, than any man I ever knew."
Teacher's comments/questions.
Certainly not an unexpected response if one has never studied the life of General Joseph Martin in detail. In defense of the General, one must remember the following:
According to the Martin Family Quarterly, Volume IV, No.3, November 15, 1978, page 75, "Children of Joseph Martin and Susannah Emory Fields: John Martin, b. 20 Oct. 1781, d. 17 Oct. 1840, Ft. Gibson, Ill. Dist., Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. He was the first chief justice of he Supreme Court of the Cherokee Nation and lived in Salina Dist., now Mayes Co., Okla.
Therefore, whatever the circumstances of this union (General Joseph Martin and Susannah Emory) the Cherokee Nation was blessed with the wisdom of Chief Justice John Martin.
(2a) Tyler's words "The documents I have read do not talk about his religion."
Several months later the following material was found in a letter written by Joseph Martin to Patrick Henry. In the letter of January 18, 1790, Joseph states "nothing on this side of the grave can give me greater pleasure than to serve you and will with pleasure go to the Chickasaw nation."
Patrick Henry - Life, Correspondence and Speeches by William Wirt Henry, Volume III, p.407. Burt Franklin, New York, Originally published: 1891. Reprinted: 1969.
By inference Joseph Martin's own words indicate that he did believe in an afterlife and that his afterlife would be pleasurable.
Teacher's comments/questions.
"He had a high social class," is in response to one of the requirements that the teacher had placed on the paper's content, that being; what was this person's social status? This was a supposition drawn because of the individuals with whom General Joseph had associations. There are documents available which show correspondence to and from many famous individuals. The most famous are as follows:
George Washington Thomas Jefferson
James Madison Patrick Henry
James Monroe Daniel Boone
Actually, further research reveals that according to Colonel William Martin, son of General Joseph Martin, the General as well as his four brothers and six sisters "All respectable, and occupied what was called the middle rank in Society, as did their father." June 1, 1842, Colonel William Martin, oldest son of General Joseph Martin, in a letter to Dr. Lyman Draper which has become known as Draper Mss., 8zz2.
Also, Dr. Stephen B. Weeks states, "The Martin family, so far as we know, was from the middle ranks of society, and of pure English ancestry."
GENERAL JOSEPH MARTIN AND THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION IN THE WEST. by Prof. Stephen B. Weeks of Johns Hopkins University. Published in the American Historical Association Annual Report of 1893. Page 409
Teacher's comments/questions.
Sometimes the General's plantation was referred to as Leatherwood, but that was not correct. It happened because the plantation was on Leatherwood Creek. It has also been erroneously referred to as Scuffle Hill, but that is where the General and his family lived when they first came to this area of Virginia in 1773. Scuffle Hill was located on the Smith River.
A History of Henry County Virginia with Bioghaphical Sketches by Judith Parks America Hill. p.9
In 1779 , Patrick Henry bought a tract of land consisting of 10,000 acres which he named Leatherwood and adjoined the Scuffle Hill plantation of Joseph Martin. In 1796, Joseph Martin Purchased 1,210 acres from Benjamin Harrison, Jr. of Berkley. The estate was on Leatherwood Creek and he called the estate Belmont. General Joseph Martin, an Unsung Hero of the Virginia Frontier by Dr. William Allen Pusey, THE FILSON CLUB HISTORY QUARTERLY, Vol.10, Louisville, KY, April, 1936 No.2.. P.65
Both Belmont and Leatherwood can be located just north of present-day Martinsville, Virginia. Scuffle Hill is actually now a part of the city of Martinsville
Teacher's comments/questions.
Brigadier General of the District of Washington, comprising the western counties, of North Carolina on 12-15-1787.
See Joseph Martin and the Southern Frontier by Denise Pratt Morrison, Published in 1976 by Womack Press, Danville, VA, p.45
Brigadier General of the 12th Brigade of Virginia Militia on12-11-1793.
See General Joseph Martin, an Unsung Hero of the Virginia Frontier by Dr. William Allen Pusey, THE FILSON CLUB HISTORY QUARTERLY, Vol.10, Louisville, KY, April, 1936 No.2.. P.79
Also see the Draper Manuscript known as 2xx41
Teacher's comments/questions.
"This was the critical moment of the Revolution. The fortunes of the young republic were in the balance; had Martin failed at this juncture to quiet the savages, a second and more terrible Indian war would have been the result; then the overmountain men who gathered their clans for a blow at the British and Tories at King's Mountain could not have led them there. They must needs have kept themselves at home to defend their own firesides. This might have made, and probably would have made, a change in the course of the war. When Ferguson fell and the Tories were routed at King's Mountain, and when Cornwallis was sent reeling back from Guilford Court-House to Wilmington, the South had already been won and Yorktown was simply a matter of time."
GENERAL JOSEPH MARTIN AND THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION IN THE WEST. by Prof. Stephen B. Weeks of Johns Hopkins University. Published in the American Historical Association Annual Report of 1893. Page 428
"That was the first of Martin's important achievements. The second and more important came through the ability and success with which he conducted Indian affairs on the whole Southwestern border. Martin's capacity may have been as high as an Indian fighter and leader in the Wilderness as it was as an Indian conciliator, but his great usefulness came from his rare ability as a mediator. During the whole period of the Revolution, and in the uncertain times later before the establishment of Federal authority, he was the outstanding influence for peace with the Indians in this territory. His greatest achievement was the pacification of the Indians during the time Cornwallis was overrunning Georgia and South
Carolina, which finally enabled the frontiersmen to give the British General a blow at Kings Mountain from which he never recovered. That was a critical event in the Revolution. In Weeks' opinion it entitled Martin to be enrolled among "the heroes of '76.""
General Joseph Martin, an Unsung Hero of the Virginia Frontier by Dr. William Allen Pusey, THE FILSON CLUB HISTORY QUARTERLY, Vol.10, Louisville, KY, April, 1936 No.2.. P.69-70
Teacher's comments/questions.
King's Mountain is on the northern border of South Carolina. Actually it is very close to the North Carolina Line. It is in York County South Carolina. King's Mountain and its Heroes - A History of King's Mountain, October 7th, 1780, and the events which led to it by Lyman C. Draper, 1881, reprint 1996 by The Overmountain Press, Johnson City, Tennessee, p.16.
On a modern map, the King's Mountain National Monument is just off Interstate Highway 85 about a mile inside the north state line of South Carolina. It would be about 30 miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Teacher's comments/questions.
My grandfather tells me that General Joseph Martin was a true patriot of the Revolutionary War. I set out to find what that means. He said that the Battle of King's Mountain was called the "turning point in the American Revolution." What does that mean? What does the Battle of King's Mountain have to do with General Joseph Martin?
Former President Theodore Roosevelt wrote a four-volume history which he titled The Winning of the West. I first thought this meant the "West" as in cowboys and Indians, but the "West" he was writing about, was the west edge of the first thirteen colonies. In his book Roosevelt states concerning the Battle of King's Mountain, the following :
The victory was of far-reaching importance, and ranks among the decisive battles of the Revolution. It was the first great success of the Americans in the south, the turning-point in the Southern campaign, and it brought cheer to the patriots throughout the Union. The loyalists of the Carolinas were utterly cast down, and never recovered from the blow; and its immediate effect was to cause Cornwallis to retreat from North Carolina, abandoning his first invasion of that State.
THE WINNING OF THE WEST by Theodore Roosevelt, Volume II, G.P. Putnam's Sons, of New York and London, 1889, p. 304
The Battle of King's Mountain took place in October of 1780. Earlier that year in July, several hundred mountain men, mounted and with their long rifles, had left their homes on the west fringes of Virginia and what would later be Kentucky and Tennessee, virtually unprotected from the Indians when they had crossed the mountains to help their countrymen fight for freedom. They met a patrol of the British and completely routed the patrol. The reason this group of mountain men were able to leave their frontier homes with Indians so hostile and so near was because John "Sevier remained to patrol the border and watch the Cherokees, while Isaac Shelby crossed the mountains with a couple of hundred mounted riflemen, early in July."
THE WINNING OF THE WEST by Theodore Roosevelt, Volume II, G.P. Putnam's Sons, of New York and London, 1889, p. 354
At the Battle of King's Mountain, John Sevier, Arthur Campbell, and Isaac Shelby, were the recognized heros that defeated the forces of Lieutenant/Colonel Patrick Ferguson of the British Army. After the decisive battle, "the mountaineers returned to their secure fastnesses in the high hill-valleys of the Holston, the Watauga, and the Nolichucky. They had marched well and fought valiantly, and they had gained a great victory;."
General Joseph Martin, an Unsung Hero of the Virginia Frontier by Dr. William Allen Pusey, THE FILSON CLUB HISTORY QUARTERLY, Vol.10, Louisville, KY, April, 1936 No.2.. P.70
If John Sevier had kept the Cherokees in check during the absence of the mountaineers in July, 1780, who had kept them in check during the campaign that led to the Battle of King's Mountain in October, 1780? For the answer I had to do some more research.
Professor Stephen B. Weeks of Johns Hopkins University states the following:
On the 9th of October, 1775, the Virginia Committee of Safety made Joseph Martin, gentleman, a captain of the Pittsylvania militia; with the outbreak of the Revolution and the increasingly threatening attitude assumed by the Cherokees, the real life work of Gen. Martin begins. Before this time we have seen him in the triple capacity of explorer,
pioneer, and soldier; but his great work, this lasting, but hitherto unrecognized, service to the American independence, was to be rendered as Indian agent among the Cherokees.
General Joseph Martin, an Unsung Hero of the Virginia Frontier by Dr. William Allen Pusey, THE FILSON CLUB HISTORY QUARTERLY, Vol.10, Louisville, KY, April, 1936 No.2.. P.71
On November 3, 1777, Joseph Martin was commissioned Agent and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the State of Virginia by Governor Patrick Henry.
General Joseph Martin and the War of the Revolution in the West by Prof. Stephen B. Weeks p.420
Some of his specific duties as outlined by Governor Henry are as follows:
You are hereby appointed Agent and Superintendent of Cherokees Indian Affairs for the State of Virginia, and you are to reside at some place in that Nation in order to negotiate and direct all things relating to the Commonwealth and which concern the Interest thereof,
using your best endeavors from time to time to preserve peace with that Nation and to cultivate their good Disposition.
General Joseph Martin and the War of the Revolution in the West by Prof. Stephen B. Weeks p.427
Professor Weeks continues in the description of the duties of Joseph Martin as follows:
As Indian agent it was his duty to act as mediator between the whites and the Indians. He was to see that each kept the terms of the treaty of the Long Island of Holston. This was a delicate duty, for the onward moving wave of civilization dared to recognize the right of the Indian only so long as it suited its purpose. He also had to counteract the influence British agents, who still hung threateningly on the borders of the settlements. Expelled by the treaty, they took refuge with the southern division of Cherokees under Dragon Canoe, at Chickamauga. From this point they continued to penetrate the northern division. Martin once met the British Agent in the nation and succeeded in having him expelled from the country.
General Joseph Martin and the War of the Revolution in the West by Prof. Stephen B. Weeks p.427
Professor Weeks continues:
We can not estimate the amount of terror and suffering which the agent, by his tact and energy, kept from the doors of the pioneers. It is hard to put a proper estimate on the services thus rendered the American cause in the darkest hours of the Revolution.
General Joseph Martin and the War of the Revolution in the West by Prof. Stephen B. Weeks p.427
Professor Weeks recounts a story in which the life of Joseph Martin was in danger due to his influence in keeping the Cherokees out of the Revolution. Weeks states:
But the British agent knew how to appreciate them [the services of Joseph Martin]. Once he heard that Martin was in the upper towns and sent a white fellow named Gray, with ninety Indians, to take him, dead or alive. One of the Indians was sent forward to shoot him, but Martin appeared heavily armed, and the terrified savage returned with the Marius-like reply, "If you want him killed you may do it yourself, for he looks dreadful."
General Joseph Martin and the War of the Revolution in the West by Prof. Stephen B. Weeks p.427
According to Professor Weeks:
had Martin failed at this juncture to quiet the savages, a second and more terrible Indian war would have been the result; then the overmountain men who gathered their clans for a blow at the British and Tories at King's Mountain could not have led them there. They
must needs have kept themselves at home to defend their own firesides. This might have made, and probably would have made, a change in the course of the war. When Ferguson fell and the Tories were routed at King's Mountain, and when Cornwallis was sent
reeling back from Guilford Court-House to Wilmington, the South had already been won and Yorktown was simply a matter of time.
General Joseph Martin and the War of the Revolution in the West by Prof. Stephen B. Weeks p.428
In summary, the words of Dr. William Allen Pusey best describe General Joseph Martin and his influence as follows:
Indian fighter and Indian friend, warrior and peace-maker, border leader and Virginia planter, statesman and man of affairs, advocate and arbitrator, he was a remarkable and admirable combination. Martin was the most important influence in maintaining peaceful
relations with the Indians from the beginning to the completion of the early settlements of the Southwestern border. From 1775 to 1790 he, of all men, held the Indians there in restraint. It was the greatest service that could be performed for the people of that
territory, and gives him valid claim to be regarded as one of the most important, if not the most important, figure in its history. General Joseph Martin deserves to be remembered.
General Joseph Martin, an Unsung Hero of the Virginia Frontier by Dr. William Allen Pusey, THE FILSON CLUB HISTORY QUARTERLY, Vol.10, Louisville, KY, April, 1936 No.2.. P.81
Teacher's comments/questions.
General Joseph Martin had five wives. Here is a summary of those five wives, their children and how I am related to him.
WIFE 1
General Joseph Martin married Sarah Lucas in 1762 and she died in 1782 in Henry County, VA. They had seven children as follows:
WIFE 2
General Joseph Martin married Elizabeth "Betsy" Ward in about 1775. They had two known children as follows:
WIFE 3
General Joseph Martin married Mary Emory Fawling, daughter of William Emory and Mary Grant. Only one known child from this union as follows:
WIFE 4
General Joseph Martin married Susannah Emory Fields (sister of Mary), daughter of William Emory and Mary Grant. They had three children as follows:
WIFE 5
After the death of Sarah Lucas Martin of smallpox in 1782 (WIFE 1) General Joseph Martin married Susannah Graves. They had eleven children as follows:
Thomas W. Martin, born 1787, Henry County, VA, married Jan. 20, 1812, Stokes County, North Carolina, to Nancy Carr. Thomas W. died in 1836 in Maury County Tennessee. Children of Thomas W. and Nancy Carr Martin are as follows:
Patrick Henry Martin, born 1815, Stokes County, North Carolina, Married Sarah Thomas Lee on Feb. 8, 1841, Marshall County, Tennessee. They had three children as follows:
Joseph H. Martin, born March 22, 1845, in Maury County, Tennessee. Married Lucinda Hogan, Dec. 27, 1865, in Obion County, Tennessee. They had nine children as follows:
John Battles Martin, born Sept. 3, 1880, married Katy Ora Wilcox in 1905. They had eight children as follows:
Patrick Thompson Martin, born Jun. 20, 1916 and married Opal Estelle Chambers on October 31, 1939. They had three children as follows:
William Kent Martin, born Sept. 7, 1943, married Mary Rae Bynum, Dec. 22, 1961. They had two children as follows:
Brenda Renee Martin, born Oct. 3, 1963, married Edward Dominique Surowicz on Dec. 14, 1984. They had one child as follows:
Summary of ancestors of Tyler Elizabeth Surowicz
Tyler Elizabeth Surowicz, is the daughter of
Brenda Renee Martin, who is the daughter of
William Kent Martin, who is the son of
Patrick Thompson Martin, who is the son of
John Battles Martin, who was the son of
Joseph H. Martin, who was the son of
Patrick Henry Martin, who was the son of
Thomas W. Martin, who was the son of
General Joseph Martin and Susannah Graves Martin (Wife #5)