MARTIN  GENERATIONS  FROM 1650 TO PRESENT

BY DR. DARIEL DEE MARTIN

(SON OF SHAVOR T.  MARTIN, GRANDSON OF JOSEPH S. MARTIN, 1ST  GREAT GRANDSON OF JOSEPH H. MARTIN, 2ND  GREAT GRANDSON

OF PATRICK H. MARTIN, 3RD GREAT GRANDSON OF THOMAS W. MARTIN,

4TH GREAT GRANDSON OF GENERAL JOSEPH MARTIN, 5TH GREAT GRANDSON OF JOSEPH MARTIN (EMIGRANT), AND 6TH  GREAT GRANDSON OF WILLIAM MARTIN OF BRISTOL, ENGLAND, Etc.

JUNE 1999

I have been fortunate over these past 10 years to complete the connection of our Martin family

line as we should know them, back to William Martin, a wealthy merchant of Bristol, England with a large estate (to date we have been unable to find information on his wife and his father and mother).  This is the story that has been passed down, William was born at the Manor of Pindergast in Pembroke County, England about 1650.   It is said that the manor and the estate of William's father passed to the eldest son.  However, William was the youngest son and therefore had to look for other ways to support his family and the manner in which he was accustomed to living.  William Martin chose the mercantile business and he became very successful in his profession.  William was so successful with the business in Bristol that he decided to expand his clientele to include trading ventures with the English Colonies in the New World.  The story continues that William was considered wealthy according to English standards by the year 1700. By this time William had an extensive trading company with several sea-going ships and a large estate.  William Martin had four children. The children are listed below. We will focus this paper on Joseph Martin, the youngest:

George Martin (succeeded his father in the Mercantile business in Bristol)

John Martin

Nancy Martin

Joseph Martin

I      Joseph Martin, the youngest child of William Martin is our ancestor, progenitor and emigrant.  Joseph was born ca 1700 and sailed to Virginia from Bristol, England on one of his father's ships named the Brice in the year ca 1732. The story goes that the father, William Martin, was dissatisfied with Joseph's engagement and intended marriage.  William felt that

Joseph was preparing to marry below the family's social class.  Therefore, William decided to

send his son Joseph to the New World on one of his ships (the Brice) so that the romance would cool down and hopefully dissolve.  Joseph did what his father asked. He sailed to the colonies landing in Virginia.  Joseph seems to have been given to "tender passion for soon after his arrival to the English Colonies in Virginia he fell in love with and married Susannah Chiles in Caroline County, Virginia ca 1732.

Susannah Chiles was the daughter of John Chiles and Eleanor Webber-Chiles, respectable plantation owners and worthy planters from Ablemarle County, Virginia.  John Chiles was descended from one of the oldest families in the province and had a large family of mostly daughters.  Joseph's father eventually heard of his marriage to Susannah Chiles and became so outraged that he disinherited him (the English aristocracy considered the colonists as inferior). Needless to say, Joseph did not return to England to negotiate with his father.  Joseph and Susannah settled in Ablemarle County, Virginia.  It was said that he was a genuine Englishman, possessing characteristics of arrogance and self-importance.  He was bold, self-willed, fun of pride and had the highest sense of honor.  Joseph and Susannah-Chiles Martin had eleven (11) children:

George Martin b ca 1733, married Mary (Molly) Durrett

William Martin b ea 1738

Joseph Martin, Jr. b September 18, 1740, married 1st  Sara Lucas ca 1762 and 2nd Susannah Graves ca 1784

Susannah Martin b ea 1744

Mary Martin b ca 1746, married John Hammock

Sarah Martin b ca 1748, married Pomfort Waller

Ann Martin b ca 1751

Olive Martin b ca 1754, married Ambrose Edwards

Brice Martin b ca 1756, married Rachel Lucas

John Martin b ca 1757, m Susannah Emo

II     General Joseph Martin, third child of Joseph Martin, the emigrant and the progenitor of our Martin family line was born September 18, 1740 in Louisa County, Virginia. He married 1st  Sarah Lucas in Henry County, Virginia ca 1762 and settled in Orange County, Virginia.  General Joseph and Sarah Lucas-Martin had seven (7) children:

Susannah Martin b ca 1763, married Jacob Bums       CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE

William Martin b ca 1765, married (?)      CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE

Elizabeth Martin b ca 1768, married Carr Waller     CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE

Brice Martin b ca 1770, married Malinda Perkins      CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE

Mary (Polly) Martin b ca 1772, married Daniel Hammock      CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE

Martha Martin b ca 1775, married William Cleveland      CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE

Nancy Martin b ca 1777, married Archelus Hughes       CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE

It has been said that Joseph was reared in a violent area, during violent times, he grew up "overgrown, rude, and ungovernable".  His roving disposition caused him to run away from the carpenter to whom he had been apprenticed by his father to learn a trade.  He and his friend Thomas Sumter, sometime in 1756-1757 (Joseph was 16-17 years old) and toward the close of the French and Indian War, made their way through the wilderness to Fort Pitt, where Pittsburg now stands, and there enlisted in the Colonial English Army.  At the end of the war he spent several years in trapping and the trading of furs and poultry, in what is now south western Virginia and Tennessee.  On the outbreak of the Shawnee War in 1774, Lord Dunmore commissioned Joseph Martin a Captain in the Pittsylvania militia, and he saw service as a commander of scouts in Culbertson's Bottom on New River.  On November 3, 1777 he was

commissioned agent of Virginia among the Cherokees and took up his residence on the Long Island of Holston, North Carolina.  The now Colonel Martin was a member of the first convention of the so-called State of Franklin but was opposed to secession from North Carolina, and in December, 1887 he was made Brigadier General of the North Carolina Militia in the western district.  General Joseph Martin was appointed Indian Agent for the United States in June, 1788.

After the death of his first wife, Sarah Lucas-Martin, in 1782, Joseph married a second time to Susannah Graves, a widow, on February 24, 1784, in Henry County, Virginia. General Joseph and Susannah Graves-Martin had eleven children:

Joseph Martin b ca 1785, married Sally Hughes (became a Colonel in the Revolutionary War and a member of the Virginia Assemby                 in 1809, and the Constitutional Convention, 1829-1830) Joseph and Sally had eight daughters  and four sons. Many of the                 Martinsville, Virginia, families are descendants of  this marriage.      CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE

Jesse Martin b ca 1786, married 1st  Annie Armistead and 2nd  to Cecelia Reid        (Jesse was in the War of 1812)

Thomas W. Martin b ca 1787, married Nancy Carr in Stokes County, North  Carolina.  (Thomas W. and Nancy Carr-Martin                 are the progenitors of the Obion, County, Tennessee, Martins; Mansfield, Arkansas Martins and the Stephenville,                 Texas Martins)

Sarah "Sallie" Martin b ca 1788, married Samuel Armstead

Louis Martin b ca 1791, married Belinda Rucker

Patrick Henry Martin b ca 1792 (was taken from Virginia to Tennessee by his half  brother Brice, and was educated by William                and Brice; he studied law and went to war about the beginning of the War of 1812, but he left this to join Jackson's Army.                He was with Jackson's Army for nearly the whole time and died after his return home from New Orleans in 1814).

Polly Martin b ca 1793, married Reuben Hughes

Susannah Martin b ca 1797, married George W. King

Alexander Martin b ca 1799, married Elizabeth Carr

John Calvin Martin b ca 1803, married Sophia Rucker

George Wythe Martin b ca 1805, married 1st Eliza Starling and 2nd  Caroline Watkins.

General Joseph also took "to wife" three (3) "mixed breed" Cherokee Indian women in the Indian Territory of North Carolina and lived with them there while he was "on assignment" in the North Carolina Territories.  The names of the Indian wives, in order, were:

1.  Elizabeth "Betsy" Ward, 1/2 Cherokee, Daughter of Nancy Ward: Beloved Woman of the Cherokees

"Betsy" Ward - click here

Nancy Ward Statue - click here

Visit the Nancy Ward Website - click here

*  Elizabeth Ward was born in Tennessee, Cherokee Nation East about 1759.  "Betsy" died in Tennessee at age unknown. * She married twice.  She married Brig. Gen. Joseph L. Martin about 1776.  Joseph was born 18 SEP 1740 in Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Virginia.  Joseph was the son of Joseph Martin Sr. and Susannah Childs.  Joseph died 18 DEC 1808 in Maritnsville, Henry County, Virginia, at age 68.  His bodywas interred after 18 DEC 1808 at cemetery unknown in Martinsville, Henry County, Virginia.  She married (______) Hughes about 1788 in Tennessee, Cherokee Nation East.  (Additional notes for (_____) Hughes) Elizabeth was 1/2 Cherokee Indian blood of the Wolf Clan. * Elizabeth Ward and Brig. Gen. Joseph L. Martin had the following children:

* Nancy Martin, born abt. 1778  - click here

* James C. Martin was born in Settico, Monroe, TN, CN East 1780.  James died 1840                 at age 60.  James was 1/4 Cherokee Indian Blood.  He married Nannie DOSHD                 and died without issue.

*  Elizabeth Ward and (_____) Hughes had the following child:                    * Rachel Hughes was born about 1790.

*  not part of Dr. Dariel's Original paper, provided by www.nancyward.com

2.  Mary Emory Fawling, 1/4 Cherokee

3.  Susannah Emory Fields, 1/4 Cherokee

There were several children from these unions.  However, as of this writing,I do not have the specifics of these offspring.

In the research I have done, it was reported that General Joseph Martin was over six feet in height, weighed more than two hundred pounds, and was of prepossessing appearance.  In disposition he was energetic, with a good deal of a roving element that drove him to the forest.   This disposition fitted him well for the life which he led.  He was fond of fine clothes and in the last years of his life he held on to the old English customs of style of dress, i.e., buckled shoes, long silk stockings knee breeches with buckles, frock coat, skirted vest, and ruffled stock on neck piece. General Joseph was easy and sociable with equals.  He was grave, dignified and commanding with superiors.  His health continued to be good during his active years, i.e. he was never sick, was never wounded in skirmishes or battles and lost no teeth.  In his domestic relations he was reserved, and seldm entered into the lighter side of life with the family.  He was reserved and in a way aloof.  He maintained this characteristic even with his oldest son William after he (William) had attained distinction.

Joseph Martin's most conspicuous talent was in Indian diplomacy.  His military career was within a limited sphere.  Had he had a wider field, the talent might have been more developed.  In partisan warfare against the Indians, ability to command was needed less than strategic ability and personal bravery.  This quality he had to the fullest; he was recklessly brave--he knew no such word as fear.  His daring is illustrated by an incident that happened near the Rye Cove Fort on Clinch River in the Spring of 1777.  The settlement in Kentucky had been attacked, and couriers had been sent to Virginia for aid.  The couriers fell into ambush just beyond the Rye Cove, and one was slain, however this did not happen before couriers had wounded their antagonist.  The wounded Indian was traced by his blood to a cave, General Joseph entered the cave and killed the Indian no matter that the Indian was armed with a gun and had the advantage of darkness.

General Joseph Martin died at his Henry County home on December 18, 1808.  Susannah Graves- Martin died March 9, 1837 at the same home in Henry County, Virginia.  The city of Martinsville, Virginia, is named after General Joseph Martin.

III    Thomas W. Martin, the third son of General Joseph Martin and our progenitor was born ca 1787 in Henry County, Virginia.   Not much is know about Thomas Martin until he married Nancy Carr on January 20, 1812, in Stokes County, North Carolina.  Nancy was the daughter of John Fendall Carr (Revolutionary War Veteran) and Elizabeth Dalton.  Thomas W. Martin, Nancy Carr-Martin and their first three children, i.e. Patrick Henry Martin; John F.

Martin; and Joseph Martin moved to Maury County, Tennessee, around 1820.  Thomas W. Martin died a fairly young man ca 1829 at the age of 42 in Maury County, Tennessee. Nancy Carr-Martin was given guardianship of the children and continued raising them without re-marrying (at least there is no record that she did).  I believe the Carr's and the Martin's were well acquainted in North Carolina, possibly neighbors and maybe attended the same church.  Thomas was listed as a Farmer in the federal census of 1820, Maury County, Tennessee.

Carol Mitchell has done some excellent research on Thomas W. Martin.  To view her research paper click here.

Thomas W. Martin and Nancy Carr-Martin had 8 children as listed below:

Patrick Henry Martin, born ca 1815 in NC, married Sarah Thomas Lee

John F. Martin, born ca 1817 in NC, married (?)

Joseph Martin, born ca 1819 in NC, married (?)

Isaac D. Martin, born ca 1821 in TN, married Eleanor Jones

Julie C. Martin, born ca 1823 in TN, married John Jones

Polly Martin, born ca 1825 in TN, married (?)

Mary Martin, born ea 1827 in TN, married John Fox

Eliza T. Martin, born ca 1828 in TN, married 1st  William Jackson and 2nd Mr. Campbell

IV     Patrick H. Martin is our next ancestor to review.  He was the first child of Thomas and Nancy Carr-Martin, and our progenitor was born ea 1815 in Stokes County, North Carolina.   Patrick H. Martin married Sarah Thomas Lee on February 8, 1841, in Marshall County, Tennessee.  Sarah Thomas Lee was born on March 5, 1820.  Her parents were John Lee and Francis Webb (Terry) a widow.  Patrick H. Martin and Sarah Thomas Lee-Martin started their family in Marshall County, Tennessee, moved on to Obion County, Tennessee and there worked in farming for a number of years.  Between 1880 and 1890, Patrick H. Martin, his wife Sarah T. Lee-Martin and two of their sons and their families made their last family move to Stephenville, Texas in Erath County.  The two sons that moved to Texas with Patrick were John T. Martin, his wife Elizabeth Jackson-Martin and William A. Martin and his wife Melissa A. Cates-Martin and their children.  The story has been passed down that these three Martin families loaded all of their furniture and farm equipment on a train and traveled to Dallas, Texas.  From Dallas, TX,  to Stephenville (about 65 miles) they transferred their goods and equipment to wagons and traveled on to their new home in Stephenville.  Again, it has been noted that the farmhouse was an adobe-type of structure with "holes" spaced at various distances in the walls for firing rifles in protecting themselves from Indians.  I don't think they ever had to defend themselves and/or fight off intruders (probable in previous years).

Patrick H. Martin died on July 30, 1904.  There was a slight dispute on the will (two were found) but the ranch was divided three ways, i.e. Joseph, John, and William.  Patrick H. Martin was buried on his ranch in a Martin family cemetery near the town of Stephenville, TX.  Sarah Thomas Lee-Martin traveled to Mansfield,  Arkansas, Sebastian County to visit her son Joseph H. Martin and died there four years later on March 19, 1908.  She was buried in the Mansfield City Cemetery by her son Joseph H. Martin.  Patrick H. Martin and Sarah T. Lee-Martin had 3 known children, all sons, as listed below:

John T. Martin, born ca 1841 in TN, married Elizabeth Jackson

Joseph H. Martin, born March 22, 1845 in TN, married Lucinda Hogan

William A. Martin, born ca 1857 in TN.  Married Melissa A. Cates (Kates)?

V    Joseph H. Martin, the second son of Patrick H. Martin and Sarah T. Lee-Martin are the next progenitors we will study.   Joseph H. Martin was born March 22, 1845, in Maury County, Tennessee.  He married Lucinda Hogan on December 27, 1865, in Obion County, Tennessee.  Lucinda Hogan was born on February 23, 1843, in Parke County, Indiana.  Her parents were Joseph Hogan and Ruth F. Timbermann-Hogan.  Joseph H. Martin and Lucinda Hogan-Martin began their family in Obion County, Tennessee, but relocated in the late 1870's to Sebastian County in the country around Mansfield, Arkansas.  Joseph H. Martin was a well-to-do "farmer/stock raiser."   Joseph and Lucinda belonged to the local Methodist Church in

Huntington, AR.  There is a street in Huntington named after Joseph H. Martin.  Joseph H. Martin had an active role in the Civil War.  He was a cavalry soldier in the Confederate Army of

the War between the states.  He actually joined the war effort before his marriage to Lucinda Hogan in Tennessee.  Specifically, Joseph was assigned to Company K, 7th Kentucky Cavalry, under General Bedford Forrest.  Joseph participated in the engagements at Nashville, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Shiloh, and was totally involved in the Atlanta Campaign.  Joseph H. Martin was with the Confederate Army at West Plain at the time of the surrender.  It has been said that Joseph H. Martin took his mule to war with him, kept him the total time he was engaged and brought the mule home when he returned.

The story has been repeated that Joseph H. Martin came home after the War to Obion County, Tennessee where he began to immediately court Lucinda Hogan.  It is not quite clear whether this courtship had started before the war or not, however, Joseph evidently went to the Hogan's farm to spend Christmas because the couple was married on the 27th  of December, 1865.  This was evidently some distance from his father's farm and the newly married couple had a long ride back to their new home.  The story goes that Lucinda was wearing a long dress with many petticoats, riding side saddle on her horse.  It was just after Christmas, of course, and the couple had to cross a number of cold icy streams during their journey.  Water splashed up on Lucinda's skirts and petticoats during the trip.  When the newly married couple rode up to a farmer's house at night for food and accommodations, Lucinda's skirts and petticoats had ice on them.  The story continues Joseph and Lucinda got their start by building a log cabin.  They slept on the dirt floor on leaves for a bed.  Joseph had $3.00 in his pocket when they got married and it was said that he used it to buy hound dogs to hunt coons.  He then skinned and cured hides for sale and thus helped with their living .

Joseph H. Martin died on March 3, 1925, in Mansfield, AR, and Lucinda Hogan-Martin died on March 13, 1915, in Mansfield, AR.  They are both buried in the Mansfield city cemetery.  Joseph H. Martin and Lucinda Hogan-Martin had nine (9) children as shown below:

Sallie T. Martin, born April 5, 1867, married J. Dee West

Fannie A. Martin, born April 28, 1868, never married

Lucy R. Martin born March 15, 1870, married William "Bill' Howell

William A. Martin, born May 18, 1874, married Ara Byers

JOSEPH S. MARTIN, born June 2,1872, married Mattie Lucinda Halbert

Patrick H. Martin, born February 15, 1876, married Daisy V. Patterson

John Battle Martin, born September 3, 1880, married Ora Katie Wilcox

James L. Martin born February 12, 1882, married Elizabeth Henley

Cleveland L. Martin, born October 14, married Arduously Paterson

TO CONTINUE, SIMPLY CLICK ON THE CHILD OF JOSEPH H. MARTIN AND LUCINDA HOGAN-MARTIN THAT YOU WISH TO PURSUE