Ancestor Archives: William Martin (1813-1892)

 

by Rocky Macy

William MARTIN was born July 3, 1813 in Tennessee.  He married Delana HOLMAN in Lincoln County, Tennessee, on January 29, 1832.    William passed away in Newton County, Missouri, on March 29, 1892.
 
William MARTIN was my g-g-g-grandfather.
 
According to a biographical entry in “Goodspeed’s 1888 History of McDonald and Newton Counties” (page384) which profiled William’s younger brother, Hezekiah M. MARTIN, their parents were native North Carolinians, Abraham and Mourning (BIGGS) MARTIN, who migrated to Missouri in the spring of 1843,  Hezekiah, who was eight-and-a-half years younger than William, arrived in Missouri the following year, so it is likely that William and Delana also came to Missouri sometime around 1843-1844.
 
A second indicator of the date of the family’s migration lies in the census records of 1850 and beyond which indicate that William and Delana's two oldest children, Adam and Harriett, were born in Tennessee, and the other four were born in Missouri.  Harriett, the second child, was born in Robertson County, Tennessee in 1841, and the third oldest child, Hezekiah M., was born in 1844 in Missouri.
 
William and all of his MARTIN relatives who migrated from Tennessee eventually settled in rural Newton County, Missouri.
 
William and Delana had six children:  Adam (born in 1836), Harriett (1841-1900), Hezekiah M. (1844), William (1847), Mourning Rebecca (1849), and Julia Ann (1852-1928).  Of those children, Harriett was married twice, first to Nathan WILSON and then when he died to William HOCKERSMITH,  Hezekiah married Talitha Ann BIGGS, and Julia Ann married Eugene Marshall Stanley PRITCHARD. 
 
According to the US Census for 1850, William MARTIN (born in Tennessee, age 36)  was living on his own in Neosho, Newton County, Missouri – Dwelling #544, Family #544.  Though it was probably some sort of clerical error, the rest of the family was listed on a separate page in Lost Creek Township of Newton County, though still in Dwelling #544 and Family #544.  The remainder of the family was headed by “Delaney” MARTIN (born in Tennessee, age 36), Adam (14), Harriet (7), Hezekiah (6), William (3), and “Mouren” (0).
 
By 1860 William MARTIN and his family were living in Buffalo Township of Newton County, Missouri.  That year’s federal census listed the family as consisting of  William MARTIN (age 45),  “De Lana” (45), Harriet (18), Hezekiah (16), William (13), Mourning (10), and Julia (7).
 
Two years later in early 1862, William MARTIN, who was then forty-eight-years-old and the head of a large family, was in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, where he volunteered for service with the Union Army.   He was assigned to H Company (an infantry unit) of the 6^th Kansas Cavalry, a group that was very active along the Missouri-Kansas border, and down into Arkansas.  It appears as though he may have later been assigned to K Company (a cavalry unit) of the 6^thKansas Cavalry.   His tombstone, which was provided by the military, states that he was in Co. K of the 6^th Kansas Cavalry.  William entered the military service as a “Private” and was discharged in 1865, still wearing the rank of “Private.”   William’s military enlistment papers describe him as being 5 feet and 11 and 3/4 inches tall with a fair complexion, light hair, and blue eyes.
 
After William was discharged from the military at the war’s end in 1865, he and his family remained in Kansas for a time.  They were residing in Franklin County, Kansas, on September 2, 1865, when the Kansas State Census was taken.  At that time their household consisted of William (age 52, born TN), Delana (51, TN) William (18, MO), Mourning (16, MO) and Julia (13, MO).
 
It is likely that William’s younger brother, James S. MARTIN, may have served in the military with him, because on that same 1865 Kansas State Census for Franklin County, James and his family were listed in the household next to William’s.  They included:    James S. (38, TN), Martha (28, IN), James T. (17, MO), John (14, MO), “Margret” (12, MO), Samuel (9, MO), George (7, MO), Eliza (6, MO), Joana (5, MO), and Martha J. (4, KS).  Martha was apparently James's second wife.
 
By the time of the 1870 U.S. Census, William and Delana were back in southwest Missouri.  There the census taker found them in Neosho Township of Newton County and the following four family members were listed in the household:  William (age 57), Delana (46 – a mistake), William (21), and Mourning R. (20).
 
The 1880 U.S. Census listed William and “Delany” as living in the same household as their oldest daughter, Harriett, and five of her children.  Harriett’s first husband, Nathan WILSON, had passed away on April 14, 1867, and her second husband, William HOCKERSMITH died on February 17, 1880, before the census was taken.  It seems likely that Harriett and her children moved in with William and Delana as William is listed as the “head of household” on the census entry, and they are located in the same township (Neosho, Newton County) that William and Delana had been living in when the last census was taken in 1870.
 
(Harriett HOCKERSMITH and her three HOCKERSMITH children are listed in the 1880 census as “SMITH.”)
 
The MARTIN family group in 1880 included:  William (66), “Delany” (65), Harriet H. SMITH (39), William WILSON (17), Thomas F. WILSON (13), Chas. H. SMITH (6), Mary A. SMITH (4), and George W. SMITH (1). 
 
(Harriett and the two older HOCKERSMITH children continued to use the HOCKERSMITH surname, but the youngest child, George Wesley, chose to use the surname “SMITH” throughout his lifetime.)
 
Almost the entire U.S. Federal Census of 1890 was destroyed in a fire, but a Veterans’ Schedule was compiled with that census which has survived.  That document, “The 1890 Veterans’ Schedules of the US Federal Census” represents what is probably William MARTIN’s last entry into the public record.  That schedule contains the following information regarding William and his military service for the Union Army during the Civil War:
 
            Name:  William Martin
            Gender:  Male
            Rank:  Private
            Residence Date:  June 1890
            Residence Place:  Neosho, Newton, Missouri
            Enlistment Date:  January 27, 1861*  
            Regiment:  6^th Kansas Cav
            Company:  H
            Household:  1
             *(probably January of 1862 - after the war had begun)
 
The household notation would indicate that William was living alone, the only person in his household.   Delana had passed away three-and-a-half-years earlier on January 30, 1887.
 
William MARTIN died on March 29, 1892.  Both he and Delana are buried in the New Salem Cemetery in rural Newton County, Missouri, along with some of their children and their families    William’s younger brother, Hezekiah MARTIN, donated the original land for the New Salem Cemetery.   The older family members like William and Delana rode to Missouri in covered wagons.  Their journey across America and through life was no doubt hard, but today they are at rest beneath the rugged terrain that they helped settle.