My Genealogy Hound

HON. WILLIAM G. MARTIN, special surrogate of Chautauqua county and a member of the well-known law firm of Van Dusen & Martin, of Mayville, was born at Witham, county Essex, England, September 15, 1848 and is a son of Rev. Robert and Hester (Beard) Martin. The original name of the family was Erskine, they tracing their descent from a branch of the ancient Scottish family of that name, which descended in an unbroken line from a Henry De Erskine who lived in the twelfth century. The change of name was the result of circumstances connected with the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715 in Scotland. The paternal great-great-grandfather of William G. Martin was an Erskine, who was born in 1688 and died in 1730. He joined in the Rebellion of 1715, the object of which was to restore the Stuart family to the throne of Great Britain. When the army of the Earl of Mar was defeated in November of that year, Erskine, with many others, fled to France, where he remained in exile until 1718, when he returned to Scotland under the assumed name of Myreton, that being his mother’s family name. He had two sons, William and George, the latter of whom came to New York about 1750 and settled near the Hudson river. The former, William Myreton, was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1720, and married Jane Morris, a cousin of Robert Morris, of revolutionary fame.

About this time the family changed the spelling of the name to its present form. William Myreton (great-grandfather), commanded the coast guard station on the Isle of May, seven miles from the mainland of Scotland. He was a schoolmate of Paul Jones, and once carried important despatches to Franklin at Paris, which Jones had brought from America. He was drowned at sea in 1790, and left an only son, William Martin (grandfather), born in 1760 and died in 1822. He succeeded his father in command of the Isle of May Station and married his cousin, Jane Morris, by whom he had seven sons and four daughters. His youngest son, Robert Martin (father), was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1820. He was educated at Edinburgh, went to England where he resided for several years, and was an active participant in the Chartist Movement from 1842 to 1847. He married Hester Beard, born 1818, who is a daughter of George Beard, Esq., late of Coggeshall, Essex, and came to the United States in 1854, entered the Baptist ministry and located in western New York.

He became deeply interested in the great anti-slavery movement of that day and preached and lectured extensively against the institution of African slavery and the curse of human bondage. He resided in western New York until 1880 when he removed to Michigan, where he now resides. He has six children — William G., Jemima J., Hester M., Duncan McLaren, Jean E. and Mary E.; the last three of whom were born in the United States. William G. Martin received his education in the common schools of New York and commenced reading law in the office of Hon. Walter L. Sessions, of Panama (now of Jamestown), this State. In 1882 he came to Mayville when he entered the office of A. A. Van Dusen, completed his course of reading and was admitted to practice in the courts of this State in March, 1884. January 1, 1886, he formed his present law partnership with A. A. Van Dusen, under the firm-name of Van Dusen & Martin. In 1887 he was elected special surrogate of Chautauqua county for a term of three years and is serving in that capacity at the present time. On January 1, 1873, he married Frances Isabel Graves, daughter of Henry M. Graves, of Friendship, New York. Mr. Martin is a republican in politics, is a member of Peacock Lodge, No. 696, F. and A. M., and Westfield chapter, No. 239, Royal Arch Masons. He has been successful in the practice of his profession and is discharging very creditably the duties of his present office.