My Genealogy Hound

Thomas L. Martin is not unknown to the many residents of Cross County. A native of Alabama, he is a son of Joseph and Sallie (Fitzgerald) Martin, who came originally from North Carolina, Joseph Martin having moved to Tennessee when a boy. At the age of twenty-one he went to Alabama and settled in Lawrence County, where he engaged in farming, being the owner of several negroes. In 1858 he came to Arkansas and settled in this township, and entered 120 acres of land. Mr. Martin was twice married; first, to Miss Ruttidge, by whom he had four children, all now deceased. His second wife was the mother of our subject. Mr. Martin was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and died in 1863, at the age of seventy-six years. Thomas L. Martin was born in Lawrence County, Ala., in 1841, and was reared to farm life, coming to this county with his father in 1858. In 1861 he joined the Confederate army, serving as one of the celebrated “Walker Grays,” for a short time, and in February, 1862, he became connected with the Fifth Arkansas Provisional Regiment, known as the Walker Regiment, in which he served until the surrender of Island No. 10, in 1862; there he was captured and sent to Camp Douglas, being held until the following September. He rejoined his command in December, at Port Hudson, was again captured in the following May and sent to New Orleans, and afterward to Fortress Monroe, where he was paroled. Returning home, he walked a distance of 500 miles in fourteen days and a half, reaching his destination in August, 1863. In the following April he started for Kirby Smith’s headquarters, but did not again go into active service, being engaged in getting together Government cotton. After the war Mr. Martin resumed his farming operations and rented land until 1876, when he bought his present place, consisting of 100 acres, which at that time had only four acres under cultivation. He now owns another farm of 200 acres, and has about 100 under cultivation. He is a member of the K. of H. and of the Agricultural Wheel. Mr. and Mrs. Martin are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The former is one of the leading farmers in Bedford Township, and is respected by all who know him. He has been twice married; first, to Elizabeth Wigby, on February 1, 1866, by whom he had three children: Maggie Emma (born September 28, 1869), Thomas Jefferson (born December 17, 1870) and Kittie Ellen (born November 17, 1873). Mrs. Martin died September 30, 1881, and Mr. Martin subsequently married on December 6, 1882, having four children by his second wife (she was a widow, Mrs. Mollie F. Everet): Wesley Hargus (born March 1, 1884), Eliza Dolphus (born March 6, 1885), Edgar Shuford (born December 15, 1887) and Porter Featherston (born October 7, 1889).