My Genealogy Hound

MARTIN, JAMES, agriculturist, was born in Kentucky on the 14th of June, 1814; during his youth he became apprenticed to the trade of a bricklayer, and worked for many years as a journeyman workman. In 1828 occurred the family removal to Greene County, where James Martin during the year 1833 turned his attention to the trade of a bricklayer, although subsequent years developed an aptitude for farming, and accordingly a purchase of property was made; with the exception of a short residence in Kansas, the greater portion of his days were spent in Greene County. In 1848 he was married to Miss Eliza Harwood, a daughter of Albert G. Harwood of Greene County; of this marriage ten children were born, two sons and eight daughters, all of whom are yet living. This sketch would be incomplete were we to omit to mention Mr. Martin’s adherence to the union cause during the stirring scenes of war, when to a union man in many portions of Southern Illinois brought down the hatred and enmity of many known as bushwhackers; necessarily his early life was marked by poverty, but he was endowed with an unlimited stock of commendable energy which made him successful in his various enterprises; after an energetic and honorable career, both as an agriculturist and mechanic, he died at his farm residence in township 9, range 12, of lung fever, and his ashes now repose in the Mount Gilead Cemetery; the estate comprises 200 acres, a valuable tract of land pleasantly situated.