My Genealogy Hound

ALEXANDER B. MARTIN, a prominent farmer and tobacco dealer of Ripley, Brown County, was born in Union Township, Novembers, 1815. His parents, Elijah and Rebecca (Boggs) Martin, were natives of Maryland and West Virginia. The former was born in 1778 and the latter in 1782. Edwin and Hannah Martin, grandparents of Alexander Martin, removed to Maysville, Ky., among the earliest pioneers, and both died there. Elijah Martin was reared near Wheeling, W. Va., and in 1804 removed to Maysville, Ky., where he lived two years, then located near Aberdeen, Brown County. In 1812, he recruited the First Ohio Rifle Company and was chosen its captain, and served in that capacity in the war between the United States and Great Britain, for the term of one year. He then returned home and resumed farming, which he followed till his death, in August, 1855. He filled the office of Justice of the Peace for twenty years, and was prominently identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was deeply interested in that church, and was for many years a leading member. Mrs. Martin died March, 1860. Mr. Martin, our subject, is the youngest child of a family of eleven children. He was reared to manhood on a farm; when thirteen years old he took charge of the farm and supported his parents till their death. Mr. Martin is one of the leading business men of Brown County. For thirty-four years, he has been engaged in growing tobacco, raising from 20,000 to 37,000 pounds annually. Since 1850, he has bought and shipped tobacco and pork, doing an extensive business. He was connected with John Buchanan in business for a time, and with Leggett & Co. for six years. He is one of the oldest and most successful tobacco dealers and shippers of Brown County. February, 8, 1838, he was united in marriage with Miss Prudence McNown, a daughter of James and Prudence McNown. Mrs. Martin, a native of Huntington Township, was born December 25, 1818. Of ten children by this union, seven are living — Eliza, wife of Dr. J. L. Wylie; Hiram, Edgar, Rufus, Mary H., Frank D. and Alexander B., Jr. Calista, Albert and Charlie are deceased. Mr. Martin is connected with the Masonic fraternity, and in politics is a Republican. He is the heaviest stockholder in the Independent Agricultural Society of Brown County. He owns 502 acres of well improved and highly cultivated land.