My Genealogy Hound

JOHN JONES MARTIN, son of John Ellis and Sarah (Jones) Martin, was born August 4, 1842, on the homestead in the township of Upper Gwynedd, near the Bethlehem turnpike, the farm being now occupied by his brother Algernon J. Martin. He attended the public school known as the “Eight Square,” and pay schools until he had reached his nineteenth year, in the meantime assisting on the farm during the vacations and in other intervals of school study, when he devoted his entire time to farm work for one year. When he was twenty years of age he went to Philadelphia and secured employment with his brother Charles, who was engaged in the drug business in that city, in the capacity of salesman, which position he occupied for a year, when he returned to the farm and continued there with his father until his marriage. He married, April 16, 1867, Emma Louise, daughter of John G. and Catharine (Knipe) Johnson, who were farmers of Upper Gwynedd township, and descended from one of the oldest families of that vicinity.

Mr. Martin rented, immediately after his marriage, the homestead farm and turned his attention to keeping a dairy, and was thus engaged for two years. He then rented the James Pope farm of fifty-two acres which he also conducted as a dairy, remaining there until 1870, when he rented the farm now occupied by Enos Roberts, in Whitpain township, near Blue Bell, on which he resided until 1880, conducting it as a dairy and stock farm, attending the Oxford Market, in Philadelphia. He then removed to the farm which he now occupies, on the Butler turnpike, near Broad Axe, in Whitemarsh township, containing eighty acres of land which he conducts as a dairy and general farm, continuing to attend market in Philadelphia as before.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Martin: Winfield White, born December 10, 1868, died August 20, 1869; Warren Dickinson, born January 11, 1871, married, August 30, 1893, Mary Mitchell, daughter of James Mitchell, whose wife was a Miss Haight, their children being: Mordecai John, born April 11, 1901, and they residing at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania; Clifford Horner, born August 13, 1873, engaged in the stove and heater business at Ambler, is unmarried, and resides with his parents; Lavinia Iden, born May 5, 1876, died May 25, 1879; John Edward, born April 2, 1882, is unmarried, and assists on the home farm; Clara Elizabeth, born March 28, 1884, is a teacher of music on the piano and organ, is unmarried and resides at the homestead. Mrs. Martin died in 1900. Mr. Martin married, June 28, 1904, Julia T. Kropp, daughter of John and Caroline Kropp, of Philadelphia. Mr. Martin and his family are members of the Ambler Presbyterian church.

In politics he is a Republican as are his sons, but he has never sought or held office. He cast his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln when he was a candidate for his second term in the office in 1864, and has always since been actively interested in the success of the party principles and candidates. He also feels deeply interested in local affairs generally. He is a progressive citizen, favoring progress and improvement of all kinds, and always willing to exert himself for the welfare of his community. He is solicitous for the proper education of the rising generation, including his own descendants. Mrs. Martin was a woman of strong individuality, domestic tastes and amiable disposition.

John Ellis Martin (father) was the son of John Martin. He was born in Upper Gwynedd township, on the farm of Evan Jones, now occupied by Algernon J, Martin. John E. Martin learned early in life the habits of industry which he, later in life, impressed upon his children. He was a most useful man in his community. He married Sarah Jones, daughter of Evan Jones, and had the following children: Henry, who went to California in 1849, when the gold fever raged so violently, and never returned; Charles, born in 1830, died in 1864; Mary Ann, born May 16, 1833, married, October 15, 1853, Septimus Wilson Davis, of Hatfield township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, they residing near Gwynedd Square, in Upper Gwynedd township; Ellen, born in 1835, married John Summers, of Chalfont, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania; Humphrey, born March 20, 1837, died in California; Sarah Jane, married Harry B. Dickinson, attorney-at-law, of Norristown, both being deceased; John J., subject of this sketch; Algernon J., married Ella Burnside, daughter of James Burnside, and lives on the homestead. John E. Martin was an influential man in his day and generation, being always alive to the interests of the community in which he lived. He was highly respected by his neighbors and a wide circle of friends. In intelligence and culture he was far above the average. In politics he was a Whig and later a Republican, and was an earnest worker in its behalf.