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Below is a family biography included in The History of Hickman County, Tennessee published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1886.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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James Franklin Martin was born in Williamson County, Tenn., April 1, 1857, and is the youngest one of seven children born to Benjamin Franklin and Jane D. (Alston) Martin, who were born in Stokes County, Va., November 19, 1820, and Williamson County, Tenn., January 24, 1825, respectively. Our subject’s paternal grandparents were Samuel and Sarah (Clement) Martin, who came from Virginia to Tennessee many years ago, and his maternal grandparents were James and Nancy (Swanzy) Alston, who were Carolinians. B. F. Martin, the father, was a Confederate soldier and died at Nolensville, Tenn., in February, 1862. He was the father of seven children: Brice Joseph Alexander, a Confederate soldier at the age of fifteen years, in the late war, and is now living in Texas; Ellen A. (Mrs. Harrison), Sallie A. (Mrs. Clay), Mary J. (Mrs. Jones), Rebecca A. (Mrs. West), one sister who died in infancy, and our subject. The mother is still living and resides in Williamson County. Oar subject’s early educational advantages were good, and although raised on a farm he gave little attention to agricultural pursuits. November 25, 1872, he entered the Review and Journal office, at Franklin, Tenn., to learn the printer’s trade, and remained there nearly five years. He then came to Centreville, Hickman County, where he kept a small job printing office for three months, this being the first printing office ever established in the county. January 28, 1878, he issued the first number of the Hickman Pioneer, the first and only newspaper published in the county. He has since been its editor and proprietor with the exception of three months in 1882, when the business was leased to a stock company. Mr. Martin is a Democrat, as his father was before him, and on the day he was twenty-one he attended his first political convention; was elected secretary of the same and was appointed delegate to the coming State judicial convention and was made a member and secretary of the Hickman County Democratic Executive Committee. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and belongs to the U. O. of G. C. and K. of H. fraternities. Unlike the majority of young men of the present day, Mr. Martin never swore an oath in his life, never took a drink of liquor as a beverage, never played for money at a game of chance and has never used opium or tobacco in any form. March 28, 1881, Mr. Martin was united in marriage to Mollie Herndon, daughter of Joseph L. and Naomi Elizabeth (Thompson) Herndon. Mrs. Martin is their only child, and was born in La Fayette County, Miss., September 6, 1862. J. L. Herndon died at Port Hudson, La., in August, 1863, while serving in the Southern Army. Our subject has an only child, a son, who bears the family name Brice, born July 10, 1884.

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This family biography is one of 20 biographies included in The History of Hickman County, Tennessee published in 1886.  The History of Hickman County was included within The History of Lawrence, Wayne, Perry, Hickman & Lewis Counties of Tennessee. View the complete description here: History of Lawrence, Wayne, Perry, Hickman and Lewis Counties of Tennessee

View additional Hickman County, Tennessee family biographies here: Hickman County, Tennessee

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