John Martin (abt. 1786 - 1856)

Born about 1786 in Pittsylvania, Virginia, United States [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Thirsa (Hill) Martin — married 24 Oct 1810 in Prince Edward, Virginia, United States

Husband of Elizabeth (Gallaher) Martin — married 20 Oct 1827 in Prince Edward, Virginia, United States

Descendants

Died 1856 at about age 70 in Prince Edward, Virginia, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: David Martin [send private message] and Melissa Snyer [send private message]

Disambiguation

Name

A transcription error has led to the false application of a middle initial "W"^[1] and even the apparent extrapolation from that to a middle name of "Wesley" in many online trees. Images of the original marriage record are freely available and they clearly show that there was never a middle initial or name included for John on the referenced "line 45, pg. 6"^[2] or on the associated marriage bond.^[3]

Conflated Johns

There were two men named John Martin in Prince Edward, Virginia in the first half of the 19th century. (The older one is here.) Researchers over the years have confused and conflated the lives and families of these two men to such an extent that there doesn't appear to be an accurate or complete picture of either man anywhere online or in print. These profiles are an attempt to correct that...

Tax records clearly show that there were two different men named John Martin in Prince Edward by 1807.^[4] The older one had already been there well over a decade, and had apparently started a family with Molly Wright. It isn't clear how long this younger John had been there by 1807, but he probably would have been about 21 or 22 years old at the time and had not yet married.

Exhaustive research of all extant Prince Edward records has not provided any evidence connecting John to the family of John Martin, who was well established in Prince Edward about a generation before this John was born. And moving away from paper (or microfilm), analysis of the autosomal DNA matches with a 2nd great-granddaughter of this John show no statistically significant connections to descendants of the much older John Martin, his son Robert, or the family of Robert's wife, Elizabeth Johnston.

Biography

John was born about 1786 in Pittsylvania, Virginia.^[5][6] He married Thirsa Hill, daughter of William, in Prince Edward, Virginia on or about 24 Oct 1810.^[7][8][9] John struggled to support their children after Thirsa died, and all of their children were ordered to be bound out by the Overseer of the Poor in August 1827:^[10]

1. Paulina

2. Lucy

3. Azariah

4. Milly A.

5. Susan W.

6. Betsy A.

7. William J.

A chancery suit from around the time of Thirsa's death provides some insight into John's financial situation, as well as how it would have taken him away from the children he was deemed unfit to raise. He was employed by the plaintiff in the case of Edward W. Preston vs. William A. Howard for at least several months in the year 1826, and the work, which involved boating and making shoes, took him away from home for weeks at a time.^[11] John maintained relationships with the daughters from his first marriage, even managing to give bond for at least one of their marriages.^{[12][13][14][15]}

John remarried shortly after his children were bound out, on 20 Oct 1827, to Elizabeth Gallaher, daughter of William,^[16][17][9] and raised a second large family:^[6]

1. Frances A.

2. John Henry

3. Josiah

4. George W.

5. Andrew Jackson

6. Woodson Allen

7. Peter Harrison

8. Mary Margaret

9. Richard Thomas

10. Julia C.

11. Robert Wesley

John's death on 10 Nov 1856^[5] appears to have left another family in financial ruin, as they were described in the 1860 census as:^[18]

These two families had no employment but hunting. Lived on only .5 acres of poor land in two small log cabins.

Arrest of thieves, driven off for Sheep Stealing in July 1860.

Origin

The only clue in records as to where this John came from is in the 1850 Census, where the taker recorded his place of birth as "Pitts'a."^[19] Census anomalies are common, and most are generally dismissed as the mistake of a careless census taker, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. This census taker, James H Dupuy (this guy?), appears to have been a perfectionist, with clear, precise handwriting, recording seemingly impeccable entries in every row of the "Place of Birth" column on every page. There were more than two dozen different places listed on some pages, with several sometimes represented in a single home. He seems to have never cheated or guessed. In a few cases, he recorded "unknown" in the column, an entry he seems to have been reluctant to enter... The point is, Mr. Dupuy did not make a careless mistake. John Martin told him that he was the only member of his family born in Pittsylvania.

Irrespective of the meticulous work of an overqualified census taker, there is evidence of a Martin family with old roots in Prince Edward and with members who migrated to the area of Pittsylvania sometime before John was born. A different Robert Martin from the one mentioned above died in Prince Edward in 1783 or '84, leaving widow Esther & a young son named Robert who was not yet 21.^[20] Two other sons of this family were confirmed by the will of a fourth, Samuel, who, seemingly inspired by the Burning of Norfolk by the British, wrote his will before giving his life to the cause of the Revolution. In the will, he mentioned his mother and his brothers John and Hugh by name, but then only a vague reference to the rest as all my Brothers and Sisters. Brother John was "of Henry County" by 1780 when he sold his land in Prince Edward,^[21] and "of Franklin" by 1791 when he sold their father's land after the apparent death of their mother, Esther.^[22] The Chestnut Creek area where he and Hugh had relocated to by 1780 is just a few miles from the present-day border with Pittsylvania. It was in the area of Henry that became part of the newly formed Franklin County in 1786, about a year after John claimed he was born there.^[19] John & Hugh Martin both had sons and grandsons named John who stayed in the Chestnut Creek area, so the search for one of Samuel's unnamed brothers took a different direction...

DNA

Research of other Martin men in the area of Pittsylvania and Franklin included using Ancetry.com's ThruLines tool to experiment by setting them as John's father in the tree of a 2nd great-granddaughter. So When William and Susanna (Meador) Martin were set as John's parents, ThruLines returned 158 matches with descendants of their many children. ThruLines is inherently flawed, as it depends on the unsourced and often disproved connections that proliferate Ancestry trees, so this alone cannot prove anything. Yet, 158 matches spread liberally across all known children of William & Susannah is significant. Collaboration between the descendants of four of John's children to triangulate (quadranglulate?) on these results strengthened the case:

1. Great-granddaughter of Richard Thomas Martin or "RTM:" 158 matches.
2. Great-grandson of Peter Harrison Martin or "PHM:" 165 matches.
3. 3rd great-granddaughter of Mildred Ann (Martin) Durrum or "MAM:" 77 matches.
4. 3rd great-granddaughter of Paulina J. (Martin) Moses or "PJM:" 31 matches.

With two additional generations between the participating descendants of MAM & PJM, the drop in total matches is as expected, but it was important to include these descendants of John by his first wife to show that his connection to William & Susannah was through him, rather than one or the other of his two wives. Discarding undocumented or poorly documented connections, the number of matches for each participant with the descendants of the known children of William & Susannah break down as follows:

• 88 with David James Martin: 18 w/ RTM, 42 w/ PHM, 19 w/ MAM, 9 w/ PJM
• 33 with Mildred Martin: 10 w/ RTM, 11 w/ PHM, 9 w/ MAM, 3 w/ PJM
• 50 with Joel Martin: 20 w/ RTM, 28 w/ PHM, 2 w/ PJM
• 94 with Susannah (Martin) Johnson: 42 w/ RTM, 33 w/ PHM, 13 w/ MAM, 6 w/ PJM
• 11 with Rhoda (Martin) Adams: 7 w/ RTM, 4 w/ PHM
• 35 with Sarah (Martin) Gearhart: 21 w/ RTM, 8 w/ PHM, 6 w/ MAM

Since no serious research has ever previously been documented on William's origins, ThruLines cannot yet "know" what to do with him. It is interesting that ThruLines suggests General Joseph Martin as his father, with 86 matches for RTM and 127 matches for PHM, but Big Y DNA testing on the PHM participant, a male Martin direct-descendant, has since revealed that he is a Group 8 Martin match, while is seems that the only documented descendants of Gen. Joseph are Group 23. A close look at over 100 of the associated trees on Ancestry revealed no documentation or evidence of any research at all connecting to Gen. Joseph. Many of these matches must be related to a common Martin ancestor, but the connection to this famous figure seems to be fiction. Big Y candidates are being recruited to help define the block tree for this branch of Group 8 Martins.

ThruLines does have access to well-documented connections with Susannah Meador's family, though, and it returned 114 matches with the descendants of her many siblings for RTM and 80 for PHM. It also returned 69 matches with descendants of Susannah's father's siblings for RTM and 42 for PHM.

[Work in process...]

Sources

1. ↑ "Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XRW1-GX9 : 29 January 2020), Woodson A. Martin, 1862.
2. ↑ Prince Edward, Virginia, Marriage Register, 1854-1919, line 45, pg.6.
3. ↑ "Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1771-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C91D-6SL9-N?cc=2134304 : 24 November 2021), > image 1 of 1; Accomat county court clerk offices, Virginia.
4. ↑ Prince Edward, Virginia, List of Tithes for 1807, page 12.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} "Virginia, Library of Virginia State Archive, Births, Marriages, and Deaths 1853-1900", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZPQ-D6CQ : 28 October 2021), John Martin, 1856.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8DK-FTH : 23 December 2020), John Martin, Prince Edward, Virginia, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
7. ↑ "Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1771-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6D3T-3K8N : 28 June 2022), John Martin, 24 Oct 1810; citing Marriage, Virginia, United States, Circuit court clerk offices, Virginia.
8. ↑ "Virginia, Vital Records, 1715-1901", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6N8G-TQKB : 8 August 2022), John Martin, 1810.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} "Virginia, Vital Records, 1715-1901", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6N8V-BMZ1 : 8 August 2022), John Martin, 1810.
10. ↑ Prince Edward, Virginia, Court Order Book 21, p. 602.
11. ↑ John Martin's questioning is on page 10 and his sworn deposition is on page 46 (he signed with a mark), but it is the deposition about him, by Nimrod Guill, on pages 28-30, that provides this information:
    • Prince Edward, Virginia, Chancery Suit 1831-021: Edward W. Preston vs. William A. Howard. See Image 29; second page of deposition of Nimrod Guill.
12. ↑ "Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1771-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6D9Z-88RV : 28 June 2022), Lucy Marten in entry for Shoemaker, 30 Sep 1829; citing Marriage, Virginia, United States, Circuit court clerk offices, Virginia.
13. ↑ "Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1771-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68YN-2Y3Q : 28 June 2022), Milley Ann Martin in entry for James B Durrum, 17 Jul 1837; citing Marriage, Prince Edward, Virginia, United States, Circuit court clerk offices, Virginia.
14. ↑ "Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1771-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68YN-2Y34 : 28 June 2022), Milley Ann Martin in entry for James B Durrum, 18 Jul 1837; citing Marriage, Virginia, United States, Circuit court clerk offices, Virginia.
15. ↑ Campbell, Virginia, Marriage Register 1, 1782-1853, p. 182.
16. ↑ "Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1771-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6DMD-G8FR : 28 June 2022), John Martin, 20 Oct 1827; citing Marriage, Virginia, United States, Circuit court clerk offices, Virginia.
17. ↑ "Virginia, Vital Records, 1715-1901", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6N8P-YHCB : 9 August 2022), Galleher Martin, 1827.
18. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M41G-FTH : 18 February 2021), Betsy Bugg in entry for James Bugg, 1860.
19. ↑ ^{19.0 19.1} "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8DK-FTH : 23 December 2020), John Martin, Prince Edward, Virginia, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
20. ↑ Robert, listed with underage Robert Jr & slave "Sawney" in 1783, was replaced by Esther Martin in 1784, with underage Robert & slave "Sawney":
    • Prince Edward, Virginia, List of Tithes for 1783, page 8.
    • Prince Edward, Virginia, List of Tithes for 1784, page 1.
21. ↑ Prince Edward, Virginia, Deed Book 6, [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKV-NSBR-F?i=256 pp. 487-488..
22. ↑ Prince Edward, Virginia, Deed Book 9, pp. 132-133.