This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: MARTIN Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/pZB.2ACE/318 Message Board Post: Dear all, Didn't know if theses would be of any interest to someone! From: BIOGRAPHY, A PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF WESTERN OREGON printed in 1904. ALEXANDER MARTIN, SR ALEXANDER MARTIN, JR THOMAS MARTIN Some good history details. Regards Mark. Sydney Australia ALEXANDER MARTIN, SR. ........ Although a resident of Oakland, Cal., for a long period Mr. Martin has had important financial and commercial interests in Klamath Falls, Ore., and numbers among his friends some of the leading citizens of southern Oregon. Identified with the history of the Pacific coast regions since 1853, he is a native of Illinois, born in Scott county, March 17, 1835, his parents being Samuel and Susan (Sisson) Martin, natives of Ohio county, Va. His paternal grandfather, Alexander Martin, immigrated to America from Ireland and settled in Virginia, where he followed the trade of jeweler and watchmaker. The maternal grandfather, Lewis Sisson, was a native-born American and by occupation a farmer. The genealogy of the Sisson family is traced to Germany. During 1832 Samuel Martin took his family from Virginia to Illinois and settled in Scott county, where he entered a tract of government land and became a pioneer farmer. On that homestead he died in 1844, aged sixty-six years. Afterward his widow continued to live on the same place until her death, which occurred in 1866, at the age of almost seventy years. In their family were three sons and six daughters, namely: Maria, who married A.M. Henderson, both now deceased; Frances, Mrs. Charles Lewis, also deceased; George, who for twenty years officiated as clerk of Scott county, Ill., but is now living in Nebraska; Sarah, Mrs. Ephraim Lewis, deceased; Eliza, Mrs. William Crabtree, deceased; Alexander; Martha, Mrs. James Hosac, of Nebraska; Samuel, of Harvard, Neb.; and Susan, who married William Cahn, of Kansas. In the days when Alexander Martin, Sr., was a boy schools were few in number and crude in their method of instruction. Hence his educational opportunitites were meagre. At an early age he learned the blacksmith's trade. In the spring of 1853, he started to the west, crossing the Missouri river on the 12th day of May and the Klamath river, seventeen miles from Kalmath Falls, on the 29th of August. The entire trip consumed four months and was made with oxteams. After spending the winter in Jacksonville, Ore., in the spring of 1854 he went overland to California and followed his trade at Sacramento. Returning to Oregon in the spring of 1855, he took up work at his trade in Jacksonville. During 1865 he returned to Illinois and visited relatives and friends. The spring of 1866 found him again in Jacksonville, where he embarked in the general mercantile business with J.T. Glenn and John S. Drum under the firm title of Glann, Drum & Co. The business was conducted under tha! t name until 1869, when Major Glenn purchased the interests of the other owners. A later venture of Mr. Martin was as superintendent of the line of stages owned by the Western Stage Company and running from Portland to Lincoln, Cal. The work was difficult and duties of the superintendent responsible, for he was obliged to take the oversight of four hundred head of horses owned by the company, engage suitable drivers and see that the stage reached Portland daily. In 1872 Mr. Martin bought Major Glenn out and thus became a member of the firm of White & Martin. The following year he had a contract for transporting troops and supplies from the end of the railroad at Roseburg into the lava beds. In1874 he sold out to Reames Bros., and in 1879 removed from Oregon to California and has since made his home in Oakland. However he has continued his commercial and financial interests in his old home state. During 1880 he became a member of the mercantile firm of Reames, Martin & Co., at Klamath Falls. In 1886 C.S. Moore bought out the interest owned by Mr. Reames and the store has since been conducted under the name of Reames, Martin & Co. Thomas Reames at present holding an interest in the enterprise. Another important business which owes its inception to Mr. Martin is sthe Klamath County Bank at Klamath Falls, which was incorporated with a capital stock of $50,000 and has since taken a place among the conservative and substantial fina! ncial institutions of souther Oregon. Fraternally Mr. Martin was at one time connected with the lodge and chapter of Masonry, but is not now affiliated with the organization. He is a member and holds the office of elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland. June 2, 1857 Mr. Martin married Elvira M. Gass, who was born in Virginia March 3, 1839, and died at Jacksonville, Ore., March 3, 1878. Her father, Thomas Gass, died in the east and in 1853 her mother brought the children to Oregon, settling in Jackson county. The family of Alexander Martin, Sr., and his wife consisted of five children namely: Ida, wife of Dr. G.H. Aiden, of Fresno, Cal.; Alexander Jr.; William, a dentist having his office on Market street, San Francisco; George, a dentist, now residing in Berlin, Germany; and Elvira, wife of F.H. Woodward, of San Jose, Cal. ********************************************************************************************* ALEXANDER MARTIN, JR. .... As a cashier and manager of the Klamath County Bank, of which his father, Alexander Martin, Sr., is president, the subject of this article is intimately associated with one of the important financial institutions of the county, an institution that through the conservative management of its officials has come to hold a high rank among similar enterprises in southern Oregon. Included among its depositors are many of the leading business men of the county, whose confidence has been won through the wise policy of the bank in matters of investments and loans. The establishment of the bank has thus proved of benefit to the people and to the town of Klamath Falls as well. In Jacksonville, Jackson county, Ore., Alexander Martin, Jr., was born July 3, 1867. His primary education was obtained in the schools of his native county. About 1879, after the death of his mother, the family removed to Oakland, Cal., and there he attended the public schools. Later he had the advantage of a course in Heald's Business College in San Francisco, from which he was graduated in 1884. Immediately afterward he left home and came to Klamath Falls, Ore., where he became a clerk in the mercantile establishment of Reames & Martin. After having continued for a time as a clerk, in 1886 he acquired an interest in the business, and this he conducted until 1899, when he disposed of his interest to F.W. Jennings. Since that time he has devoted his attention entirely to the management of the bank of which his father is the chief owner. The marriage of Mr. Martin was solemnized in Klamath Falls in 1888 and united him with Martha F. Smith, who was born in Reno, Nev., November 8, 1866. Her father, Judge George W. Smith, now a resident of Phoenix, Ariz., was formerly identified with the citizenship of Klamath county, where for several years he engaged extensively in farming and also filled the office of county judge for four years. Mr. and Mrs. Martin are the parents of one son, who bears his father's name. In his political views Mr. Martin is a supporter of Republican principals. Preferring to give his attention wholly to business matters, he has a syet not mingled in public affairs, but he consented to serve as county treasurer and filled the office from 1894 to 1896. IN fraternal relations he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Klamath Falls, in which he has passed through the chairs and is now financier. As a Mason he is active in Klamath Lodge No. 77, A.F. & A.M., Siskiyou Chapter ! No. 21, R.A.M., of Ashland; Malta Commandery No 4 K.T., also of Ashland and Al Kader Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S., of Portland. ************************************************************************************************************* THOMAS MARTIN .......... has been identified with the miller's trade in England and America for the past forty-four years, and to him belongs the distinction of having built the first mill in Klamath county, Ore., and of being the sole mill owner in the county at the present time. United by close ties to the south of England, Mr. Martin was born September 19, 1845, in the village of West Stour, in Dorsetshire, and his parents, both now deceased, are of the same nativity. His father, Edward, was a butcher by trade, and was successfully engaged in that occupation for an unbroken period of sixty-four years in the village of West Stour, spending his entire life in that locality. His mother's maiden name was Mary Crocker, and she and her husband were blessed with nine children: Edward, Maria, James, William, Sarah, Charles, Anne, Thomas and Jane. James, Charles, Anne and Jane were claimed by death, the latter in infancy and Sarah is now the wife of Ben Werhan. The education of Thomas Martin was obtained in the village school of his birthplace, which he attended until thirteen years old, when he became apprenticed to learn the miller's trade, serving a six years' apprenticeship and completely mastering all the details of this important trade. Thus at nineteen he was an expert miller and had few superiors and, immediately embarking upon his career, worked at his trade throughout various parts of England, spending eight years in London. It was not until 1873 that he took passage for America dn soon after landing in New Orleans, he proceeded up the Mississippi river as far as Macoupin county, Ill., where he lived, hiring out as a miller, and worked several years. In 1876 he obtained more lucrative situation in Terre Haute, Ind., where he conducted a mill for a couple of years and in 1878 he went ot the great northwest and to Oregon. There for two years he ran the old Owell mill in Phoenix, in Jackson county, and subsequently removed near Ashland and conducted the Eagle Mills for four years. During the fourth year he rented the mill and, after testing his ability to make a success of the business himself, went into Klamath county, in 1884 and built a mill at Klamath Falls, which was the first in the county. This mill was successfully operated by Mr. Martin until 1901, and although he still owns it, he retired from mill work at that time, and the mill is now operated by two of his sons. In 1894 he also built a mill at Merrill, which is now in charge of his eldest son. The father retired to his fine two hundred and eighty acre ranch, ten miles northwest of Merrill and upon this well-improved farm he carries on stockraising and general farming, raising many cereals. He has sixty head of fine cattle, and his ranch is conducted on a well-paying basis. In the year 1872 Mr. Martin married Miss Thirza Pattiemore, of English birth, born in Somersetshire, May 2, 1847 and their marrieage took place in London, July 221, 1872. Eight children were born to them: Mary Anne, Samuel Edward, Oner, Charles, Elizabeth, John, May and Maude, two of whom are deceased. Mary Anne and Oner. Samuel, the eldest son has charge of the mill at Merrill, while Charles and John conduct the mill at Klamath Falls. Elizabeth, the eldest daughter living, is now the wife of Cary Ramsby, and resides in Klamath Falls, and the two younger daughters are attending school, the family having remained in Klamath Falls for the purpose of furthering their education, while the father conducts the ranch. Mr. Martin has served as a member of the school board of Klamath Falls for years. A life-long Republican in his political views, he has never been prevailed upon to accept office, and in fraternal circles he is a valued member of Lodge No. 110, A.O.U.W. of Klam! ath Falls.