The Martin Family

From the collection of Lulu May Young nee Martin. She is my great grandmother and her efforts to preserve moments like these continue to live on and will no doubt live long after I'm gone. Standing L to R: John Kelly Martin Jr., Myrtle, Lulu May, Bert Sitting L to R: John Kelly Martin Sr., Jennie, Alice Cary Martin nee Gee

I cried the first time I saw this picture.  Mainly because the truth about genealogy is that it involves researching multitudes of faceless names.  This never made me less interested in my family tree but I can't describe the feeling when I see faces for the first time.  It is like seeing a ghost and I can remember several instances where my jaw literally dropped.  

At this point in my research I have become so familiar with my ancestors that I often talk about them as if they were living.  I'll catch myself saying "Jennie moved away to Washington and Bert married Nellie and lived on a farm in Kansas with no issue."  Although my immediate family on earth is very small, my family in heaven is massive.  

I give thanks to God for allowing me to do the research I have done and share it with others.

William Harris Martin's letter to nephew William Cook Martin

Below are the scanned photos of the front and back of the envelop and then the 4 page letter enclosed. Below the photos, I have transcribed this letter. William Harris Martin was born January 13, 1806 in Kentucky and died December 19, 1895 in Illinois. This letter is written by William Harris Martin to his nephew Reverend William Cook Martin born June 21, 1833 in Indiana and died November 22, 1909 in Iowa. Reverend William Cook Martin is my 3rd great grandfather.













Tuscola Illinois Feb 14th-85
Rev Wm C Martin
Dear Nephew
You can hardly appreciate the joy and gladness of my heart at receiving yours of the 27th of last month. I am so glad that God has called one of the Martin stock to labor in his vineyard, having taken on yourself holy orders to preach the word is a calling far above the common walks of life altho to be a Methodist preacher is not very profitable so far as dollars and cents is concerned. But if duty is faithfully performed in humble trust and faith, you will have stars of rejoicing in your crown and by and by shall return bring your sheanes with you, This will be a far richer treasure than this poor Earth can afford them. Let the Vanderbilt and Gould pour over their millions life soon passes away and where is their accumulated gold it is left behind. Not so with God's faithful followers. When their lamp of life is blown out,
they enter into possesion of their treasures which is lasting as God and eternity. We have here a "sweet prelibation of that glorious inheritance while we wander up and down" here below. We may "read our title clear to mansions in the sky prepared for us by our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." "Then let sickness blast and death devour." And poverty stare us in the face. We look beyond to our inheritance.
I regret to learn that your wife is an invalid for so long a time. I pray God to remove the trouble and restore her to health. Amen.
J H Martin family are well Mollie the oldest girl married Dr. Washburn of Atica Ind. Henry's are well his oldest girl Marie Jacob Smith have three children John is married and has a son no more of their children are married. Wills folks are well. Mr. Wm B. Wilson + Sophia is hear teaching superintendant of the high school salary $1200.00 per year but will move to Nebraska in June or July where he thinks he can do better & Jenkins and family are near.
Councill Bluff Iowa Mary you know is dead died without issue. Mc Cormick her husband is in Mineapolis Min. My health is good and I am tolerable active for a man of my age. I am in my 80th year since the 13th of Jan last.
I received a letter from Moses Akers he lives in North Lawrence Kansas has been confined to his room for over a year with rheumatics his physician tell him he will never get up again. He appears happy in a Saviours love. Write him a letter very soon or he may be gone no doubt it will cheer him to get a line from you.
There are many revivals of religion in Ohio, Ind and in this state. We are holding a protract effort in this town now with some success not with great manifestation of mighty power as you have seen it. Write often.
Your Uncle
Wm H Martin
P.S. You can see how my hand trembles and how many words I leave out. This is on account of age.
Wm H M

John Colby Young

John Colby Young is my great great grandfather.  Born about September, 1836 in Logan, Kentucky to Martin Young and Susannah Sale.  His father died when he was barely two years old.  He had six older siblings and one younger.  In 1863 he enlisted in the 8th Kentucky Cavalry Company D, which was the Union side during the Civil War.  On September 21st 1865 he reenlisted as a 1st lieutenant in the 17th Kentucky Cavalry Company C.  During the Civil War, his hand was injured and he did not have full use of that hand ever again.  It was said that there was nerve damage either from being stabbed or shot.
On March 27, 1878 John Colby Young married 26 year old Mary E. Edwards in Logan County Kentucky. After marrying, the two packed up and moved to Carrigan, Illinois where they were found in the 1880 census living with their 2 infants: a boy named Martin B. Young born in December, 1878 and an infant girl born August, 1879.  (These 2 children died soon after the 1880 census, possibly some illness going around at the time.)
Soon after 1880, John Colby Young and Mary E. Edwards packed up again and headed west to settle in the town of Rich Hill, Missouri.  This is where their son Robert Cleveland Young (my great grandfather) was born on October 25, 1882.  In 1883, John Colby Young was listed in a Rich Hill directory along with his older brother Richard T. Young as employees of "Rich Hill Mills."  Richard lived down the road with his wife Mary Ann Morehead and his 4 children.  Richard and John were both professional millers.  It was said that John Colby Young was an excellent horseman and knew the ins and outs of running a working farm.
In 1884 and 1885 John and Mary had 2 more sons: J. C. Young and Colby E. Young.  (Both died in 1892)

The rest of the living children born to John and Mary are as follows:
Joseph Clay Young born on August 15, 1886
Mary E. Young born on February 18, 1888
William Beverly Young born on March 28, 1890
Lemar E. Young born on May 16, 1894

John Colby Young died on May 8, 1899 in Rich Hill Missouri leaving behind his wife and 5 children.  Although no death certificate is on file because of the fires that destroyed them back in the day, it was said that John Colby Young died of a heart attack or something of that nature.  He was a hard working man.  He bravely joined the Union Army at the ripe age of 26.  He chose to go against slavery in a state that sympathized with the South.  In Kentucky there were many battles which put brother against brother and sometimes father against son.  It was a brutal war that people today cannot comprehend the blood shed that happened.  It was scary times and John Colby and his brothers Richard, Robert and Joseph all joined the Union side.  It is still unclear whether or not Joseph survived the war, as there is no trace of him after 1865.

Researching Family

I had a mandatory Hawaiian studies course in college at UH Manoa.  The first assignment was to make a family tree and bring it to class and share it.  I wasn't too thrilled at the time because it meant that I had to call home to California and get all the information needed.  I thought to myself, what's wrong with this teacher?  What does my family have to do with Hawaiian studies? 
Little did I know it would spark an interest that carries with me today.  Something really hit me when I saw ancestors who were born in the 19th century and my investigative side came out when I realized that there were some dead ends in the family tree.  I wanted to know more.

My interest was permanently planted on the day my mentor, dean and professor at the school of Journalism at UH Manoa retired.  Dr. Bev Keever, one of the first women reporters in Vietnam during the war, a true inspiration to all.  She came to speak to us and see us for the last time.  We all talked and asked her what her plans were.  She said she was going to spend time with her 90 something year old mother since she had devoted so many years to her career.  None of us students ever had the nerve to ask her how old she was but we all guessed she was near 80. 
Anyways, she pulled us together and told us that in her life she had 2 big regrets:
1) She never kept a diary.  As a journalist she was always documenting events but never bothered to document her own life.
2) She didn't document her family's history.  She recalled being a little girl in New York and hearing her grandmother talk of traveling in covered wagons.  Today, this information would be like gold, but when her grandmother died, all that information went with her.

I'll never forget this day.  There I was in my early 20's hearing this amazing woman at the end of her long career talk of her life's biggest regrets.  I wanted to make darn certain that I wouldn't have the same ones.