DAVID E. MARTIN, a very successful man who owns
several farms in Benton county, has made his fortune in Benton county,
as when he came here he had only very small capital on which to make
his start in life. He was born in Fairfield county, Ohio, December 23,
1829, and is a son of Robert L. and Phoebe (Morrow) Martin, natives of
Fairfield county, Ohio and Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, respectively.
Mrs. Martin came to Ohio at the age of eighteen, and they were married
in Fairfield county; they had three children when they removed to
Hancock county in 1834. In 1854 Mr. Martin and his wife removed, with
their seven children, to Benton county, Iowa, and located in Eden
township. Robert L. Martin died in February, 1882, in his
seventy-eighth year; he was a fairly successful farmer, and had served
as justice of the peace in Ohio. He was a member of the Presbyterian
church, as was also his wife, who survived him several years, dying in
Jackson township in 1887, aged eighty-one years, on the farm adjoining
that of David Martin. Mr. and Mrs. Martin had nine children, two of
whom died young; the others were: David E.; Charles M., a soldier of
the Thirteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, wounded at the battle of
Shiloh, and died two years later; William W., engaged in the express
business at Denver, Colorado; Eleanor who married W. M. Baldridge, of
Jackson township, and died in the autumn of 1905; Andrew M., who died
over thirty years ago, leaving a widow who resides at Boone, Iowa, and
two children; Archibald W., who was a soldier in Captain Wilson's
Company in the Twenty-eighth Iowa; and Phoebe, who married George N.
Park, resided in Benton county for a time and then removed to Colorado,
where they now reside. Archibald was taken prisoner during his service
and spent fourteen months in prison, being released at the close of the
war. Later he reared a family, and died at his home in southeastern
Nebraska some ten or twelve years ago.
David E. Martin was reared on a farm in Hancock county, Ohio, and when
twenty-four years of age came to Benton county, Iowa, since which time
he has lived in the vicinity of Vinton. He endured the hardships of
pioneer life, and began with three hundred dollars in money and a horse
as his capital. He had taught school in Ohio, and also taught four
terms in Benton county. He first came here in May, 1854, and in June of
that year entered land in Eden township, whose name was selected by his
brother, Charles M. Martin, afterward confirmed by the vote of the
inhabitants of the township. He now owns the farm where he resides,
consisting of four hundred and sixty acres, in sections 12 and 13,
Jackson township, and one hundred acres of which is located in Taylor
township, although the land is in one piece; he also owns one hundred
and seventy-one and a half acres in section 16, Jackson township, and
one hundred and forty-eight acres in Taylor township.
Politically Mr. Martin is a life-long Democrat, and he has served in
various local offices. He is well known in the community and stands
high in the estimation of his fellow citizens. He has, as one of his
valued possessions, the second issue printed of the Vinton Eagle, the
oldest paper in Benton county, and is thus on the so-called "roll of
honor" of old subscribers to this paper.
Mr. Martin married Rebecca H. Wallace, who was born in Virginia, partly
reared in Ohio, and came to Benton county, Iowa, in 1857 with her
father, Robert Wallace, now deceased. They became the parents of nine
children, of whom four survive, namely: Morrill R., of Oberlin, Kansas,
is a merchant and married; Alice, unmarried, living at home, has taught
school eleven years; Robert E., a farmer of Jackson township, is
married and has two children; and John L., living at home. Two children
died in infancy, two others as children some fifteen years later, and
Martha died as a young woman. Martha had taught school several terms in
Benton county. Mrs. Martin died in 1899, aged sixty-three years; she
had formerly been a member of the United Presbyterian church, but at
the time of her death had joined with the Plymouth Brethren.