How we got here....
Before Gallia was a county, Stephen Martin arrived from New Hampshire. Ohio history books lists Stephen as an early settlor of Harrison Township. Many other families had arrived in early 1800's determined to settle Harrison Township. These families bought property, built homesteads & tamed this land. Many after settling still has a sense of adventure. It was plentiful in America at that time & new territories were regularly being opened for settlement. During 1850s Stephen decided to press further west & joined a wagon train going west.
With a pregnant wife, Stephen got as far as Iowa. There my Great Grandfather was born on 10th of January 1853 in a camp along westward trails during winter of 1853/4. It was said to be a brutal winter that year & several families from Gallia was in bad shape on trails headed west. We will never know their true destination but out of desperation many families returned to Gallia. There was still a full menu of hardships here in Gallia but it seemed better than where they were at. We don't know a lot of details but we do know when returning there was a new baby, John Sanders Martin.
John grew as most young men of that time to be a farmer. He married Fannie Theresa Phillips. Fannie descended from a long line of Phillip's. A family that had done well & was keen on education.
Fannie Phillips Father, James Phillips came from parents that had produced a family of 14 children. This gave Fannie 13 aunts & uncles on her fathers side alone. James was born in 1831. While floating logs down Racoon Creek he died at a young age in 1868. Logs were floated down Raccoon Creek on there way to market.
At that time it was rumored he may have been murdered by men he was working with. It was thought they had wanted his wife & property. With nothing every proved his drowning was listed as accidental. He had fell into the water & his head crushed between two logs.
He had been part of a crew of men that worked logs downstream by jumping from log to log & using long poles kept logs moving. Our family was told during one of these jumps he had fell into the water between two logs and was struck in head by two logs coming together. He was married to Sara Jane Henderson at that time. She never remarried & was known to family as Grandma Phillips.
Fannie grew up on our family farm & married John S. Martin. Together they farmed & started a large family. They purchased our family homeplace from Fannies Brother, Seymore Phillips. Together they farmed many more years and added more land to the farm. With time, their son, my Grandfather Roy Decaster Martin took over the family farm and added more land.
As our country & county developed, Phillip & Martin families lived thru American Indian wars, a civil war, two world wars, a great depression, hardships, fires, floods, droughts and personal hardships that are unimaginable today. They lived, farmed and worshiped in community Church's while building & improving their lives for their families.