WILLIAM MARTIN, president of the First National Bank of Canonsburg, is the only living representative of his branch of the Martin family in Washington county; he is a native of the same, born December 18, 1821 on a farm in North Strabane township. He is a son of Samuel and Mary (McNary) Martin, the former of whom was a son of James Martin, a native of Scotland, who immigrated to this country at a very early period, settling in York county Penn.; the latter a daughter of David McNary, of Cross Creek township, Washington county, same State. Samuel Martin, great-grandfather of our subject, emigrated from Scotland with his son James, and was the first of the family to come to York county where he followed farming and died. He had one daughter, and three sons Andrew, Peter and James of whom Peter and James came to Washington county in 1804. James had married Margaret McNary, in York county, and the children born to them there were Samuel, Esther (Mrs. Joseph McNary), Isabella (Mrs. John C. Hanna), Margaret (Mrs. David Templeton), all now deceased. The father of this family was born in 1763 and died in 1853, aged ninety years, the mother passing away when the subject of this sketch was a little boy.
Samuel Martin, father of William, was born in 1790, in York County, Penn., and received his education at the subscription schools of his locality during a few weeks in winter time, the remainder of the year being devoted to learning the practical lessons of agricultural pursuits. On the death of his father he came into possession of the homestead in North Strabane township, Washington county, and it may be here stated that the land was originally patented by the Government to one James McCready, from whom it was afterward purchased by the Martin family. Oil was found on the old homestead farm in 1887, and nine wells have been sunk on it. All were producers; two when the oil gave out were sunk deeper and made gas wells: those were piped to Pittsburgh by Jones & Laughlin, and are still producers. After his marriage with Mary McNary, in 1812, Samuel Martin made a final settlement on the old farm in North Strabane township, carrying on general farming till the time of his retirement to Canonsburg, where he died in 1878, aged eighty-eight years. His wife, a native of Washington county, Penn., died one year later, at the age of eighty-nine years. They were active members of the Chartiers United Presbyterian Church. Their family consisted of ten children: Esther (now the widow of B. M. Crouch, of Mansfield, Ohio), Margaret (deceased wife of Judge McCarroll, of Washington county, Penn.), Sarah (widow of Robert Rowen, residing near Venice, Hanover township, Washington Co., Penn.), James (who removed many years ago to the vicinity of Mansfield, Ohio), John and David (who died when small children), William (subject), Isabelle (Mrs. Ross Taggart, of Beaver County, Penn.), Isaac (a farmer near Indianola, Iowa) and Eliza Jane (residing at the old home in the edge of North Strabane township, this county).
William Martin, the subject proper of this memoir, was reared on the farm where he was born, and received his rudimentary education at the primitive subscription schools of the neighborhood, afterward attending Jefferson College, Canonsburg, several years, and then returned to the farm which he has since conducted with well-earned success. He taught school one term in the county. On April 24, 1850, Mr. Martin married Mary A. Houston, of Lowellville, Ohio, daughter of Hon. David Houston, who for several years served as State senator on the Democratic ticket. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have two children: David Houston, who graduated from Wilmington College, and is now practicing law in Pittsburgh, and Samuel Albert, a Presbyterian minister, now professor of theology at Lincoln University, in Chester county, Penn. In 1873 Mr. Martin moved into the borough of Canonsburg to educate his children, and has since made his home here, in the West Ward. He and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian Church, in which he has been an elder forty years. Politically he has been an influential Republican since the organization of the party, but is no partisan. He has served as school director for some time. Mr. Martin is well preserved for his years, and is of an active, social and hospitable disposition.
Text taken from page 12 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).Transcribed March 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project.
Published April 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.[ [Back to Beers Table of Contents] [Back to Beers Project Page]