'

 

This document will relate information about Hugh Sr Martin and Hugh Jr Martin.

Hugh Sr Martin is the 4th Great Grandfather of Craig A. Martin.

Hugh Jr Martin is the 3rd Great Grandfather of Craig A. Martin.

 

 

 The Arrival and Movement

of the earliest Martins in the Americas.

 

The Early Years

 

 

Hugh Martin Sr is the 4th Great Grandfather of Craig A. Martin and the first of the Martin family to arrive in colonial America. Hugh Sr  arrived somewhere between the year 1765 and 1800. He came from Ireland, but most likely made the Atlantic crossing departing from the English port of Liverpool. Many of the Irish were picked up in Cove, better known as Cork Ireland.

 

 

Of the Irish Martins who immigrated to the United States, virtually all of them departed through the Liverpool/Cove ports on the southern coast of the British Isles.  As of 1840 there were less than 909 Martin households in the New York State.  In 1800 that number was considerably smaller. The great influx of Irish immigration did not begin until 1850 when famine and social unrest became a driving force in that nation. Over 6 million Irish immigrants arrived in the US between 1850 and 1950.

 

 

 

 

 

While many of the facts presented in this document will be proven by census and other official records, the rest can be reasonably assumed from immigration data collected from as early as 1750.  Below is a document which could very well be a record of Hugh Martin’s arrival in 1760. If this is the case, then it is also likely that he did not arrive alone. He would have been a child in 1760 and very likely arrived with parents, brothers, and sisters.

 

 

This could be the record of the original Martin’s arrival in the America’s.

 

 

 

 

The most common point of arrival in the northern colonies was New York City. Arrivals would then spread out from the city to the north, west, and south. Later we will present evidence that Hugh Sr fought in the American Revolution. It is evident from records that can be found that Hugh Sr arrived in later half of the 1700s and relocated in the area of Sussex county NJ. In those years Sussex County occupied the current northern New Jersey counties of Warren and Sussex.  There Hugh Sr married a wife from Sussex County, New Jersey in the 1790s. In 1802 they conceived and gave birth to a son whom they named John, and in 1809 they conceived and gave birth to a second son, Hugh Jr.

 

Hugh Martin Jr was the 4nd Great-Grandfather of Craig A. Martin

 

Hugh Martin Sr.                 (about 17?? Ireland)

Hugh Martin Jr                  (1809 Northumberland NY)

George M. Martin              (1843 Ausable NY)

Harry Polhemus Martin      (1871 St. Armand NY)

Harold George Martin        (1897 Franklin NY)

Laurance Harold Martin    (1919 Massena NY)

Craig A. Martin                  (1954 Massena NY)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is unfortunate that during the war of 1812 the British invaders burned virtually all the 1790, 1800, and 1810 census records for the state of New Jersey. Because of this we have no census records of the Martin family in New Jersey for those years.  Some things can be reconstructed from other sources such as family records, church records, and state censuses.

 

One such family record speaks of the son of Hugh Sr, brother of Hugh Jr. His name was John:

 

Text Box: MARTIN, John, of Irish heritage, born 1801 at Sussex Co. New Jersey and Eleanor CLARK, born 1801 Ft. Ann, Washington Co. NY, married 1826, settled in the Town of Northumberland, Saratoga Co. NY. Had there the following children between 1828 and 1842: Prudence Jane (married Martin GIFFORD) Warren (married Cordelia MANCHESTER, daughter of Ephraim and Asenath SHAW MANCHESTER) Arba (married Anne SMITH) John J. (died at age 10 in 1844, bur at Brownsville cemetery) Sara (married ? BROWN); and Celia William A. ASHLEY. Eleanor CLARK MARTIN d age 43 in 1844 (buried Brownsville cemetery.) In 1847 John MARTIN married his second wife Margaret (Margaretta) SULLIVAN, born in 1820, daughter of James SULLIVAN and Hannah VANDERWERKER. Margaret was mother of five children, born between 1848 and 1867: Cicero Amanda (married Jonathan BROWN) Jannette Tabor(1) died in 1860 at age 4 months) Dora (married Charles WEIL) and Tabor(2) MARTIN (adopted, born about 1864.) John MARTIN died at age 83 in 1884, buried at Brownsville cemetery. Margaret SULLIVAN MARTIN died at age 72, in 1892. Saratoga NYGENWEB http://www.rootsweb.com/~nysarato/saquery2.htm#M Saratoga county Historian Trudy Limber

 

(We shall present documentation that connects Hugh Sr, Hugh Jr, and John.)

 

The first line of this record places the Martin family in Sussex NJ as of 1801 and also confirms their Irish heritage. (This nation of origin is confirmed many times over 6 censuses.)

 

Shortly thereafter in the year 1810 Hugh Sr moved his family to the small town of Northumberland in Saratoga county NY. This was barely 10 years after the town was founded in 1798. This date can be calculated from information we find in the 1855 New York state census of Northumberland. In this census John Martin is 52, and is said to have been a resident of the town of Northumberland for 45 years. This places the family’s arrival in Northumberland in the year1810.

 

 

John Martin in the 1855 Local Census of Northumberland

 

Head

age

sex

Birth State

 

Years in town

 

Occupation

Voter

Owns land

Martin John

52

M

New Jersey

1

45

 

Carpenter

1

1

 

 

 

 

Hugh Sr in the 1810 Federal Census of Moreau

 

The 1810 Census of Saratoga County lists Hugh Sr and His family. This is the first appearance of the Martin family in an official United States document. Up until the year 1850 the census only recorded the name of the head of the house and the number of males and females within certain age ranges.

 

        

 

 

The census indicates the 1810 household was comprised of:

 

2 males under 10                                 (John (b1801) at 9 and Hugh Jr (b1809) at less than 1)

1 male between the age of 16 and 25   (Unknown possibly a “Thomas”)

1 male over the age of 45                     (Hugh Sr is over 45 born before 1765)

1 female under 10                                (unknown)

2 females between 10 and 16               (unknown)

1 female between 26 and 44                (Hugh’s NJ wife)

 

 

Hugh Sr in the 1820 Federal Census of Northumberland

 

The census of 1820 again lists Hugh Sr and family in Northumberland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this census we see the household made up of:

1 male 0 thru 9 years old         (new)

1 male 10 thru 15 years           (Hugh Jr at 11 (b1809))

1 male 16 thru 18 years           (not in 1810, origin census unknown)

2 males 16 thru 25 years         (John at 19 (b1801) 2nd one as in 1810)

1 male over 45 years                (Hugh Sr who is now at least 55)

1 female 0 thru 9 years old      (new)

1 female 10 thru 15 years        (also in 1810 census)

(2 females between 20 and 26 present in 1810 census are now gone)

1 female over 45                      (wife, same as in 1810 census)

 

The census lists 4 household members engaged in agriculture. This would most likely include:

 

Hugh Sr,

John,

one male 16 – 25, and

one male 16-18.

 

It is possible that the new male 16–18 who was not present in the 1810 census is a farm hand living with the family. The young children are a surprise due to the age of the wife who is now over 45. The children would be on the high side of 0 thru 9.

 

There are many question marks about the early death of Hugh Sr between the years 1820 and 1825 and the fate of his wife and younger children

 

Identifying Hugh Sr and John as father and brother to Hugh.

    There was little problem discovering the Martin ancestry back to Hugh Jr. Census records clearly show the backward lineage from Harry Polhemus Martin (known by living family members to be the great grandfather of Craig A. Martin) to his father George M. Martin and then back to Hugh Jr. Locating the father of Hugh 2 became more difficult due to census limitations (no children or wives are named prior to1850). Other sources had to be researched to seek out the father of Hugh Jr.

 

“The Memoriam” to Hugh Jr Martin

 

In the Oct 1881 issue of “The Franklin Gazette” there appears a “Memoriam” for Hugh Jr after his death. In this piece we read that Hugh’s Sr father died early in Hugh’s Sr life and that at the age of 16 Hugh Jr was on his own. Hugh’s Sr father therefore most likely died between the years 1821 and 1825 when Hugh Jr turned 16.

 

The census records of 1810 and 1820 that show there were several Martins present in Saratoga County, including an older “Hugh Martin”(see the above census images). If this Hugh does not show in the 1830 census, then it is possible he is Hugh’s Sr father. This is in fact the case. The Hugh Martin in the 1810 and 1820 censuses does not show in the 1830 census (nor does he show up in the 1800 census, which is correct because the family of Hugh Jr did not move there until 1810). As shown in the above census records, there are two sons in the Hugh Martin family that match Hugh Jr and John Martin in age. The ages, names, and census records seem to match up. But this alone is not sufficient to prove that the Hugh Martin in the 1810 and 1820 census is our first American Martin, or that the two sons are Hugh Jr and John. We will need more evidence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The evidence comes from a legal ad found in an 1881 issue of the

We will later show that Hugh Jr Martin will have a daughter named Lucy (born 1832). She will marry into the Jones family. "Lucy H Jones" will pass away and this legal ad is calling in cousins and siblings so her estate can be settled. This classified ad (below) refers to a number of individuals in Northumberland, Saratoga County. The individuals from Northumberland include:

John Martin, (brother of Hugh Jr, son of Hugh Sr
Jane Gliford,
Amanda F. Brown,
Nellie Martin, and
Dora Martin

These can be found in the 1880, 1870, 1860, 1850, 1840, and 1830, census of Northumberland. John was born in 1801 and is likely the older brother of Hugh. The 1810 and 1820 census of Northumberland have a Hugh Martin age 45+. Included in his family are two sons that match the ages of Hugh and John (one 10-16(Hugh Jr and one 15-26 (John)). The others listed above are the children of John Martin. We will again present the John Martin family record:

 

Text Box: MARTIN, John, of Irish heritage, born 1801 at Sussex Co. New Jersey and Eleanor CLARK, born 1801 Ft. Ann, Washington Co. NY, married 1826, settled in the Town of Northumberland, Saratoga Co. NY. Had there the following children between 1828 and 1842: Prudence Jane (married Martin GIFFORD) Warren (married Cordelia MANCHESTER, daughter of Ephraim and Asenath SHAW MANCHESTER) Arba (married Anne SMITH) John J. (died at age 10 in 1844, bur at Brownsville cemetery) Sara (married ? BROWN); and Celia William A. ASHLEY. Eleanor CLARK MARTIN d age 43 in 1844 (buried Brownsville cemetery.) In 1847 John MARTIN married his second wife Margaret (Margaretta) SULLIVAN, born in 1820, daughter of James SULLIVAN and Hannah VANDERWERKER. Margaret was mother of five children, born between 1848 and 1867: Cicero Amanda (married Jonathan BROWN) Jannette Tabor(1) died in 1860 at age 4 months) Dora (married Charles WEIL) and Tabor(2) MARTIN (adopted, born about 1864.) John MARTIN died at age 83 in 1884, buried at Brownsville cemetery. Margaret SULLIVAN MARTIN died at age 72, in 1892. Saratoga NYGENWEB http://www.rootsweb.com/~nysarato/saquery2.htm#M Saratoga county Historian Trudy Limber

 

One can see the names in this family match several of the names in the legal add. Like Hugh Jr (1809), John's father was born in Ireland and mother was born in New Jersey. Also like Hugh, John is recorded as being born in New Jersey.  Also, in keeping with the "Memoriam" of Hugh Jr in the 1881 issue of “Elizabethtown Post” the elder Hugh does not show up in the next (1830)census in Northumberland... possibly passing away when Hugh Jr was less than 16 (1825). This is sufficient proof that this Hugh in Northumberland is the father of both John and Hugh Jr. 

The text of the Legal Ad:

 THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK:
To Lucy M. Jones, Kate R.Jones, Susan J.Tucker, Marinette E. Tucker, Evelyn M.Jones, Jennie D. Jones, Florence B. Jones, Percy H. Jones, and Halsey R. Jones, residing in Willsborough, Essex County: Henry H. Martin, George M. Martin, Mary J. Titus, and Douglas E Martin, residing in St. Armand, Essex County: Charles E.Marin, Fred E. Martin and Lydia H. Smith residing in Brighton, Franklin County: Elizabeth A. Duane residing in Duane, Franklin County: John Martin, Jane Gliford, Amanda F. Brown, Nellie Martin, and Dora Martin residing in Northumberland, Saratoga County: and Celia A. Ashley residing in Fort Edward, Washington County, all in the Stae of New York: Sarah P Russell residing in Denver Colorado; Warren Martin residing in Dubolstown Lyooming County, Pennsylvania: Arba C. Martin, residing in Big Rapids Michigan: Harah Churchill residing in Quaker City, Kansas: and Mabel H. French residing in Chicago, Illinois persons interested in the estate of Lucy H Jones(daughter of Hugh Jr martin), deceased.
Whereas Edmund S. Bigby, sole executor of the last will and testament of said deceased his duty presente to the Surrogae's Court of our county of Essex a petition praying for thte final judicial settlement of his accounts as such executor and for the revocation of his leteter as such executor: You and each of you are hereby cited personally to be and appear before our Surrogain of our county of Essex at his office in the village of Elizabethtown on the 20th day of March next at 10 o'clock in the fornoon and attend the judical settlement of said accounts and show cause why a decree should not be made revoking such letters.
And you and the said Maginette E Tucker Dora Martin and Mabel H French over 14; Florence B. Jones and Halsey R Jones under 14 who infants having no general guardian are required then and there to show cause why a special guardian should not be appointed for you and each of you in this proceeding.
Witness. Francis A. Smith Surrogate and the acal of
30th day of January 1883
Francus A Smith, Surrogate
(1883 elizabethtown-post )

 

 

 

After be death of Hugh Sr in about 1825, besides Hugh Jr, there would survive:


1 male under 15,
1 female under 15, and
1 female under 20, as well as
the wife over 50.

 

It is possible that these would all go to live with older siblings or possibly return to NJ with the widow mother.  

 

There are several Martins listed in the 1830 census for Northumberland including brother John who has by now married Eleanor Clark and has one male and one female child under the age of 10. There are no other individuals counted in the John Martin household in 1830.

 

 

John Martin (brother of Hugh Jr family in the1830 Census Northumberland

 

Males

 

 

 

 

Females

 

 

1 male 0-4 (Warren)

1 male 20-29 (John)

1 female 0-4 (Prudence Jane)

1 female 20 to 29 (Eleanor Clark Martin)

 

 

 

The Martin Home in Northumberland, Saratoga County

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1873 Map showing the Martin Home in Northumberland, Saratoga County

 

 

 

 

 

(By co-incidence almost 200 years later Laurance Martin the GGGrandson of Hugh Sr would return to New York state after 30 years living in the southern states, and (unknowingly) reside for several years less than 10 miles from the location of the Hugh Martin Sr household near the town of Gansevoort.)

 

 

 

































The household of Isaac Vanderwarker in Northumberland, Saratoga County NY.

The Martin home would be about 1/4 mile to the east on this same road.

 

 

 

 

 

It is at this point the Martin brothers John and Hugh part ways in their location and occupation. In the afore mentioned “Memoriam” Hugh at the age of 16 (1825) was occupied by the “Burt and Vanwarker Company.” This was a spelling error and the company was actually the “Burt and Vanderwerker Company.”  It is probable that Hugh Sr had pervious business and social relationships with the Vanderwarker family as they are listed as neighbors in the 1820 census. In this early 1800s map of Saratoga County we can see the elder Isaac Vanderwarker household, as well as several Burt family households in close proximity to the John Martin home. It is doubtless that with the passing of Hugh Sr, the house and possessions fell mainly to John as the older brother and that any business relationship that existed in the days of Hugh Sr would continue with the sons John and Hugh Jr.

 

     As shown in the above family description for John Martin after the death of John’s first wife Eleanor Clark in 1844 he will go on to marry the granddaughter of Isaac Vanderwerker, one Miss Margaret Sullivan. These facts show both a business and social relationship between these families, and one that would follow and guide Hugh Jr into his future.

 

 

 

The same map shows the position of Fort Miller a few miles south and east of the Martin home location.  It was from this point that Hugh Jr was, at the age of 16, sent upon his dangerous but successful wagon journey to Ausable while in the employ of Vanderwarker and Burt. But this journey was no simple run of wares. Records show that this trip was part of a larger business migration of the Vanderwarker and Burt business/families to the north country in an effort to capitalize on both the abundant lumber resources and the discovery of rich iron reserves in the area of Ausable in Clinton County.

 

This move is described in the book:

“History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York:

with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers”.

 

From the Chapter XLVII, “History of Clinton County New York” under the heading “Early Settlement.”

 

The context is a description of the area of Jay, Black Brook, and Ausable.

 

   Text Box: “There was no road along the river at this time. School children were obliged to break a foot-path to Clintonville, and hunters and sportsmen ranged the region in search of the game and wild animals to be found there. A road from Clintonville to Jay came across the “Plain” at the “Forks.” No other improvements existed in the town until the advent of the “iron age,” headed by George M. Burt and Isaac Vanderwarker, who became possessed of the property in 1825, by purchase of Zephaniah Platt, and erected a sawmill with two gates at Ausable Forks. From that time the settlement and development of the town have kept pace with its industrial and manufacturing progress, and new settlers have been added to the population of the town, in the main only when brought there by the requirements of the manufacturing and mining companies that have opened within its territory. It has been deemed more proper to mention these in detail under another head. Among those who first settled in the town in connection with the industrial enterprises, aside from the owners, who are mentioned elsewhere, was James Sheffield, who came with Burt & Vanderwarker in 1825, and was their principal sawyer for many years. His son, Leander, accompanied him, also engaged in the milling business, and still resides at Ausable Forks. Harry Palmer, Hugh Martin, and Rensseiaer and Payne Burt were also early on the ground. Harry Palmer occupied a log house near the present Rodgers’ store, and Burt and Vanderwarker occupied a log house that stood near the dam. The first frame house in the locality was built for James Rodgers, near the “forge” known as the “Fork’s Infant.”…”

 

Besides naming Hugh Jr Martin in the text, the business relations of Vanderwerker, Payne Burt, and Harry Palmer are mentioned. This article reveals Hugh Jr Martin and the Martin family to be of the pioneers of the still untouched Adirondack region of northern New York.

 

 

 

 

In 1800, much of the Adirondack region was wilderness and uninhabited (light areas).

 

At first the business was one of lumber, as related in the History of Jay. But it was the iron ore and forge that brought Burt and Vanderwarker (and therefore Hugh Jr)  to Ausable in1825:

 

“At Ausable Forks the most enterprising lumber dealers were Burt & Vanderwerker, the firm comprising George and Justus Burt, and James and Isaac Vanderwerker. Their lumber was taken to Port Kent via the Ausable river.

The iron business has received mention. The first forge was built at Mallory's Bush. now Lower Jay, in 1798. Joseph Storrs, John Purmort and G. A. Purmort & Co. were interested in it. In 1809 the works were extensively enlarged. Before 1820 Apollos A. Newell constructed and ran a two-fired forge about a mile south of Lower Jay, which was destroyed by the freshet of 1856. It had soon after its erection to compete with the forge of Jesse Tobey and Robert G. Hazard. Long before 1825 a forge was built at Ausable Forks and run by Burt, Vanderwarker & Co.”

 

History of Jay, New York  
PUBLISHED BY D. MASON & CO. PUBLISHERS, SYRACUSE, NY 1885

 

 

 

It is in this backdrop that the story of Hugh and his adventurous ride through the then wilderness of the north takes place.

 

Text of the Memoriam to Hugh Jr by an unnamed “friend”.

 

Text Box: IN Memoriam. BLOOMINGIDALE, October 23, 1881. Entered into rest on the morning of September 29th, HUGH MARTIN, in the 72nd year of his age - just one year from the day of his wife's death. He never rallied from the shock caused by her sudden death, and seem to have one desire, and that was to die and be with her. He was born in Saratoga county, town of Northumberland, in the year 1809, and losing his father at an early age, he began to take care of himself. When only sixteen years of age, the firm Burt & Van Walker, of Saratoga, sent him through from Fort Miller to Ausable Forks with a loaded team. The road at the time being very little more than a pathway, and a dense forest on every side; yet, boy though he was, her arrived safely and without accident. The Forks at that time contained but three buildings. He made his home until the year 1951, when he removed to Franklin Falls, and became interested in the lumber business. Losing everything in the Forest Fire of 1853, he removed to Bloomingdale; he occupied many prominent positions, and was elected to many offices of trust by his townsmen. He was a generous friend and a good neighbor. He died surrounded by his children. God giveth his beloved ones rest A FRIEND The Franklin Gazette, Oct 1881  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Map showing the location of Iron Mines and Forges in the early 1800s.

 

 

 

         The name Hugh Martin Jr is absent from both the Northumberland and Clinton County listings of the 1830 Federal Census. It was not uncommon for farming families to allocate lands to sons as they reach adulthood, and one would expect Hugh Jr to be listed as head of his own household. This is not the case with Hugh Jr as it appears brother John is in possession of the family home in Northumberland. It is highly likely that when Isaac Vanderwerker and George Burt departed to the Ausable river area they brought their young fatherless employee Hugh Jr with them. Hugh Jr is unmarried in 1830. On page 11 of the census of Jay NY in Essex County the households of both Isaac Vanderwerker and George Burt are listed. Present with them are a combined 5 males between the age of 20 and 30. It is possible that Hugh Jr is boarding with his employer or someone else in the area. It will be shown that he is in fact in Jay NY in 1830.          

 

 

Males in the Isaac Vanderwarker and George Burt

households in the 1830 Jay, Essex County US Federal Census.

 

 

 

 

 

Martin

1.     English, Scottish, Irish, French, Dutch, German, Czech, Slovak, Spanish (Martín), Italian (Venice), etc.: from a personal name (Latin Martinus, a derivative of Mars, genitive Martis, the Roman god of fertility and war, whose name may derive ultimately from a root mar ‘gleam’). This was borne by a famous 4th-century saint, Martin of Tours, and consequently became extremely popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. As a North American surname, this form has absorbed many cognates from other European forms.

2.     English: habitational name from any of several places so called, principally in Hampshire, Lincolnshire, and Worcestershire, named in Old English as ‘settlement by a lake’ (from mere or mær ‘pool’, ‘lake’ + tun ‘settlement’) or as ‘settlement by a boundary’ (from (ge)mære ‘boundary’ + tun ‘settlement’). The place name has been charged from Marton under the influence of the personal name Martin.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


John MARTIN Son of Hugh Sr., brother of Hugh Jr. died Oct. 21, 1884 age 83 yrs, buried at Brownsville cemetery.


Eleanor CLARK MARTIN died at age 42 in 1844. Wife of John.

 

John MARTIN died Oct. 17, 1844 son of John & Eleanor.

 

 

 

Brownville Cemetery

“A BURING PLACE FOR RESIDENTS OF THE HAMLET OF BROWNVILLE AND VICINITY FROM 1818 - 1918. ESTABLISHED ON LANDS DONATED BY MARTIN VANDERWERKER”

 

We visited the Brownsville Cemetery while researching the Martin lineage in July 2008. Unfortunately the cemetery is totally abandoned and is overgrown with weeds and ferns. A farmer has a  hog lot on the northern edge. Sad. This picture was taken  in better days.

 

photo of gravestones in Brownville Cemetery