Individual Details
William Rawley Martin
(December 28, 1858 - June 8, 1939)
"Bill" was the fifth child of Isaac Martin and the first child of his marriage to Mary Underwood. Bill was a handsome, stately, young man of over 6 feet. He had dark curly hair and large blue eyes when he married the petite, dark haired, dark eyed, Martha Cumi Daniel. They were married 17 February 1878 in the home of her parents, as was the custom, by G. P. Clark, Minister of the Gospel. Her father, Peter Daniel, and her brother in law, Calvin Courtney, were the witnesses. The marriage certificate was filed 27 February 1878. Martha Cumi Daniel was born 29 January 1858 in Tennessee, probably Cannon or DeKalb County. She came to Missouri with her family when she was about four years old. She was the daughter of Peter Daniel and Mary Cantrell Bethel. Strange as it may seem, Cumi could neither read nor write even though her father had been a Justice of the Peace in Tennessee and was a school teacher in Missouri.
"Bill farmed around Greenfield, Dade County, Missouri for about ten years before he heard about the good cotton crops in Texas. He, his wife and three children, along with their good friends the Jack Cook family came by covered wagon through Indian territory to Montague County, Texas. Jack Cook's wife was a Mitchell and was a cousin to Bill's half brothers and sisters. They made their first trek in the year of 1888...we don't know how long it took them but we are sure they experienced all the dangers and hardships of frontier life. They settled near the community of Red Bud and they did raise cotton, but the Cooks decided they would rather live in Missouri so they went back. Even though Bill loved Texas he grew homesick for his relatives, especially his mother, so they made the long trip back to Missouri. But he couldn't forget Texas and they made the trip back and forth three different times before they settled permanently in Texas. This had to have been very hard for Cumi who came from a gentle English home and as the youngest daughter had led a tender and sheltered life. A cousin said that Cumi had tea every afternoon. Can't you just imagine her getting down the china teapot and the fragile china teacups that had probably been her mother's or even her grandmother's to have tea in her rather primitive Texas home.
"Red Bud was a lovely area. It was located on a spring fed creek and was only seven miles from Nocona, one of the largest towns in Montague county. In the early Spring the red bud trees would bloom in profusion on the hills. The creek banks and the large pecan, oak and elm trees made it a cool and shady place to live. There was a common well for the trail riders, a store, a school house that was also used for church services and a cemetery. Bill's oldest daughter, Ethel, attended school here. After their last trek to Missouri and then back to Texas (in 1899 or 1900) Bill bought 80 acres of a 160 acre plot in the Farmers Creek Community. Here they built their home. It consisted of one big room downstairs that contained two beds and a room upstairs that provided quarters for their two sons. To reach the kitchen, Cumi had to go out and across the porch to a room at the end, much like a shed room. It must have been very inconvenient in cold weather. After their oldest daughter married and left home, Cumi and her youngest daughter, Edna, saved egg and cream money and had a side room added. This became Edna's room. Bill and his family attended church at Bonita after moving to Farmer's Creek. They later attended at the Starkey church. Bill and Cumi are both buried in the churchyard at Starkey, just a few yards from the original church. Their neighbors in the Farmers Creek community were Bill and Bud Haupts, the Pollocks, Bulls, Janaways, Howards and others.
"In addition to farming, Bill an ordained Landmark Baptist Minister conducted religious services at country churches all over Montague County. He also worked as a ginner after his crops were harvested. He and Cumi would move into Nocona or Valley View, near Spanish Fort, for the ginning season. The gins ran around the clock and the farmers would be lined up waiting past midnight. Cumi would see to it that he had his hot meals and clean clothes even though she was in poor health, having contracted tuberculosis. Cumi died 24 December 1925, after nearly 48 years of marriage to her beloved Bill Martin. She was laid to rest in the Starkey Cemetery near Nocona, Montague County, Texas.
"Bill married the widow Mary (Partridge) Gibbons in 1926. This marriage of only twelve years ended in divorce. Bill then made his home with his daughter, Ethel Reed, where on the 8th of June 1939 he died in her home of a heart attack."
(Reta M. Evans (5605 Westcreek Dr., Fort Worth, Texas.) "A Martin Family Saga" Henington Publishing Co., Wolf City, Texas, Library of Congress Card Catalog #91-076322.)
"Bill farmed around Greenfield, Dade County, Missouri for about ten years before he heard about the good cotton crops in Texas. He, his wife and three children, along with their good friends the Jack Cook family came by covered wagon through Indian territory to Montague County, Texas. Jack Cook's wife was a Mitchell and was a cousin to Bill's half brothers and sisters. They made their first trek in the year of 1888...we don't know how long it took them but we are sure they experienced all the dangers and hardships of frontier life. They settled near the community of Red Bud and they did raise cotton, but the Cooks decided they would rather live in Missouri so they went back. Even though Bill loved Texas he grew homesick for his relatives, especially his mother, so they made the long trip back to Missouri. But he couldn't forget Texas and they made the trip back and forth three different times before they settled permanently in Texas. This had to have been very hard for Cumi who came from a gentle English home and as the youngest daughter had led a tender and sheltered life. A cousin said that Cumi had tea every afternoon. Can't you just imagine her getting down the china teapot and the fragile china teacups that had probably been her mother's or even her grandmother's to have tea in her rather primitive Texas home.
"Red Bud was a lovely area. It was located on a spring fed creek and was only seven miles from Nocona, one of the largest towns in Montague county. In the early Spring the red bud trees would bloom in profusion on the hills. The creek banks and the large pecan, oak and elm trees made it a cool and shady place to live. There was a common well for the trail riders, a store, a school house that was also used for church services and a cemetery. Bill's oldest daughter, Ethel, attended school here. After their last trek to Missouri and then back to Texas (in 1899 or 1900) Bill bought 80 acres of a 160 acre plot in the Farmers Creek Community. Here they built their home. It consisted of one big room downstairs that contained two beds and a room upstairs that provided quarters for their two sons. To reach the kitchen, Cumi had to go out and across the porch to a room at the end, much like a shed room. It must have been very inconvenient in cold weather. After their oldest daughter married and left home, Cumi and her youngest daughter, Edna, saved egg and cream money and had a side room added. This became Edna's room. Bill and his family attended church at Bonita after moving to Farmer's Creek. They later attended at the Starkey church. Bill and Cumi are both buried in the churchyard at Starkey, just a few yards from the original church. Their neighbors in the Farmers Creek community were Bill and Bud Haupts, the Pollocks, Bulls, Janaways, Howards and others.
"In addition to farming, Bill an ordained Landmark Baptist Minister conducted religious services at country churches all over Montague County. He also worked as a ginner after his crops were harvested. He and Cumi would move into Nocona or Valley View, near Spanish Fort, for the ginning season. The gins ran around the clock and the farmers would be lined up waiting past midnight. Cumi would see to it that he had his hot meals and clean clothes even though she was in poor health, having contracted tuberculosis. Cumi died 24 December 1925, after nearly 48 years of marriage to her beloved Bill Martin. She was laid to rest in the Starkey Cemetery near Nocona, Montague County, Texas.
"Bill married the widow Mary (Partridge) Gibbons in 1926. This marriage of only twelve years ended in divorce. Bill then made his home with his daughter, Ethel Reed, where on the 8th of June 1939 he died in her home of a heart attack."
(Reta M. Evans (5605 Westcreek Dr., Fort Worth, Texas.) "A Martin Family Saga" Henington Publishing Co., Wolf City, Texas, Library of Congress Card Catalog #91-076322.)
Events
| Birth | December 28, 1858 | Greenfield, Dade County, Missouri | |||
| Marriage | February 17, 1878 | Dade County, Missouri - Martha Cumi Daniel | |||
| Marriage | 1926 | Mary Partridge | |||
| Death | June 8, 1939 | Nocona, Montague County, Texas | |||
| Divorce | Mary Partridge | ||||
| Burial | Starkey Cemetery, Nocona, Montague County, Texas |
Families
| Spouse | Martha Cumi Daniel (1858 - 1925) |
| Child | Ira Emmitt Martin (1880 - 1963) |
| Child | Nora Ethel Martin (1883 - 1964) |
| Child | James Oscar Albert Martin (1886 - 1939) |
| Child | Edna Jane Martin (1895 - 1922) |
| Spouse | Mary Partridge ( - ) |