Several people expressed interest in the MARTINS of Martintown, SC.  The
following is excerpted from The History of Edgefield County by Chapman,
published in about 1890 which I have republished.  This book is also the
source of many of the Civil War Rosters which I have put on line recently
as a part of my Civil War in South Carolina site.

John Rigdon

THE MARTINS OF MARTINTOWN.

	The Martin family, of Martintown, in Edgefield County, were
prominent, brave, active, and energetic Whigs during the Revolution, but
as Martintown has long since gone to decay, and as the family, from whom
the name was derived, is almost or quite extinct in Edgefield, it might
please the reader of this book to find here a few items of the family
history.
	I am indebted to the Honorable John Martin, United States Senator
From Kansas, for the following information:
	The Martin family was of Scotch-Irish origin.  The family
emigrated from the North of Ireland somewhere towards the close of the
sixteenth century (should be I think seventeenth) and settled originally
in Caroline County, Virginia.  The family was a large one, there being
seven sons and one daughter.  The names of the sons were:  Abram, John,
George, William, Matthew, Barclay, and Edmund.  The daughter's name was
Letty.  They resided in Virginia for many years, and finally scattered to
Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, and South
Carolina.
	The head of the South Carolina branch of the family, Abram,
Martin, was born in Caroline County, Virginia, in the year 1708, and
there grew to manhood and married Miss Elizabeth Marshall, of Caroline
County, who was said to be a niece of the father of John Marshall,
afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.  Soon
after his marriage he moved to South Carolina and located in Edgefield
District and there lived and died.
	He had eight sons, as follows:  William Martin, James Martin,
John Martin, George Martin, Barclay Martin, Edmund Martin, Marshall
Martin, Matt Martin, and one daughter, Letty Martin.
	Of these children, William, the eldest, married Miss Grace Waring
and left three children, Robert, Elizabeth, and William.  He was captain
of artillery and was killed at the siege of Augusta.  It was this Mrs.
Martin who, in conjunction with Mrs. Barclay Martin, born Rachel Clay,
captured the British courier with dispatches while on his way from
Augusta to Ninety-Six, as elsewhere related.
	The third son, John Martin, was an officer during the Revolution,
Brigadier after the war, and served several years in the Legislature.
	He was married three times and left many children, one of whom
was Judge W. D. Martin, of whom something has already been written.
	John Martin died in Abbeville District in 1813.
	Several of this prolific family rose to distinction.  Charles was
an officer in the Confederate Army and was killed in the battle of
Kennesaw Mountain.
	John Martin, Senator from Kansas in 1894, is a grandson of
Matthew Martin of the Revolution, who moved to Tennessee and died there
in 1846.
	Many more names might be added to this roll of the Martins, all
worthy, all true men and women; but if all were written that might be
written of the children of Edgefield abroad, it would embrace the world,
and the book would soon grow to unwieldy size.



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