JOHN H. MARTIN. Douglas County, Missouri, is well known for its successful, thrifty and enterprising farmers, and for its well-tilled and fertile farms, and among those successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits is John H. Martin, who was born in Blount County, Tennessee, July 27, 1842, a son of Adrian and Sallie (Kerr) Martin, natives of Tennessee, and grandson of John Martin, a native of Massachusetts, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and who removed to Tennessee at an early day. The maternal grandfather, David Kerr, was a Tennessean and was a son of one of the early pioneers of that State. Adrian Martin was a successful tiller of the soil and died in Tennessee in 1873, in which State his widow is still living. Their children are: John H.; Elizabeth A., wife of John N. Hutton, of Tennessee; Mary C., wife of Simeon Griffith,of Tennessee; Sarah E.,who died young; Jesse L. is in the livery business in Ava, Missouri; David C. is a man of family, and resides in Tennessee, and James M., who is living in Ava, is also in the livery business. The mother is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church as was also the father.
The subject of this sketch passed his school days in Blount County, and at the age of eighteen years enlisted in Company H., Second Tennessee Cavalry, which formed a part of the Army of the Cumberland, United States Army, and served from the 7th of November, 1861, up to the 27th of June, 1865, the first year being in the Home Guards. He was at Mill Springs, Big Hill, Pine Knot, Perryville, Stone River, Franklin, Bell Fountain, Chickamauga, Jasper, Kingston, and others. At Franklin he was injured by his horse falling on him, very soon after which he took the measles and was sick for quite a long time. Upon recovering he was transferred to a veteran transport regiment and was steward on the “Jennie Hopkins” on the Mississippi River till the close of the war, and assisted in taking back to the North the discharged Union soldiers. He still suffers from the injury he received in the service, but soon recovered from the bullet wound he received in the leg.
In 1867 he was married, and in 1871 removed with his family to Cedar County, Missouri, a year later to Dade County, in 1879 to Wright County, in 1880 to Douglas County, and in 1887 settled on his farm in the vicinity of Ava. In 1886 he was elected circuit clerk and recorder of Douglas County (a position he held four years) by the Republicans of that section, the principles of which party he has always supported. He has a well improved farm of 120 acres near Ava, and another containing 240 acres seven miles northeast of town. He has given considerable attention to the raising of stock, also cures a large amount of hay on his land each year, and has a very large and fine orchard. He is a member of the G. A. R., the A. F. & A. M., and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is one of the stewards, is active in Sunday-school work, and for seven years has been president of the Douglas County Sunday-school Association. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah C. Best, is a daughter of Jacob Best, of Tennessee. To Mr. and Mrs. Martin the following children have been given: Homer O., Bissie I. (wife of Joseph Elmire), Inez M., John H. and Sarah C. Three children died in early infancy.