By Staff
I want to continue with the family of John Fears Martin and his two wives, Sarah Cockcroft and Harriett Susan Raborn. I forgot one of the children from the last marriage, Ellen Jane Lovelace Martin (25 Oct. 1843).
John Fears Martin and his first wife, Sarah Cockcroft, were the parents of William Andrew Martin (19 May 1828 in Edgefield County, S.C.-27 Nov. 1909 in Bullock County, Ala. He married 18 March 1848 in Pike County to Nancy Elizabeth Strom (28 Aug. 1826). Their children were John Elijah Martin (10 April 1849-13 March 1928), Sarah Jane Martin (10 Jan. 1851), Willie Lucy Martin (19 May 1853), Mary Elizabeth Martin (1 Jan. 1856), Moses James Martin (20 Jan. 1858), Susannah Amanda Martin (15 Nov. 1860) and Nancy Martin (8 Aug. 1863).
William Andrew Martin married second in 1868 to Nancy Hooks and their children were Lewis Bryant Martin (1871), Flora Belle Martin (7 April 1872), William Daniel Martin (1875), Thomas Rankin Martin (1878) and Maggie Jane Martin (1880).
John Elijah Martin became a medical doctor and moved near Keego when he bought the old El Dorado Hotel about 1898. The El Dorado was a large hotel that was located at the sulfur springs in Herrington about a mile from Keego. At that time the springs were famous for their healing power and people came from miles around to &#8220take the waters.” The hotel burned in 1909 and a tornado ripped through in 1919 taking the last building down. Dr. Martin continued to practice there until his death in 1928, and in 1929 the flood wiped all traces of the springs away. It was the death knell for the little resort at Herrington.
Dr. Martin married Jessie Volusia Lovelace (10 Oct. 1860-29 Jan. 1952), daughter of Benjamin Lovelace and Valusia Louise Sowell. Their children were an infant daughter (1886) who died at birth, Navalou Martin (1883-1919), (whose name came from three names, Nancy Martin, Valusia and Louise), John Moray Martin (1887-1940), Charles Sumpter Martin (1890-1971), William Andrew Martin (1892-1941) and Benjamin Lovelace Martin (1899-1985).
Navalou Martin married Frank Cosby Hayes (1884-1940) and their children were Francis Cosby Hayes (1913-2006) and Jessie Lovelace Hayes (1916-1994) who married James Parker.
Charles Sumpter Martin, (a daughter) married Frank Cosby Hayes after the death of her sister. They were the parents of John Martin Hayes (1925).
William Andrew Martin married Cornelia Thornton (1885) and their children were William Martin (1915), C.V. Martin (1916), Leon Martin (1917), Nancy Martin (1918), Connie Martin (1919), Caroline Martin (1920), Navalou Martin (1923) who married Miles Franklin, and Thomas Mose Martin (1926). If you have any additional material on this family I would love to hear from you.
Benjamin Lovelace Martin married Katherine Elizabeth Richburg (27 July 1899-1993). In 1934 he went into the brick business and ran the Keego Brick Yard in Keego for many years. Although the business was sold out of the family, they are still connected.
He and Kate had Cosby Hayes Martin (24 June 1924-13 Sept. 1997) who married Clevie &#8220Flossie” Evans, Benjamin Lovelace Martin (28 Aug. 1927) who married first Virginia Annette Jordan and second Jackie Cooper, Katherine Elizabeth Martin (30 April 1929), John Robert Martin (9 Sept. 1931) who married Bessie June Weaver, Jessie Florence Martin (23 Nov. 1935) who married William Swanson West, and James Moray Martin (24 March 1937) who married Mary Finlay.
Next week I hope to be able to tell you about the meeting of the Escambia County Historical Society. I urge you all to attend the meeting at 3 p.m. on March 28, at the Thomas McMillan Museum at Jefferson Davis Community College. The speakers will be Ted Urquhart, president of the Alabama Cemetery Preservation Alliance and Lee Anne Wofford, Alabama Historical Commission's Cemetery program coordinator. Cemetery preservation will be the topic.