Charles B. Martin, one of the representative citizen of Brookville township, Franklin county, Indiana, was born on the old Martin homestead May 28, 1841, and is a son of Stephen and Sarah (Wilson) Martin. His father came to this county from South Carolina in 1811 and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land where Brookville now stands. He was born March 7,1785, and was blessed with a strong constitution which enabled him to endure the privations and hardships incident to pioneer life. By perseverance and industry he was able to accumulate a considerable property which placed him and his family in comfortable circumstances. He erected a cabin of poles, in which he lived many years and dispensed a generous hospitality to those around him. He was a Universalist in belief and demonstrated the beauty of his faith in his practical every-day life, delighting to give help to his brother man. He was twice married, his first wife, Anise Corners, being the mother of the following children, all of whom are dead: Elizabeth (Mrs. William Stoops), Edy (Mrs. John Stoops), Amos D., William, Daniel C, Stephen and Eliza Jane. His second wife, Sarah Wilson, was born in June, 1802, and died February 11, 1888. Her children were John S., born November 24, 1835, and represented on another page in this work; Patty Annie, deceased, born June 10, 1838; and Charles B., our subject. The father of Sarah Wilson Martin came to this county, also from South Carolina, the same year as did Mr. Martin, and settled near the Martin homestead. Of his three children, John and Charles are prosperous farmers, the third child being Patty Annie. The father of our subject died on his farm May 5, 1846. Charles B. Martin was educated in the common schools and remained at home until i860. He then moved upon the farm of one hundred and sixty acres which had been purchased by his mother and uncle, Charles Wilson, and was known as the Simpson Jones farm; and to the original tract he has since added one hundred and thirty acres. In 1881 he built a pleasant new residence, replacing the old log house, which had been on the land for sixty years, with a modern brick building. This land 15 kept in the most perfect order, everything about the premises being neat and well kept. November 29, 1860, he was married to Miss Ellen Foster, daughter of William H. and Martha (Burns) Foster. Mr. Foster was a native of Pennsylvania, a farmer by occupation and a local minister in the Methodist church. He died when Mrs. Martin was one year old and to the mother fell the care and management of the farm and the care of seven children. The children are Jonathan H.; William Henderson, deceased; Mary; Emeline, wife of Joseph Alley; Ellis W.; Samuel B.; and Ellen, wife of our subject. Mrs. Martin was a judicious manager and by her industry and economy managed to clear the farm of debt and rear her children to lives of honor and usefulness. She lived to be eighty-eight years of age and died with the consciousness of a well-spent life.
The children who have blessed the union of our subject and wife are, John E., who married Laura Thomas; she died June 18, 1897, and in March, 1899, he married Jennie Jacobs, of Whitewater township; the children by his first marriage were Bertha A., Anna, John T., and Charles, deceased; Sarah E., the second child of Mr. Martin, is the wife of Edmund Higgs; Mattie O., deceased; William H., who married Estella Higgs; George A., who married Daisy Holmes, and has two children, Edith and Ethel; Lizzie M.; and Nellie M., Mr. Martin joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at the age of twenty-one, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, being a liberal contributor to the funds for the erection of the West Fork church. He is a man of high principles and is esteemed for the upright honorable conduct of his every-day life.
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