From the History of Northeast Indiana, LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb 
Counties, volume II, page 16

MARTIN M. BURCH has been longer in business as a merchant at Metzthan any of 
his present competitors and associates.  For over thirty years he has sold 
goods and furnished an adequate mercantile service in his paticular line,  
and enjoys an enviable reputation in commercial circles.

Mr. Burch was born in Otsego Township of Steuben County August 11, 1860, son 
of Halbert C. and Mary(Rhinehart) Burch, and a grandson of Chester Burch.  
Chester Burch was born in Vermont March 22, 1810, a son of Oliver and Anna 
Burch.  In 1925 his parents moved to Washington County, Ohio, where he grew 
up and where in 1831 he married Polly Davis.  She was born in that Ohio 
county April 4, 1812.  Chester Burch was one of the early pioneers of Steuben 
County, Indiana, arriving in the year 1837.  Three years later he bought 
eighty acres in section 10 of Otsego Township, and lived there until his 
death on January 26, 1870.  He was one of the leading members of the 
Christian Church in that township.  He and his wife had seven children.

Halbert C. Burch was born in New York State, but was reared and educated in 
Otsego Township.  He served three years and three months in the Union army, 
and then returned home and took up farming.  His career was terminated at the 
age of thirty-eight,  in 1872, when he was accidentally killed by being 
thrown from a wagon.  His widow survived him many years and passed away at 
the age of seventy-two.  Halbert Burch was a republican and a member of the 
Christian Church.  He and his wife had four children: Martin M., Eugene, 
Lorenzo and John Chester.

Martin M. Burch grew up on a farm in Otsego Township, had a public school 
education and was busily engaged as a farmer until 1886.  He came to Metz in 
that year and opened a harness shop and later expanded into a general store, 
and has been in business at the old stand now for over thirty years.

Mr. Burch has taken an active interest in local affairs, is a republican, a 
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Christian Church and 
works for every worthy moment.

In 1879 he married Miss Deetle Woodcox.  She was born in DeKalb County, 
Indiana, December 26, 1862, daughter of Curtis and Mary(Morrell) Woodcox.  
Her parents were early settlers of DeKalb County.  Her father died at 
Millersburg, Indiana, in 1890,  at the age of fifty-two and her mother in 
1873, aged thirty-two.  There were five children in the Woodcox family:  
Martin, Deetle, George, Bell and Blanche, all of whom are still living.  
Curtis Woodcox married for his second wife Sarah Greenwood, and they had two 
children, Frank and Nelson.  His first wife was Ida Spears, and she became 
the mother of one son, Glen.  Mrs. Burch's father moved to Metz in 1872, and 
was sucessfully engaged in the practice of medicine in and around that 
village until about six years before his death.

Mr. and Mrs. Burch are the parents of five children: Clara, the oldest, is 
the wife of William Miller and has a son, named Willis.  Meda is the widow of 
Zach Pillsbury and has a son, Marion.  Virgil married Naomi Lindow and has 
two sons, Virgil and Lindow.  Floyd enlisted in May, 1918 in the National 
army and in the spring of 1919 was at Camp Grant, Illinois.  He married 
Louise Loweren.  Marie, the youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Burch, is clerk in 
the Stiefel store in Angola.

Submitted by:  James L. Davis
email:  Jldcoonhunter@aol.com