Brigadier General Joseph Martin, Jr.

Biography

Joseph Martin was born on September 18, 1740, near present day Charlottesville in Albemarle County, Virginia (which were founded and formed in 1762 and 1744 respectively). At the time, this was Goochland County.

No credible record of middle name Lynch has been found.

He was one of eleven children of Joseph Martin, Sr., [1] and his first wife Susannah Chiles Martin. His father, Joseph Martin Sr., was born in England, a son of William Martin. Joseph Sr. came to Virginia, and settled in Caroline County, where he met and married Susanna Chiles. Joseph and Susanna moved to Albermarle County, Virginia.

Marriages and Children

Martin was married twice, and also fathered children by at least two Cherokee women, Betsy Ward and Mary Emory. He is known to have at least nineteen children. He married his first wife, Sarah Lucas, in 1762 in Orange County, Virginia. Sarah died in 1782 at "Scuffle Hill", their estate on the Smith River in Henry County, Virginia, the site of present day Martinsville, Virginia. In 1784, Joseph married Susannah Graves, the daughter of William Graves. [2] Alexander Martin is listed as one of the children.[3]

Joseph's children may have included:[4]

1. John Martin (1762)
2. Susannah Martin Burris (1763, married Jacob Burris) [5]
3. William L. Martin (1765, married Frances Farris)
4. Elizabeth Martin Waller (1768, married Carr Waller)
5. Martha Martin Cleveland (1768, married Willian Cleveland)
6. Brice Martin (1770, married Matilda Perkins)
7.Mary Martin (1773, married Daniel Hammock)
——-
1. James Martin (1776)
2. Nancy Martin (1778 m. Michael Hildebrand)
3. Samuel Martin
——-
1. Joseph Martin (1785, married Sally Hughes)
2. Alexandra Martin (1786, married George Smith)
3. Jesse Martin, (1786, married Cecelia Ried and Annie Armstead)
4. Thomas W. Martin (1787, married Nancy Carr)
5. Lewis Graves Martin (1790, married Belinda Rucker)
6. Patrick Henry Martin (1791)
7. Sallie Martin (1794, married Samuel Armstead) [6]
8. Susannah Martin (1795, George King)
9. Alexander Martin, (1799, married Elizabeth Carr)[7][8]
10. John Calvin Martin, (1803, married Sofiah Rucker)
11. George Wythe Martin, (1805, married Elizabeth A. Starling and Caroline R. Watkins)

“While married to Sarah Lucas and then to Susannah Graves, Martin was simultaneously married to his half-Cherokee wife, Elizabeth Ward, the daughter of Nancy Ward, a power within the Cherokee tribes, and her husband, English trapper Bryan Ward.” (Smith, David Ray (1998). "Nancy Ward (1738–1822) Last Beloved Woman of the Cherokee". The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Retrieved October 20, 2010.). The polygamous relationship, justified by Martin as common practice among frontiersmen operating among the tribes, caused considerable consternation to General Martin's son, Col. William Martin. (Curator note: it was in fact common practice. First remember that the Cherokee was a matrilineal society. White men married Cherokee women so they could gets access to the Cherokee tribe for their goods. Cherokee women married these white traders which gave them access to their goods. This happened under the Cherokee concept of marriage and most marriages to white traders lasted only a few years. It was not at all uncommon for white men to have white wives back home.)

While serving as Indian Agent to the Cherokees, General Martin fathered two children with Elizabeth "Betsy" Ward, the daughter of the famous Cherokee woman Nan ye hi (Nancy) Ward; they were the parents of a daughter named Nancy Martin and a son named James Martin.[9] The Moravian missionaries recorded the following: "A half-Indian, Martin, son of the General Martin with home brother Schneider stayed arrived today. We asked him if he remembered the visit of Br. Schneider sixteen years ago. He said no, that he was born in Chittiko but was only nineteen years old now, and was therefore very young at the time. He told us that his father was now in Henry County, Virginia, and that his mother was living in Wahjowee on the Hiwassee River …[10] Joseph Martin's son by his Cherokee wife was educated in Virginia schools, but afterwards elected to return to the Cherokee. (An Unsung Hero of the Virginia Frontier, Dr. William Allen Pusey, The Filson Club, February 3, 1936, geocities.com - Web Archive @ https://web.archive.org/web/20030527104028/http://www.geocities.com...)

Joseph Martin was probably the father of a son named Samuel Martin by Mary Emory, the Cherokee granddaughter of trader Ludovic Grant.[11]. (Curator Note: this statement is incorrect, it seems from Emmett Starr but Starr has been considered incorrect is his statements that Joseph Martin was the father, and Starr was incorrect, and here is actual contemporaneous documentation that Susannah Emory’s partner and the father of Nannie, Rachel, and John Martin, was John Martin, Joseph’s brother.)

Martins' descendants include his eldest son Col. William Martin, Tennessee pioneer, and member of the South Carolina and Georgia legislatures.

Overview

Gen. Joseph Martin was a colorful, self-willed man with a fine sense of honor. He joined the Virginia militia when he was sixteen years old; was a long hunter; gambler; Indian fighter; Colonial and Revolutionary War officer; and a great diplomat. He was the Brigadier General for both the Washington District of North Carolina and the Virginia Militia. He spent a short time in Georgia on duty for North Carolina and was elected to the Georgia legislature. He was also a Representative for Sullivan County in the North Carolina legislature during the turbulent State of Franklin years, and was undoubtedly the most influential person of his time to defeat the State of Franklin from becoming a permanent State.

William Martin recorded the following story about his father and the Cherokee:[12]

"Things were so bad in the Overhill settlement [of the Cherokee Nation] that in the fall of 1782 Joseph Martin took Nancy Ward and Oconostota back to Long Island [of Holston] to spend the winter. Scarcity of food and respect for Nancy, as well as friendship for the Old Chief who was now almost blind, were sufficient reasons. William stated, "I am of the opinion that Oconostota was one of the noblest and best of humankind. He had a powerful frame, and in his prime must have weighed more than two hundred pounds, with a head of enormous size. He was, when I saw him, very lean, stooped, and emaciated.'"

"These two Cherokee greats, Nancy Ward and Oconostota, spent the winter of 1782-1783 in Joseph Martin's Long Island [of Holston] home, where Nancy's daughter, Betsy, was able to care for their needs. With the coming of spring, Oconostota asked Martin to take him home. The Old Chief must have felt that his end was near, and he wanted to spend his last days at Chota. Martin realized that the ailing Chief would be unable to make the trip on horseback, so he arranged to take the party down river by boat. Sometime later, when the veteran Chief breathed his last breath, Martin buried the Old Chief with Christian rites, using a dugout canoe for a coffin."

Letter from James L. Robertson, Pleasant Grove, Tennessee, to General Joseph Martin, 7 May 1788, concerning the Cherokee Nation. Courtesy of Tennessee Documentary History (James Robertson (June 28, 1742 – September 1, 1814) was an American explorer, soldier and Indian agent, and one of the founding fathers of what became the State of Tennessee.)

In 1789, he sold his lands in Powell Valley (Ewing, Virginia), and at Long Island (Kingsport, Tennessee), returning to his plantation located on Leatherwood Creek, near present day Martinsville, Virginia (Henry County). Having spent thirteen years living in the Cherokee Wilderness lands as the peacemaker, Indian Agent, and Revolutionary War General, the wilderness lost their most colorful resident, a man of remarkable abilities and great courage. In the summer of 1808, Gen. Martin made his last journey. The sixty-eight year old soldier made the long trek to the old frontier, passing through Long Island (Kingsport, Tennessee), to the Indian towns, armed with a safe-conduct pass from the Secretary of War. In the autumn of 1808, worn out and feeble, he returned to Virginia. He "took to his bed, never to rise again, and quietly died on December 18th after a life rich in every detail." He was sorely missed, not only by the white settlers, but by the Indians, all whom he had so faithfully served.

Martin served in the legislatures of several Southern states, and was a longhunter, pioneer, Indian trader, and real estate speculator who attempted one of the earliest settlements of what became the state of Tennessee.

Military

Daughters of the American Revolution
Joseph Martin is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A074375 @ https://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search_adb/default.cfm
Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Martin served with Washington County Militia, Virginia Militia during the American Revolution.

His place in the revolutionary army was:

• Elected Captain of theTransylvania Militia in 1776,
• Became Major February 17,1779,
• Lieutenant Colonel in March 1781.
• Elected Brigadier General of the North Carolina Militia by legislature on December 15,1787,
• Commissioned Brigadier General of the Twentieth Brigade of the Virginia Militia by Governor Henry Lee on December11,1793.

Joseph Martin (1740–1808) was a brigadier general in the Virginia militia during the American Revolutionary War, in which Martin's frontier diplomacy with the Cherokee people is credited with not only averting Indian attacks on the Scotch-Irish American and English American settlers who helped win the battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens, but with also helping to keep the Indians' position neutral and from siding with the British troops during those crucial battles. Historians agree that the settlers' success at these two battles signaled the turning of the tide of the Revolutionary War—in favor of the Americans.

A pay roll handwritten by Captain Joseph Martin listing men stationed on the Frontiers of Washington County under the command of Colonel Evan Shelby. From the Draper manuscripts: Tennessee papers, 1771-1883, Draper XX, Volume 1, Page 24, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives

It has been said that Joseph was reared in a violent area, during violent times, he grew up "overgrown, rude, and ungovernable". His roving disposition caused him to run away from the carpenter to whom he had been apprenticed by his father to learn a trade. He and his friend Thomas Sumter, sometime in 1756-1757 (Joseph was 16-17 years old) and toward the close of the French and Indian War, made their way through the wilderness to Fort Pitt, where Pittsburg now stands, and there enlisted in the Colonial English Army. At the end of the war, he spent several years in trapping and the trading of furs and poultry, in what is now southwestern Virginia and Tennessee. On the outbreak of the Shawnee War in 1774, Lord Dunmore commissioned Joseph Martin a Captain in the Pittsylvania militia, and he saw service as a commander of scouts in Culbertson's Bottom on New River.

On November 3, 1777, he was commissioned agent of Virginia among the Cherokees, and took up his residence on the Long Island of Holston, North Carolina. The now Colonel Martin was a member of the first convention of the so-called State of Franklin but was opposed to secession from North Carolina, and in December, 1887, he was made Brigadier General of the North Carolina Militia in the western district. General Joseph Martin was appointed Indian Agent for the United States in June, 1788.

For many years afterwards, General Martin remained an obscure figure, until Lyman Draper began collecting reminiscences about him, including those of Major John Redd, a prominent Henry County planter who served under Martin, and who also wrote about his early recollections of General Nathaniel Greene, George Rogers Clark, Daniel Boone, Col. Benjamin Cleveland, Dr. John Walker, and other early prominent Virginia figures.

Land Records in Virginia
Page 347 - Col. Joseph Martin - 400 ac - Commissioners Certificate - in Powells Valley on both sides of Harmans Camp branch and on both sides of the Kentucky Trace - beginning at the foot of the bald knob - March 20, 1786... William Fitzgerald - 400 ac - in Powells Valley near Cumberland Gap on a creek called Fitzgerrald's, includes Harmon's old camp - actual settlement made in 1775 - August 20, 1781...Assigned to Joseph Martin. Signed: William Fitzgerald. [Source: Washington Co, VA Survey Records Abstracts 1781-1797, pages 301-400].

Other Records in Virginia
Burruss, Jacob - entered service 1778 in Orange County, Virginia; received Pension abt. age 77 in Smith County, Tennessee, 1832, where he died 10/1/1832; married 3/1781 Susannah, daughter of Gen. Joseph Martin, Henry County, Virginia; widow received Pension abt. age 75 in Smith County, Tennessee, 1838; widow was sister of William Martin who abt. age 66 there in 1832. R429. [Virginia/West Virginia Genealogical Data from Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Records”, Vol. 1, compiled by Patrick G. Wardell, Lt. Col. U.S. Army Ret.].

Death and Burial

General Joseph Martin died at his Leatherwood plantation in 1808, and was buried with military and Masonic honors in the family cemetery there. Buried alongside him at the graveyard at Belmont are three other Joseph Martins: Colonel Joseph Martin, son of the general, and his son Joseph and grandson Joseph, who lived at Greenwood plantation. A monument was erected in 2008 on the old Henry Courthouse square in Martinsville, Virginia. It is not Gen. Joseph Martins' tombstone, which is located at the Martin Cemetery, Leatherwood, Henry County, Virginia.
(Curator Note: there is confusion over his place of burial. Martin owned, and was buried at, the Belmont Plantation on Leatherwood Creek, while it was his friend Governor Patrick Henry owned the nearby Leatherwood Plantation where some have him buried)

Legacy

The city of Martinsville, Virginia (an independent city) was named in General Martin's honor during his lifetime.[13]

Historic marker for the city of Martinsville, Virginia, which is located on the courthouse square downtown.

Joseph Martin, the peace maker, is best remembered by the creek which starts at the spring that supplied his Upper Station, and which bears his name. Perhaps it is fitting, as it is a favorite of trout fishermen, who pursue their peaceful passtime in its cool waters.[14]

Research Notes

Starr's "History of the Cherokee Indians" incorrectly lists Joseph Martin as the father of children by sisters Mary and Susannah Emory; those are actually the children of his brother John. General Martin was married 1st to Sarah Lucas (7 children), 2nd to Nancy Ward (3 children), and 3rd to Susannah Graves (11-15 children). Starr was incorrect. There is actual contemporaneous documentation that Susannah Emory’s partner and the father of Nannie, Rachel, and John Martin, was John Martin, Joseph’s brother.

Who the William Martin that owned land on Indian Creek and died in Lee County in 1821 was is not known. The William Martin that was killed by a Creek Indian likely was not one of his children, as the white William was a well known attorney in Henry County, and lived to write a biography of his father. Neither is it known if the Brice Martin that owned land among Joseph’s holdings between Rose Hill and Ewing was his brother or his son.[14] Maintenance Categories

Disputed Child

A prior version of this profile, and some online trees, have identified Lindsley D. Martin (1796) as an additional child, but this claim is disputed. In the absence of any reliable source cited for the claim, that child has been detached from this profile.

Sources

1. ↑ Joseph Martin will, Albemarle County Will Book 2 Page 112. Dated December 3, 1760, probated January 14, 1762
2. ↑ Bentley, Elizabeth Petty, indexer. Virginia Marriage Records: From the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the William and Mary College Quarterly, and Tyler's Quarterly. Baltimore, MD: Genealogy Publishing Co., Inc., 1984.
3. ↑ https://familypedia.fandom.com/wiki/Susannah_Graves_(1763-1837)
4. ↑ American Family History: Joseph Martin (Unsourced profile; better source sought.)
5. ↑ "Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XRHL-F2S : 29 January 2020), Joseph Martin in entry for Jacob Burruss, 1781.
6. ↑ "Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XRHL-XQY : 29 January 2020), Jos. Martin in entry for Samuel Armistead, 1807.
7. ↑ https://lincoln.mogenweb.org/bible/bb-martin-carr.htm
8. ↑ https://familypedia.fandom.com/wiki/Susannah_Graves_(1763-1837)
9. ↑ Hampton, David K. Cherokee Mixed-Bloods. Arc Press of Cane Hill, Lincoln, Arkansas. 2005. p. 107.
10. ↑ Crews & Starbuck, eds. Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees. Cherokee Heritage Press, Tahlequah, OK. , Vol. 1, p. 121.
11. ↑ Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, Tulsa, OK. 1979. p. 305. Digitized edition at Starr.
12. ↑ Brown, John. P. “Old Frontiers.” Southern Publishers, Kingsport, TN. 1938, p. 203.
13. ↑ See Wikipedia Article.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Daniel Boone Trail: History and Perspective.

See also:

Three biographical sketches of General Joseph Martin (all uploaded to the media tab for convenience)
1. GENERAL JOSEPH MARTlN AND THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION IN THE WEST By PROF. STEPHEN B. WEEKS, S. Misc. Doc. No. 104, 53d Cong., 2nd Sess. (1894) @ https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000194327785826&graph_node_id=profile-34810333768&mode=tagged
2. GENERAL JOSEPH MARTIN, OF VIRGINIAAN UNSUNG HERO OF THE VIRGINIA FRONTIER, BY DR. WILLIAM ALLEN PUSEY Chicago, Illinois. Read before The Filson Club, February 3, 1936 @ https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000194315463829&graph_node_id=profile-34810333768&mode=tagged
3. A Biographical Sketch of General Joseph Martin. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Apr., 1901), pp. 347-359, Published by: Virginia Historical Society, Stable URL: @ https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000194350123917&graph_node_id=profile-34810333768&mode=tagged

• "The last of the Ghigua," Burlington News by Mary Sutherland.
• Cherokee Heritage Site for Nancy Ward by SmithDray.

Additional Reading:

Addington, Robert M. – HIstory of Scott County, Virginia.
Summers, Lewis P. – History of Southwest Virginia and Washington County.
Hamilton, Emory – “Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia” publication #4.
Stray Leaves, the Official Genealogy for the Family of Frank & Jessse James.
Martin Family Reference Document.

Source: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Martin-3583 (edited and expanded)
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(Curator Note: the following is extracted from James Hicks, but Joseph Martin, Jr, is only mentioned as a spouse of Elizabeth Betsy Ward, he is not a Cherokee descendant, has no heading so the information is more limited and only in conjunction with his Cherokee wife. Brigadier General Joseph was NOT married to either Elizabeth or Mary Emory)

JOSEPH L MARTIN, JR, BGEN 1776, son of JOSEPH MARTIN and SUSANNA CHILES.He was born September 18, 1740 in Charlotteville, Albemarle Co, VA, and died December 18, 1808 in Martinsville, Henry Co, VA.

More About ELIZABETH BETSY WARD:

• Blood: 1/8 Cherokee (half Indian, see mother)
• Clan: Ani'-Wa'ya = Wolf Clan (Nanye'hi)
• Residence: June 1788, Chote

Notes for JOSEPH L MARTIN, JR, BGEN:

• Within Starr's biographies there is a typo in the birth year of Joseph, the text reads 1840 but should be 1740.
• Records of the Moravians in North Carolina, vol V, 1784-1792, Adelaide L Fries, The North Carolina Historical Commission, p1981:"...by signs found out from him where Colonel Martin was.The Colonel soon came creeping out of an Indian sweat-house, and welcomed me in very friendly fashion. ..He took me to his lodgings with a trader, Mr Springston, who had married an Indian wife; Colonel Martin had married their daughter." (Curator Note: this statement is questionable, Colonel Martin married Elizabeth Betsy Ward, daughter of Nancy Ward and her husband Bryant Ward, how “Springston” fits is unknown.”
• Early Travels in the Tennessee Country 1540-1800, Samuel Cole Williams, Watauga Press, p249: "...he explained to me by Signs in which House of the Town on the other Side which is called Sitiko, Col Martin was to be found. Having got on the other Side, I saw him soon creeping out of an Indian Hothouse, & he came to welcome me very friendly & having read Col Armstrong's Letter he said he would be at my Service in my Concern as much as possibly he could. .. He took me with him to his Lodging in the House of a Trader, Mr Springston, who has married an Indian Woman, but whose Father in Law was not at home during my Stay there." Curator Note: same comment as in previous note…)

More About JOSEPH L MARTIN, JR, BGEN:

• Occupation 1: Fur Trader and Planter
• Occupation 2: 1777, VA Commissioner to the Cherokee
• Occupation 3: December 11, 1793, Brigadier General, VA militia
• Residence: June 1788, Chote
• More About DANIEL HUGHES:
• Occupation: Trader

Children of ELIZABETH WARD and JOSEPH MARTIN are:
130. i. NANCY6 MARTIN, b. Abt. 1778, CNE [TN]; d. April 1837.

	ii.	 	JAMES MARTIN, b. 1780, Chittiko, CNE [TN]; d. 1840.

• Clan: Ani'-Wa'ya = Wolf Clan (Nanye'hi)

Source: Hicks, James R. “Cherokee Lineages: Register Report of Amatoya Moytoy” Genealogy.com, Sites.Rootsweb.com,, 2023, https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/h/i/c/James-R-Hicks-VA/BOOK-0001/0021...
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The Chronology of General Martin’s time in the Cherokee Nation

• 1740 born in Virginia
• 1756 brief militia service in Virginia
• 1769 April, the first attempt at settlement of Martin's famous station in Powell Valley, abandoned fall of 1769
• 1770 returned to Henry County, Virginia
• 1775 January, Martin was back at Martin's Station to reestablish his claim in Powell Valley, abandoned in June 1776

MARTINS STATION Map showing location of Joseph Martin's Station, on the Wilderness Road in what is now Lee County, Virginia. Martin's Station or Cabin, was, in the early days the only station on the Wilderness Road between Blockhouse, the road's beginning in Virginia and Crab Orchard, on the edge of the settlement in Kentucky, a total of almost 200 miles.

• 1776 Jesse Walton and Benjamin Cleveland of Surry County, North Carolina, defend the Watauga and Nolachucky settlements from Cherokee attacks. Captain Joseph Martin, Virginia’s new agent to the Cherokee, comes to Tennessee and becomes fast friends with Walton and Cleveland.
• 1777 During peace talks (July 1777) Captain Joseph Martin meets young Cherokee beauty Elizabeth Ward. They marry.
• 1778 Jesse Walton appointed justice and helps to establish Jonesborough
• 1779 Joseph Martin writes to Virginia Governor Patrick Henry of the growing Chickamauga threat (he believed to be living at Chota among neutrals)
• 1780 Virginians defeat Cherokee and destroy Overhill and Chickamauga villages; Joseph Martin’s mother-in-law (Nannie Ward) is taken into custody.
• 1780/1 Captain John Martin, brother of Colonel Joseph Martin, escorts his Cherokee sister-in-law back to her father’s trading post at Tugaloo and he remains in that area as his brother’s assistant agent; Joseph returns to Virginia, hearing that his wife has taken ill
• 1781 Joseph Martin’s first wife, Sarah Lucas, dies of smallpox in Virginia in March.
• 1783. The third attempt at settlement in Powell Valley. It remained an outpost of the greatest importance to travelers over the Wilderness Road until the road fell into disuse after 1794.
• 1783 Jesse Walton settles in n.e. Georgia near Tugaloo (then Franklin County); Walton and Bryant Ward (father-in-law of Martin) become partners
• 1784 Colonel Joseph Martin is in Virginia and has married his second white wife, Susannah Graves, on 24 February 1783. (She will have a son Joseph Martin Jr. b. 1785.)
• 1785 around this time, Colonel Joseph Martin joins Walton, Ward at Tugaloo and attends the Treaty of Hopewell (Keowee) note: son Joseph Martin Jr. born 23 September 1785
• 1785 September 19

Letter from Colonel Joseph Martin to Richard Caswell, Chotee, September 19, 1785, the governor of North Carolina regarding Martin's difficulties as the Indian Agent in the region. He claims that the increase in Indian hostiility is due to the encroachment of the people from the new state of Franklin. Martin requests the service of Mr. McDonald, a former British agent who Martin claims the Indians trust.

Historical Note
The State of Franklin movement was a short attempt at the creation of a new state in the trans-Appalachian settlement of present-day East Tennessee. After North Carolina passed an act to cede its western lands to Congress in 1784, leaders in the trans-Appalachian region held a convention in Jonesborough to vote on statehood and to draft a new constitution. John Sevier was elected governor in 1785. Sevier faced opposition from an anti-Franklin faction in the region, led by John Tipton. The opposition grew and the movement for statehood slowly dissipated. By 1789, the Franklin movement had ended and John Sevier was appointed brigadier general of militia for Washington County.

• 1786 Creek Indians begin sporadic raids in eastern Georgia
• 1787 Joseph Martin elected to the North Carolina legislature; on a visit to Tugaloo he complains of the damages caused by the Creeks; he also spends time with his white family in Virginia (son Jesse Martin b.1787/8).
• 1788 Colonel Joseph Martin was called upon to lead (or control) vengeful militia in Tennessee after the Kirk Family Massacre. After the murder of four five Cherokee (including Long Fellow, Abraham, and Old Tassel) under a flag of truce, Martin resigns as Indian Agent. He returns to Virginia (son Thomas b. 1789) but goes down to Tugaloo for a year.
• 1789 Jesse Walton and Sheriff Moses Guest are wounded in a Creek raid. Joseph Martin tends to Walton, and writes Walton’s will on 13 June 1789. (Walton mentions wife and children in the will but local history continues to claim that his family was killed in the raid.) After burying Walton, Martin goes back to Tennesee (then part of North Carolina) and is again elected to the legislature.
• 1790 Now General, Joseph Martin takes his two white sons, William and Brice, to Tugaloo.
• 1791 Martin returns to Virginia, and serves in the Virginia legislature. (8 children born in Virginia beginning 1791/2.)
• 1800 Elizabeth (Ward) Martin noted to be living on a “fine estate” in n.e. Georgia
• 1803 General Martin officially retires from public office.
• 1808 Attempting an expedition to the west, General Martin falls ill and returns to Virginia where he dies in November.

Various Sources used: including Robert Eldridge Bouwman’s Traveler’s Rest and the Tugaloo Crossroads (State of Georgia : Dept of Natural Resources, 1980)

Transcript of September 19, 1785 letter:
Col. Joseph Martin to Gov. Caswell
Chotee, 19 Sept., 1785
Dear Sir:
etc-
“I am now on the duties of the office (Indian Agent) and have had more trouble with the Indians in the course of the Summer, than I ever had, owing to the rapid encroachment of the people from the New State (Franklin), together with the Talks from the Spaniards and the western Indians.
Two Wyandot Chiefs are now at Chickamauga, etc-
The Indians here are much concerned at the people living on Little River, I refer your Excellency to their talks which they have counciled on for six days.
I have with much pains and some artifice prevailed on Mr. McDonald, the former British Agent, to correspond with me. I have enclosed a copy of his letter to your Excellency in case of a war with any foreign power he may be very serviceable or very dangerous.
He lives about 25 miles south west from Chickamogga. Which is the strongest part of the Cherokee Nation. He has great influence with the Indians on that quarter, deals at Pensacola, corresponds with Mr. Gilbry, in the Creek Nation and one Mr. McClatchey at the mouth of St. Mary’s, a British merchant who furnishes some part of the Towns near him with goods. I flatter myself that with his assistance I shall be able to furnish your Excellency with the earliest and best Intellegence that can be had from that quarter.

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General Joseph Martin of Tugaloo
Deconstructing the mythology

Finding Martin Cherokees is easy, finding Martin Cherokee ancestors is hard. One reason for this is that General Joseph Martin looms so large he obscures the other Martins. A William Martin was having Cherokee children before General Joseph even came into the Cherokee Nation. Recognizing William Martin’s contribution is one part of setting the facts straight; the other is to repeat that the general did NOT father any children with an Emory girl. He had one Cherokee wife and maintained a good and close relationship with his wife’s family.

The (Cherokee) wife of General Joseph Martin

The following is based on data from the Nancy Ward Society:

1. Nanye'hi, daughter of (trad.) Tame Doe, born on c1738 at Cherokee Nation (now TN); died on 1822 at Cherokee Nation (now Polk county, TN); buried at Nancy Ward's Grave, Polk, TN. [some sources say she d.1824]

She married, first, to Kingfisher; died on 1755 at Canton County, GA; and married, second, to Bryan WARD. [Bryant Ward]

Children of Kingfisher and Nanye'hi were as follows:
2. i. Ka-ti, born c1752; married Samuel CANDY, Ellis HARLAN.

      ii. Hi-s-ki-ti-hi (Fivekiller), born on c1754 at Cherokee Nation (probably present-day TN); buried at Nancy Ward's Grave, Polk, TN.  He married to Catherine.

Child of Bryan WARD and Nanye'hi was as follows:

3. iii. Elizabeth WARD, born c1759; married(1) Joseph who was born on 18 September 1740 at Albemarle county, VA; he died on 18 December 1808 at Henry county, VA at 68 years of age; buried at Belle Mont, Henry, VA; son of Joseph MARTIN and Susannah CHILDS; and married(2), to (Bernard?

Children of Joseph MARTIN and Elizabeth WARD were as follows:

     i. Nancy MARTIN, born 1778?; married Michael HILDERBRAND.

    ii. James MARTIN, born on 1780 at Chittiko, Cherokee East (now TN)

Child of (Bernard?) HUGHES and Elizabeth WARD was as

   iii. Rachel HUGHES, born c1790; married Charles ROGERS.

It is reliably established that the wife of General Martin was Elizabeth Ward, daughter of Bryant Ward (“Bryant was a middle name) and “Nan-i” or Nancy.  Based on the words of his own son, General Martin had but one Cherokee wife, who was dear to him.  He did, however, have white wives back in Virginia.

Source: Hampton, David. “General Joseph Martin of Tugaloo, Deconstructing the Mythology.” NancyWard.org, (unknown before) 2023, https://sites.rootsweb.com/~tnpolk2/martin.htm.
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Further Reading:
1. Belt, Gordon T. “Joseph Martin versus John Sevier.” The Posterity Project, 11 Jan. 2015, https://posterityproject.blogspot.com/2015/01/joseph-martin-versus-.... Accessed 1 May 2023.
2. Marlowe, Jarred. “General Joseph Martin Biography.” Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society, 6 June 2021, https://www.mhchistoricalsociety.org/843-2/.
3. Wikipedia contributors. "Joseph Martin (general)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 25 Mar. 2023. Web. 1 May. 2023.
4. Aronhime, Gordon. “GENERAL JOSEPH MARTIN A FORGOTTEN PIONEER 1740-1898.” Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia, RootsWeb, 1966, https://sites.rootsweb.com/~vahsswv/historicalsketches.html.