Ebenezer Martin, Jr

http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=11088

Ebenezer Martin (1791-1876) was a graduate of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martins_Ferry,_Ohio

Martins Ferry enjoys the honor of being the oldest permanent settlement in the state of Ohio, having been settled at least as early as 1779. The community was a westward extension of the city of Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), but at that time settlement on the west bank of the Ohio River was not permitted. The town was disbanded a couple of times before finally permanently taking hold in 1785.

Unlike Marietta, Ohio's oldest city, Martins Ferry remained an unincorporated settlement for a relatively long time. It did not officially become a city until 1865, a full 77 years after Marietta. Through the years it has been known as Hoglinstown, Mercertown, Norristown, Jefferson, Martinsville and Martin's Ferry (the apostrophe between "Martin" and "s" is no longer used).

In 1835, Ebenezer Martin, the son of Absalom Martin, one of the city's earliest settlers, redesigned the town with a grid system of streets, much of which survives to this day. It was from this family that Martins Ferry took its name.

The city developed as an important industrial center during the late 1800s and early 1900s. It became an important rail hub and river port, from where products were shipped all over the United States and beyond. Over the past 50 years, the town's population has decreased significantly as industries have closed or moved elsewhere. Today the city's population is less than half of what it once was, and work is relatively scarce and everyone is on welfare.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohmfahs/bio-martin.txt

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO

"History of the Upper Ohio Valley" Vol. II, 1890.

Presented by Linda Fluharty from hard copies provided

by Mary Staley & Phyllis Slater.

Page 547.

EBENEZER MARTIN, founder of Martin's Ferry, born November 9, 1791,

on what is now the site of the Benwood blast furnace, died January

15, 1876, was one of the most widely known pioneers of eastern Ohio.

He was the son of Absalom Martin, a native of New Jersey, who

assisted in the earliest government surveys of Ohio, and received

therefor a grant of 640 acres near the site of Martin's Ferry, on

the west side of the river. During the war of the revolution he had

been a gallant soldier, and he held the rank of captain. He settled

upon his grant in the latter part of the last century and died there

in 1800. In 1789 he was married to Catherine, daughter of Ebenezer

Zane, and they had two children, a daughter, who died young, and

Ebenezer, the subject of this sketch. The spirit of the latter may

be judged by the fact that he traveled on horseback from his Ohio

home to Princeton, N. J., to obtain an education. On his return home

he took charge of the farm and continued to manage it during the

remainder of his life, and after his father's death also conducted

the ferry which the elder Martin established over the Ohio river,

and retained control of this until 1840, when he sold it to Hugh

Nichols. In 1835 he layed out the town which was known until recent

years as Martinsville, but now as Martin's Ferry. He devoted his

life to the care of his property, and devoted considerable time to

fruit raising, having one of the best orchards in the valley. To

this, such was his charity and kindness, all poor people had

free access. His faith in human nature was imposed upon by many

dishonest rogues, and most of his property had passed out of his

hands before his death. His good deeds were beyond number, and

all mourned his death. His religious affiliation was with the

Methodist church, to which he gave a lot when he platted the

town, and in politics he was a whig and afterward a republican.

Mr. Martin was first married in 1809, to Hannah McLaughlin, a

daughter of Elizabeth Zane, and by this union he had nine children,

of whom one survives: Catherine E. In 1837, his first wife having

died, he married Minerva, daughter of Isaac Zane, and they had ten

children: Isaac, Rebecca V., wife of Mr. Van Pelt, of Lansing, Mich.;

Ebenezer, of Lake Harbor, Mich.; Edith M., deceased; Leonidas, of

Lake Harbor, Mich.; Antoinette, of the same place; Annie M., wife

of William H. Wood; Lucian B., of Fostoria, Ohio, and two who died

in infancy. Three of the sons by the first marriage were soldiers

in the war of the rebellion. Absalom died in a hospital at St.

Louis; John M., a transport pilot, and Ephraim, who died from

disease contracted in the service. Ebenezer, Jr., also served

in the First Virginia regiment.