Obituary for Charles Washington Martin (d.1888)
The Troy Free Press (Troy, Lincoln Co. MO), 1988.
Contributed by Harold Wayne Martin.

[The following article from The Troy Free Press, printed in 1888 about Judge Charles Washington MARTIN, he settled on a farm between Moscow Mills and Ethlyn about 1838.

Contributor: Harold Wayne Martin, great-great-grandson. ]

July 17, 1888 -- EDITORS FREE PRESS; I am just informed of the death of my very old dear friend, Judge Charles Washington MARTIN which occurred at 11 o'clock last Saturday Night July 14th, the 78th year of his age.

I have several times in writing little light articles for the FREE PRESS years back spoken of my old friend, Judge MARTIN, with the sort of freedom and friendship, and even jollity and mirth that only friends who understand each other could indulge in. It seems that I ought to say something now and wish I could write in the same train of thought I then did. But my old friend is no more. He has gone from us. He had not only lived out the allotted old age of three score and ten, but nearly four score years. His time had come to go, and like ripe fruit, he dropped from the tree after a well spent life.

Perhaps there are but a few men living who have known Judge MARTIN longer and better than myself, or have a higher regard for his purity of character. It has been aptly said that an honest man is the nobelist work of God. Judge Martin was an honest man, not only in the payments of all his debts, dues and demands, but in his every thought and action through life to do unto mankind as he himself would have them do unto him. He was in every sense of the word a modest Christian gentleman.

In regard to the more intimate history of Judge MARTIN'S life, I am not so well informed but write from the best knowledge I have. He married in Virginia about the year 1835, and move to Lincoln County, Missouri in 1838 with his wife, two children and a few servants, and built a small house of logs on almost the very spot where now stands a very commodious house in which he died.

In the year 1839 in company with a relative and friend, looking for a location, I made my first visit to Lincoln County and about nightfall we found ourselves near Judge MARTIN'S house, and rode up and enquired if we could stay all night, to which he very characteristically replied, We have a very poor house, but plenty of hog and hominy. We were most kindly and generously entertained by him and his good wife until after breakfast the next morning, and I am quite sure in these many years since, according to the divine precept, no man hungry or in need has ever passed his hospitable home that he did not reach out his charitable hand in relief.

Judge MARTIN had six children to grow to manhood or womanhood, three sons and three daughters, all of whom were married. The three eldest were born of his first wife, the three youngest of his last most amiable wife and widow who survives him. Five of them still living; among them is Mr. Charles MARTIN, one of the most respected attorneys we have around us. He also left about 30 grandchildren.

Judge MARTIN served twelve years in our probate and county courts, and his honesty and ability were as proverbial as his hospitality at his house, and his popularity with his neighbors and all who came in contact with him in business and relations or otherwise.

Judge MARTIN for many years was a firm and consistent member of the Christian Church, and was one of the principal contributors to the building of the Union church near his place, where other denominations of religion were allowed to worship as well his own. He was no bigot in his religion, but accorded to every man his own opinion as kindly as he did all his business relations with the people.

In the management of his pecuniary affairs through life, though liberal and charitable in all dealing with man, he managed his affairs with good judgment and success, giving off to his children a fair start in life and leaving a very handsome estate at his death.

No man has lived in our county and none whose death deserves a more respectful consideration from the people than that of Judge MARTIN, whose good widow and children have my most sincere sympathy and respect.

HENRY T. MUDD

[The following article from The Troy Free Press, printed in 1888 about is a follow up to the previous article by Henry T. Mudd about Judge Charles Washington MARTIN, who settled on a farm between Moscow Mills and Ethlyn about 1838.

Contributor: Harold Wayne Martin, great-great-grandson. ]

IN MEMORY OF JUDGE MARTIN--The TROY FREE PRESS

The following correspondence grew out of the obituary notice of the late Judge MARTIN which Judge H. T. Mudd recently wrote for the publication in the columns of this paper at the request of the editor. The letter of Judge Porter was not intended for publication, but is given our readers illustrating on the characteristics of the well-known and highly respected man whose virtues it celebrates.

Lincoln County, Missouri, July 25, 1888

JUDGE HENRY T. MUDD-- Dear Sir: Your notice and remarks upon the life and death of our most estimable friend Judge Charles MARTIN contained in the last issue of the FREE PRESS receives a ready response from myself and, I doubt not, from the many friends of Judge MARTIN in Lincoln who so highly appreciated him. I loved him as a friend, upright, correct and judicious in the discharge of every public duty, honest and pure in heart, and as you justly remark "According to the Divine precept, no man hungry or needy ever passed his hospitable home that he did not reach out his hospitable hand in relief." My mind in this reflection instinctively reverts to a visit of a nephew of mine in 1864. Charles McElroy, son of my sister Ann McElroy, who came to spend some time with me, came from Cap-au-Gris in a wagon as far as Judge MARTIN'S, by who he was kindly received and hospitably entertained, and on the next morning furnished with a horse to pursue his way to my house. This little fellow, then 14 years old, deeply felt and appreciated the kindness he had received and, I doubt not, although it has been 24 years (he a man of family and engaged in a profitable mercantile business in Carthage, MO) that he would cordial unite with us in venerating the life and memory of our departed friend.

I have sent a copy of the paper containing your letter to my brother Gilchrist, who doubtless remembers Judge MARTIN as one of the solid, useful men of our county, for he has a distinct recollection and regard for his long and tried and true friends of Lincoln. He, too has an appreciative heart in recounting the life's and virtues of our deceased friends, as tributes to their moral excellences and usefulness in their day and generation, and as memorials for the imitation of the living.

Yours very truly, CHAS. U. PORTER

File submitted to HERITAGE PAGES of LINCOLN COUNTY, MISSOURI by Harold Wayne Martin, 6 December, 2003.

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