Suffrage. Boyd Countie’s First Female Jurors

 

Teresa Martin Klaiber

Nellie Clara Kautz Martin & grandson John Geer Martin 1924

     Women have stood up for civil rights for decades. In 1838 Kentucky law allowed widows and female head-of-households to vote in school elections. County records during that timeframe show only a hand full of women appearing on tax rolls including Carter, Greenup, and Lawrence County, thus the men’s vote far out-weighed any widow’s vote at school board elections. But it was still considered progress.

     By 1902 even that right was denied by the Kentucky Legislature due to an outcry of gentlemen in Lexington after a large group of African American women bravely registered to vote. This action would give men less power and stirred racial bias. It would be eighteen more years before voter discrimination because of sex would be prohibited.

    The battle for women’s equality was at its height and came to fruition in August 1920. Kentucky’s equal rights committee sent pamphlets to ministers and churches across the state asking them to urge the women of Kentucky to prepare for all the rights voting would entail including the duty of sitting on juries. At the same time the Kentucky Equal Rights Association changed their name to the Kentucky League of Women Voters.

     Thirty-one-year-old Nellie Kautz Martin, wife of John Shouse Martin, was a busy homemaker, residing in Ashland, Kentucky on Newman Street. The daughter-in-law of a Christian minister, she was active in her church, raising three sons. She epitomized the housewife of the times, and would certainly have seen the pamphlets that flooded Kentucky. Standing just a little over five feet tall she loved the national pastime of travel and camping.  Spending hours in the kitchen she always wore her apron.  Four months after the historical women’s legislation Nellie was in the news for receiving two electrical shocks from a washing machine while doing laundry. She most assuredly had her apron on. Not only was she shocked but at least four other families in the neighborhood had electrical trouble including the Ogden home which caught fire but was quickly extinguished. The Lexington Herald Leader led the story as “Electricity Runs Wild,” while an ad was running in Louisville’s paper stating “if she has to choose between the two electricity and servant – the wise housekeeper choses electricity every time.” The occupation for women on census records was over ninety percent “housewife.” The old adage “Women belong in the home,” was still being promoted by the male population.

     The Kentucky Commonwealth Attorney Association recommended changes to the legislation in January, 1922 which included the removal that women would have to be required to be housekeepers.

    It would be a year before news carried information on the first women on juries in Kentucky. Owensboro had distinguished itself as having the first all-woman jury in April 1921.  Boyd County women were elated when Mrs. Mary Elliott Flanery was elected to the Kentucky General Assembly in 1921 and then presided over the House Caucus of the General Assembly in January 1922.  She is said to have urged women all over Kentucky to contribute in activities in politics adding “…try to help the boys do something for old Kentucky.”  Flanery well known for her work for suffrage was also a journalist for the Ashland Independent newspaper.

    The Lexington Herald-Leader reran a seven-line article titled “Woman Jury Commissioner” from the Ashland Independent 12 December 1922. Nellie Kautz Martin once again had made the news.  Published as Mrs. J. Shouse Martin, she was given the “distinction of being the first woman juror commissioner in Boyd County. She was also the first woman juror having served at the January term in criminal court.”  Nellie may well have been at the courthouse January 5^th when there was a shooting while transferring a prisoner from the jail to the court.  The jailer, Lon Hood was shot in his head and arm.  Papers say justice was swift as on January 7^th the court sentenced John Owens of Parkersburg, West Virginia to 15 years in the state reformatory. Grand juries usually met in secret in January in each of the counties.

     With the superb help of Genealogy Supervisor James Kettel, at the Boyd County Public Library, court records show Nellie along with two other women appearing on the Petit Jury for April into May 1922.  She is listed along with Belle Emirick and Mary, McLaughlin. Isabelle McCoy Vaughn Emirick, wife of John J. Emirick died nine years after her jury duty and was buried in Ashland Cemetery. Among the gentlemen was Lupton Ogden who three years later would be married to Ruby Huffman Turner Martin. Each person on the jury appears to have taken turns as foreman. Nellie was foreperson for a liquor case. Most cases involved either transporting, keeping and selling illegal whiskey or for having a moonshine still. One case was for gaming and another for forgery.

     Nellie Clara Kautz Martin unassuming and devoted to her family and home was born 2 August 1881 at Howard Siding, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Groszholz Kautz. The family moved to Normal, Kentucky where her father was working in the lumber business in the early 1890’s.  In 1897 they moved to Yale, Bath County where John continued to work both lumber and stone.  But Nellie was quickly sent back to Boyd County to finish her education.  She was 16 and would travel between Catlettsburg, Salt Lick, Famers and Yale. Nellie married John Shouse Martin 5 August 1900 at Farmers, Kentucky in the Christian Church. They were married by Shouse’s father, minister of the church, Henry Foster Martin.  The family moved to Ashland, Kentucky circa 1906.

     This compiler can only visualize the couples 50^th wedding anniversary in black and white photographs because while I was present, I was only one in 1950. By then the Martin’s had moved to Ironton, Ohio. I do remember her in that apron spending a whole afternoon baking and cooking for just me and my great grandfather as I grew a little older. In the fourth grade I was just about her height and John Shouse with his booming voice towered over both of us as he cranked an old victrola for my entertainment. Nellie died 14 September 1964 and is buried with an unimposing grave marker in Rose Hill Cemetery in Ashland. If family members knew about her small contribution in history, they never talked about it leaving just a seven-line piece of old news in archives. She instilled a lesson of humility and a reminder that each of us make a little history every day.

Rowan County Signature Quilt

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber
December 2010

Quilt lovers know the historical value of textiles. Genealogists delight and cherish quilts when they find one signed by an ancestor. Today talented craft people can apply pictures to cloth creating quilt block images that will be handed down to newer generations.


In 1998 a cousin and I visited Mary Alice Calvert Jayne in Morehead, Rowan County, Kentucky. We sipped tea, sitting by a small lit fireplace while Mary Alice talked about family members, and the history of Rowan County. It was the kind of day that was just right for sitting and listening. As time grew shorter Mary Alice invited us to look at a quilt in her bedroom. With a smile she looked at me and said "It has the signature of your great great grandmother stitched on it."

My heart raced as she opened the door and pointed to the quilt hanging on the wall behind her bed.


Mary Alice said that the quilt was made by ladies of the Christian Church in Morehead as a fund raiser and hung for many years in the church. When the church no longer could use the quilt they asked Mary Alice if she would like to take it. Armed with a 35mm camera I took several snaps that day thinking that someday I would return and take down more of the names on the quilt.

Mary Alice Calvert Jayne was born 17 April 1912 in Morehead, Rowan County, Kentucky, the daughter of John B. Calvert and Sallie Fenton Hagaman. Sadly, before I even developed the film, Mary Alice died 11 November 1998 in her beloved Morehead.

Among the signatures that can be read on the photos in black are "Lizzie T. Martin." I have blogged about Elizabeth before. She was the wife of Henry Foster Martin, a Christian minister. Elizabeth died in 1936 in West Virginia and was brought back to Pine Hill Cemetery in Morehead for burial. Also embroidered in black are Bruce Calvert and J. M. Carey in the photos I took of small portions of the quilt.

Most of the signatures are predominately with red floss. Around the outer circle signed by Margaret Calvert are:

Faye Flannery
Dwight Pierce
Mae Blair
Eugene Calvert
Luther Jayne
Christine Williams
Dr. C. G. Nickell
Roy Caudill
Mr. J. B. Calvert
Cliff McClellan
Clara Robinson
Bob Strother
Kathryn Daniels
Mary Moore
Dr. Marsh
Flora Blair
Mason Jayne
Lottie Powers

Other names I can read in the photographs include:

Mrs. M. E. Carey
Elizabeth Maggard
George Denton
Mamie Blair
Henry Goldberg
Frank Karnip
Cora Bruce
Foster Goff
Patrick McKay
John Paul Nickell
Doris Penix
Thomas Paul
Mary Alice Calvert***
Robert S. Bishop
Charles Tatum
George M. Calvert
Tag Calvert

This is just a handful of the names on the quilt. Knowing some of the provenience of the quilt is most helpful. Since Mary Alice's name also appears I wonder if those signatures in black may not have been deceased when the quilt was created. Sadly Mary Alice was tiring and I hoped to answer further questions another day.

Having viewed other signature quilts, I note that these seem to be in similar hand where earlier signatures on quilts vary with handwriting. Maybe someone from Morehead can add more information on the quilt in the comment lines below my blog!

This particular quilt has now been handed down to niece Barbara Glenn Calvert Messer and is housed in Carter County, Kentucky. More research for another day.

Anna Sanders McBrayer, The Rest of the Story, Rest In Peace

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2010

No research project can be attributed to one specific researcher and the puzzle about Anna Sanders McBrayer's Tombstone is no exception. I blogged about the discovery of her missing tombstone several weeks ago. Since then the story has unraveled with sincere thanks to Carl McBrayer, "Jim" [James Franklin] McBrayer and "Bob" [Robert Lewis] McBrayer.

I will take the reader through the steps it has taken to unravel the problem of the missing tombstone. Sometimes things are just not the way they first appear.


Shortly after writing the story I carefully went through the many pages of Sexton Cemetery records I
have collected over the years. Sexton Cemetery is in Boyd County, Kentucky. Besides the picture posted in the last blog I discovered that I had a 1997 35mm photograph, along with a map showing the specifics of all the graves in Sexton Cemetery for that year.

Comparing the 1997 photograph with the 1970's photograph you can see that someone has repaired and uprighted the stone in Sexton Cemetery, Boyd County, Kentucky.

With map and probe in hand we spent two afternoons searching for the tombstone at the specific grave site and around the edges of the cemetery in woods and weeds without results. As we came down the hill my husband wondered out loud if the stone had been moved to Rowan County to be next to her husband. Both of us seemed to vaguely remember James Earl McBrayer talking about it many years before but had thought the issue dropped.

Carl McBrayer is the "keeper" of all things McBrayer. A wonderful telephone chat and search of his records showed that at a McBrayer Association meeting in 1978 the subject had been broached but he had no other information or follow up in the notes for her.

If the stone was moved I could now surmise that it had happened between 1997 and 2004 when James Earl McBrayer had died. Carl called Jim McBrayer and I quickly had a picture of her tombstone in Hoggtown Cemetery, Rowan County, Kentucky. You will note that when reset they removed the broken section without damage to the writing. The stone has been placed next to her husband who did die in Rowan County, Kentucky.

But then Boyd County Coroner pointed out this presented another problem. He did not remember any paperwork crossing his desk and he was concerned that just the stone had been removed. Since Sexton Cemetery, Boyd County still receives burials could this now be an unmarked grave that could be disturbed unknowningly with a new burial.

According to Kentucky KAR when there is a disinterment a permit is to be filed with the State Registrar of Vital Statistics and the local cemetery authorities be notified. The unofficial family caregiver of the cemetery was Harold Sexton, now deceased. The removal must be done by a certified funeral home. We were sure caregiver Harold Sexton would have told us had he been aware as we live very close and visited often. And I applaud Vital Statistics. Melody did a two day search year by year including 2001 without result. She did not locate the proper form.

This lead several of Anna's great great grandchildren to start talking about getting a new marker for the grave in Boyd County where she died. Remember I said not all things are as they appear even when you have followed the paper trail!

On the 22nd Bob McBrayer wrote that James Earl McBrayer's nephew Arthur had shared the information and photographs of the removal of not only the tombstone but the remains of Anna Sanders McBrayer. Bob wrote: "I remember him saying noone from the family was present when the exhumation took place. The remains were put in a box and placed next to James."

Every good researcher knows to document any historical event. By providing the date in 2001, Carl was able to go back through files of the McBrayer family newletter In Defiance and quickly sent me an article along with photographs that were taken by the funeral home Northcutt & Sons in Morehead, Kentucky. Thank goodness for family newsletters!

Anna Sanders McBrayer is now at rest in Rowan County, Kentucky next to her husband of many years, James R. McBrayer. The unmarked location in Sexton Cemetery can be utilized for future burials without disruption. The Boyd County Cemetery Board has been notified so that the county cemetery database and records can be updated for future researchers. A notation will be placed in the comment field showing the date of exhumation and location of the new site.

A final research comment. The last reading of the Hoggtown, aka Turner, Aka Elliottville Cemetery was made prior to 2001 as well. Future researchers may have to puzzle over this again. If a new researcher or younger descendent comes across Anna's burial site in Rowan County they may assume that she died there. There are no Kentucky death certificates for 1889. That tombstone is the only recorded "document" of her death. As we older researchers hand over the reins and records we hope they pass down the story and "the rest of the story" to their children.

Anna had come back to Boyd County where she had lived with her husband for 45 years before moving on to Rowan County. She died while visiting family in Boyd County in April when a wagon trip back to Rowan would have been difficult. She laid at rest for 112 years in Sexton Cemetery, Pigeon Roost, Boyd County, Kentucky before being reunited with her husband's grave in Rowan County. May she rest in peace.

Anna Sanders McBrayer & The Missing Tombstone

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2010

Yes for the moment Anna Sanders McBrayer's tombstone is classified as missing. It proves the extreme importance and value of all those volunteer hours to document row by row readings of cemeteries and the power of the photograph.


In the late 1960's I was utilizing polaroid film. It was in the early years of my genealogical quests and

I did not date the photograph. But we estimate that it was taken between 1968 - 1974. I clearly remember standing in Sexton Cemetery on Pigeon Roost, Boyd County, Kentucky when I took the picture of the stone. We commented that someday it would be nice to repair the stone as it lay on the ground. We were visiting from out of state and time ticked on.

In the mid 1970's the Kentucky Historical Society organized a state wide cemetery reading project. Evelyn Scyphers Jackson spear headed the project in Boyd County, Kentucky. She and her volunteers did a row by row reading of cemeteries in Boyd County, Kentucky. Her field notes for Sexton Cemetery are dated 1976 with updates dated 1977. Anna Sanders McBrayer's tombstone appears on the list. Thus the tombstone was still in the cemetery in 1976.

Working in the genealogy department of the Boyd County Library, in 1999, I created a master cemetery database with the goal to put it on line to assist patrons. With the wonderful help of Michael Fleming and Carol Lovitt we entered all of the recorded cemetery data from the 1970's project. That alone was a daunting task. Anna Sanders McBrayer's entry from the 1977 reading is in the database.

In 2004, as part of the Boyd County Fiscal Court Cemetery Board, we were facing another daunting and now ongoing task. With the advent of digital photography I was able to start photographing each and every stone in cemeteries without the cost of film development. One of the first cemeteries to be digitized was Sexton Cemetery. You now can access the Master database online at the Boyd County Library or visit the library to view any of the digitized cemeteries at the computer stations located in the genealogy department.

While I explained to anyone that listened the importance of updating the cemetery database including new burials, I also pointed out the importance of the new project because of damaged or lost stones. Never did I dream that the lost tombstone would involve my children's 3rd great grandmother.

With recent new genealogical discoveries about the McBrayer family, I turned to the digitized 2004 Sexton Cemetery photographs to provide a descendant a copy. Anna is not there! Thus between 1977 and 2004 something may have happened to the stone. My team methodically shot each stone in the cemetery but mistakes do happen. The cemetery lays on a point surrounded by woods. It is maintained by boys incarcerated at the Hack Estep Home each summer. Thus the stone may have been moved or because it was broken grass and time could have embedded it. It is time to pay the cemetery another visit, taking along a probe, BarPak and base frame. I am optimistic that we will find the stone.

Anna aka Anne and Annie in records was born 6 March 1807 in Kentucky. She was the daughter of Jacob and Sarah Sanders. Anna married James R. McBrayer 7 July 1823 in Floyd County, Kentucky. Sometime between 1839 and 1842 they settled in Lawrence County, Kentucky. In 1844 they purchased land from William C. Carter on what is known as Four Mile. The deed is filed in Carter County, Kentucky. The land is now part of Boyd County, Kentucky.

The McBrayer's had at least 10 children. Three of her sons served in the Civil War. William Parks McBrayer was with Company G, 45th Mounted Infantry and Solomon served in Company D of the 39th Kentucky Infantry along with brother Lewis Parker McBrayer. In August 1863 her husband, James R. McBrayer signed the Oath of Allegiance stating that he would support the constitution of the United States and the constitution of Kentucky and would not give aid to the Rebellion or against the government.

The family moved to Rowan County, Kentucky after 1875. James R. died 5 January 1880. He is buried in what is called Hoggtown Cemetery aka Turner Cemetery. Hoggtown became a part of Elliottville. The family states that Anna was on a visit in Boyd County when she died 25 April 1889 and because the wagon trip would be long & the roads were muddy, she was buried in the county where she died.

This pioneering lady was a child during the War of 1812, saw the formation of 3 separate counties, survived the Civil War and raised 10 children.

Ambrose Milton McGuire Wore Many Hats

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber
March 2010

My curiosity about Ambrose M. McGuire began when I stumbled across the following Portsmouth Daily Times article 29 May 1896:

"Ambrose M. McGuire, of Grayson, Ky., will publish the life and confessions of James DeWitt, who was recently hung in Carter county for the murder of his wife, Elizabeth. Such literature should be given a wide berth, as there can't be anything entertaining or instructive about it. V. W. X."

This could be a small historical jewel. Many handbills, pamphlets and booklets were locally published after tragedy struck an area here in Eastern Kentucky. Ballads especially tell the local stories and lore. I knew of no such ballad for the the DeWitt Murder. Much has been written about the Dewitt Murder and the last hanging in Carter County, Kentucky in local histories. So I called George Wolfford who had done a wonderful page in one of his publications concerning the Dewitt murder and included a picture of James DeWitt's hanging. Did he know of a publication by Ambrose McGuire? How was Ambrose McGuire involved? It has been some years since Wolfford did research concerning the Dewitt affair and did not remember a booklet or pamphlet nor was he aware of Ambrose Milton McGuire's involvement.

That one little article left me with so many questions. The Dewitt case is well known but no one mentioned Ambrose. A quick look at the 1900 Federal Census shows A. M. McGuire, age 40 a Lawyer along with his wife Jennie and 8 children. This made sense but I could not let it drop. If McGuire was the lawyer involved with either the Dewitt divorce or murder trial why on earth was everyone mum about it? If a lawyer published a piece I should have found an entry in the Library of Congress, OCLC, local libraries. I found no cataloged publication by Ambrose McGuire.

In 1880 Ambrose was 20 years old working on a farm, and living with his parents William and Elizabeth in Carter County. He was not in Law School. I located a Lawyers & Client Bulletin for May 1895, just a few months prior to the Dewitt murder that listed only one lawyer in Grayson: H. D. Gregory. Area newspaper ads indicated that Botts and Poage were also conducting law in that area. But no Ambrose McGuire.

By 1902 Ambrose McGuire is selling Singer Sewing Machines in Grayson. He states in his ad in the Carter Bugle 17 Jan 1902 that he has been selling the machines for 3 years. Thus 3 years after the Dewitt murder and the announcement that he is going to publish the Dewitt case he has changed occupations.

Something had dramatically changed in McGuire's life. Nearly giving up on the idea of a book publication I turned to our local library and the Evelyn S. Jackson Vertical File Collection. There I found several grainy, old copied pages of what appears to be a large newspaper article. Not an original, not dated, no name of where published but it does include a portrait of the murderer. James Powers pointed out that the layout looks like it was copied from someone's scrapbook. It was probably given to ESJ for her files. By now I have involved all the library staff and we do concur that this is an article not a publication as I envisioned. But it does seem to indicate that McGuire was involved with the events of the Dewitt case.

"MET HIS DOOM! ...Jas. DeWitt...Sheriff Castle Sprung the Lever...HIS FULL BIOGRAPHY AND CONFESSION....James DeWitt was swung into eternity at 12:35 this afternoon."

Thus while we don't have the author I now can ascertain this was written 21 May 1896. The article goes into detail about how DeWitt met his wife and how they had moved back and forth from Rowan County to Carter County during their marriage. Several columns into the article is found the following testimony supposedly given directly from DeWitt:

"...Grayson...I had gone to see about my divorce suit. She [Elizabeth nee DeWitt daughter of William DeWitt*] threatened my life and followed me to town. She had a talk with me in the road near A. M. McGuire's..."

The article continues and is clipped in several pieces on the copy available. Finally mid section of the "scraps" is the following:

"The following is the life and confession of James DeWitt, who was hanged today, at Grayson. The statements herein were made by him in April, 1896 in the jail at Grayson, in the presence of A. M. McGuire, Charles Scott and others, and is the only authentic confession of DeWitt."

At this writing I have gone through every available local microfilm copy to identify where this particular article was printed without success. There were many articles in papers across the United States that announced the hanging but none contained the photograph nor the confessions as written in this particular piece.

There is no indication that Ambrose McGuire attended law school, at this writing. Ambrose did attend a large local reunion in Olive Hill, Kentucky in September 1904 where he was "cut" by George Ash "as a result of an old grudge." That little tidbit made the Mt. Sterling Advocate. In 1906 Ambrose and his wife Jennie received a loan from Singer Sewing Machine. He mortgaged two small tracts of land for the funds [Carter County Deed book Z-68]. Ambrose is still selling Sewing machines in Carter County in 1910 but has a new wife Estelena along with 3 more children. The census enumerator put down that he had been married 4 times.

Ambrose Milton McGuire and wife Estelena moved to Scioto County, Ohio where several more children were born. He gives his occupation in 1920 as a Grocery Store Merchant. Moon shining was prevalent in Appalachia during this time and some that ran small stores struggled to make a profit and resorted by stepping over the line. The Portsmouth Times reported 20 February 1924 that Ambrose McGuire also known as L. C. McGuire of Lakeside had been arrested in a raid. The officers claimed they dug up half a dozen full half pints near a hog pen on the McGuire property. Bottles and jugs were also found around the house and barn. The article indicates that he had been arrested before "when moonshine was found in a machine on his place" but he had not been convicted in that case. McGuire did not curtail his dealings for a small article appeared again 12 April 1927 stating that a New Boston Man was under arrest "giving the name of Ambrose McGuire" once again for possession of Moonshine.

Apparently McGuire had enough with the grocery business because he told the census takers in 1930 that he was a farmer living in Vernon Township. Tragedy struck the family in January 1932 when son Reed McGuire was shot and killed at the Buckeye Brick Yard, Scioto Furnace by the watchman. Reed was said to have trespassed along with friends and the law officials stated to Ambrose McGuire that the watchman had fired in self defense.

While his age fluctuates in various census records he celebrated his 74th birthday Anniversary in July 1933. The Portsmouth Times announced that he was the father of 28 children.

Ambrose Milton McGuire died peacefully 7 March 1950 at Wheelersburg, Scioto County, Ohio. His death certificate states that he was a carpenter and house builder. His obituary states he was born 4 July 1859 [Independence Day] in Magoffin County, Kentucky, a son of Will and Elizabeth Coffey McGuire. Besides listing 13 surviving children, Ambrose left 58 grandchildren and 56 great grandchildren. He was buried in Vernon Cemetery.

I will leave the genealogy and debate about his mother's maiden name to descendants doing continued research. Online trees state that William McGuire's wife was Elizabeth Patrick not Elizabeth Coffey.

My journey led me to an article, not a publication, but leaves me still with many questions. Just how involved was Ambrose Milton McGuire in the DeWitt case? Was that particular affair enough to change his course in life? Did he have any law background? What I did find was a man who lived life to his fullest and just a little on the edge.

*James DeWitt was born in Rowan County, Kentucky 7 March 1871 & was said to have lived with his mother in Rowan County, Kentucky until 1888. He married Elizabeth DeWitt daughter of William DeWitt and grand daughter of William Shepherd, according to accounts 18 Jan 1889. Historian Evelyn Jackson stated that "James and William DeWitt were distant relatives."

Women's History Month - Remembering Elizabeth Littlejohn Turner Martin

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber

March is Women's History Month and there are several suggestions for honoring the sung to unsung women in our history. When this year's "Smile For the Camera" suggestion of "Give Their Face A Place" was suggested I immediately thought about Elizabeth Littlejohn Turner Martin. She had so many hurdles to cross, yet those who were still around to remember her told me of her spirit. This one little grainy snap shot shows her happy and even content.

Elizabeth Littlejohn Turner came into this world 9 January 1854. As her life began, her mother's ended. Elizabeth was born in a house at the edge of the Ohio Canal in Baltimore, Fairfield County, Ohio. Her father, John Cunningham Turner was a strong willed, determined miller, standing in the cold Febraury day wondering how he was going to manage with nine children to care for now that his wife Elizabeth Littlejohn Turner had passed away.

Elizabeth played by the canal bank and when four her father remarried, widow Jennette Ward Poff. Within a very short time, John C. Turner, went to California leaving Elizabeth with her step mother, siblings & half siblings.

When older sister, Caroline Amelia married Henry Goddard Ward, a known horse trainer, Elizabeth traveled to Versailles, Kentucky in the heart of the Bluegrass, Woodford County. She was promptly enrolled in the Kentucky Female Orphan School at Midway [now Midway college, Kentucky's only woman's college]. The goal was to make the students self-supporting. Pupils did the janitor work, started fires, scrubbed floors and washed their own clothing, helped with cooking, learned sewing and milked the cows on campus. Supported by the Christian Church, Elizabeth received religious training and would have a love for the needle and quilting throughout her life.

John Shouse, Christian Minister, was a strong influence at the school. Listening to sermons and visits from ministers were a common event at school. Elizabeth met and married Christian Minister Henry Foster Martin 3 July 1879. Henry Foster Martin, then a minister in Newton, Scott County, Kentucky wrote their marriage ceremony.

"...To you Henry and Lizzie I deem it necessary to say much in regard to your duties in entering upon this holy estate. During the year of your plighted troth, of this hour you have often thought and prayed. You thoroughly know each other. Your love has daily unfolded until it is a perfect flower...in true marriage, the husband and wife lead parallel lives, converging lives, lives moving in an asymptotes curve...at the same time these lives are so mutually inter dependent that the destruction of one is everything but actual death to the other...keeping this in view the yoke of marriage becomes a silken leash which never galls, never provokes resistance...Do you Lizzie, in the presence of God...take Henry...Do you promise by the help of God to be to him, a dutiful and faithful wife, aiding him in his responsible labors as a preacher in God's word and a servant of the church..."

John S. Shouse signed the marriage bond and performed the ceremony.

By 1880 the family which now included little John Shouse Martin, had migrated from the edge of the Bluegrass into Eastern Kentucky, Bath County. A year later the family moved to Farmers, Rowan County, Kentucky where they helped build the new Christian Church. A minister's pay is small and Henry Foster Martin began working as a superintendent at the Freestone Quarries when not behind the pulpit. He entertained his congregation and growing family of 6 children with guitar and dulcimer. Lizzie cared for her children and graciously played hostess to the congregation and town of Farmers.

One can only wonder how Lizzie and her husband handled explanations that they were not related to the John Martin of the well known Martin - Tolliver Feud in 1884. The town marshal of Farmers was handed an order to go to Winchester to get John Martin who had recently been arrested for killing a Tolliver. As the train pulled into the station at Farmers, just a few short doors from the Henry Foster Martin abode, John Martin, shackled and handcuffed, was shot and killed by the Tolliver faction.

Lizzie kept up appearances and by 1900 her husband and son John Shouse Martin were on another adventure. They decided to try their hand at merchandising, calling the company H.F. Martin & Son. With Elizabeth's education, they promptly appointed her as bookkeeper, adding to her already chore filled days. She undoubtedly had more than one conversation pointing out the mounting debts that the new business was incurring while purchasing goods. Among the concerns that they owed money to were Kitchen Whitt & Company and Crum & Fields both of Ashland. The business included merchandise consisting of dry goods, groceries, boots, shoes, notions, china and jewelry. Farmers was a small community and could not support such a concern. It quickly closed leaving the family to pay off the debts.

When Henry Foster Martin died in early 1905, Elizabeth Littlejohn Turner Martin once again squared her shoulders to face new tomorrows. She handled the debts, managed to go camping with family, traveled to Nelson County, Virginia and spent time with her children.

October 10, 1918 Lizzie's 2nd born son Henry Turner Martin wrote from Jellico, Tennessee "...all churches and public gathering places of every kind are closed here because of the flu...we were in a pretty severe train wreck Sat...we did not get a scratch..coming home..." I am sure the family must have felt relief that he was not hurt in the train incident. Home he came to his wife in Carter County, bringing with him the dreaded influenza. The flu developed into Menengitis and Henry Turner Martin died on the 27th. Elizabeth and her family climbed Pine Hill in Morehead for the 2nd time that decade to bury him beside her husband.

In the autumn of her years, among her family, her quilts and her family Elizabeth Littlejohn Turner Martin had a joyous family reunion:

"Ashland, KY., Oct 19, 1933 AP - Mrs. Henry Martin...step-brother, Henry Poff, Fairmont, Ind., were reunited here after a separation of 40 years. when they played together, as school children 60 years ago in Versailles, KY., little did they realize the reunion they had here would be so difficult to bring about...Her step-brother married and settled in Fairmont. He often expressed a desire to see his sister but in the hustle and bustle of living lost complete trace of her. During the past summer, while driving through the Bluegrass section, he made inquiries about her at Versailles without success. Returning home, he acted upon the suggestion of his wife and wrote the school at Midway, which gave him information that led to his finding his sister. The reunion was held here at the home of J. S. Martin..."

Elizabeth settled, in her later years, with daughter Francis Olive Martin Hagaman in St. Albin's, West Virginia. I am told that she enjoyed matching her quilt materials and sewing until the very end. Her life began and ended with challenges. Elizabeth Littlejohn Turner Martin died 3 November 1936 from Meylitis and Encephalitis. The family laid her at rest in Pine Hill Cemetery, Morehead, Rowan County, Kentucky where the "silken leash" of marriage continues to be honored and the tombstone honors their love of God with an open Bible.