Clay D. Martin

As printed in 1902

CLAY D. MARTIN.

Clay D. Martin, who is engaged in general farming in Berlin township, was born in Fayette county. Missouri, November 24, 1863, and is the youngest of the three children of John A. and Elizabeth (Lloyd) Martin. The father was born and reared in Pennsylvania, and removing to Missouri there engaged in farming. His wife was a native of Kentucky, and there spent her girlhood days. She was afforded excellent educational privileges and was graduated from Louisville College. She belonged to a very prominent family of that state and was a lady of marked culture and refinement. She died in Kansas when about sixty-eight years of age. In the family were two-sons and a daughter, the latter being Laura, the wife of Sterling Curry, a farmer of Vernon county, Missouri.

Mr. Martin, of this review, was reared in the west and imbibed the progressive spirit which has led to the wonderful development of that portion of the country. His youth was passed in Missouri and Kansas, and his education was acquired in the Montevallo schools in Vernon county, Missouri. In 1889 he came to Ohio, making his way direct to Berlin township, Knox county. Here he has a small farm and is successfully engaged in the cultivation of the cereals best adapted to 'this climate. In summer the green fields give promise of golden harvests and the neat and thrifty air which pervades the place indicates the careful superT.sion of the owner.

On the 28th of April, 1887, in Missouri, Mr. Ivlartin led to the marriage altar Miss Elizabeth Leedy, a daughter of Rev. Isaac and Nancy (Bostater) Leedy. Their union has been blessed with four living children: Cora, Pearl. Ollie and Martha. They also lost one child in infancy. They have a pleasant home in Berlir, township and delight to entertain their many friends. They hold membership in the Brethren church, and Mr. Martin belongs to the Grange. He has always been a Democrat, and on that ticket he was elected township trustee in 190 1. There have been no exciting chapters in his life history, but his career illustrates what can be accomplished through determination and strong purpose. Depending on his own resources he has gained a place among the substantial and leading young farmers of his adopted county.

As printed in The Biographical record of Knox County, Ohio : to which is added an elaborate compendium of national biography (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.