John L. Martin
John L. Martin, a native of Chittenden County, Vermont, emigrated to Ohio to 1837, and located at Hamilton, Butler County in the Spring of 1846. He descends, on his father's side, from a Scotch family, who emigrated to Vermont—then disputed territory as between New York and New Hampshire—about the year 1770. His father, James Martin, born in 1772, was a captain in the Vermont volunteers at the battle of Plattsburg, September 11, 1814. The Vermonters, on that occasion, were, strictly speaking, volunteers for the governor of the State, Martin Chittenden, was such a determined Federalist he refused to issue his executive proclamation ordering out the State militia. But the hardy sons of Vermont, despite the governor's opposition, shouldered their muskets, crossed the lake in sloops and bateaux to the scene of conflict, and were largely instrumental in achieving the victory which practically settled the controversy as to the supremacy of Lake Champlain. His mother was from a Connecticut family of the name of Campbell, somewhat conspicuous in Revolutionary annals. The head of the family was one of the three hundred defenders of "Fort Forty," a Wyoming, Pennsylvania, nearly all of whom were massacred by Tories and Indians, under the Tory leader, Colonel John Butler, in 1778.
The subject of this sketch was born at Burlington Falls, now Winooski City, January 4, 1814. He enjoyed the usual education advantages furnished by the district schools of that day, until after having served an apprenticeship at millwrighting he entered a school of mathematics and civil engineering at Burlington, under the tuition of John Johnson, Esq., then the surveyor-general of the State of Vermont. Here he remained one year. At the expiration of that time—Spring of 1837—Edwin F. Johnson, son of the above, who then held the office of chief engineers for the survey of the New York and Erie Railroad, which, even at that early day, had been projected and State aid voted by the Legislature. Young Martin was to have had a subordinate place in the corps, but before the surveys were actually commenced the financial embarrassments of that memorable period came suddenly upon the country, resulting in universal bank suspensions, and paralyzing every public enterprise. But the growing West was an inviting field of adventure, and thither he went.
After a stay of a few months at Cleveland, he engaged in the service of the State on the Ohio Canal south of Columbus. From 1839 until he came to Hamilton, in 1846, he was engaged in building flouring-mills through the central portion of the state, from Toledo to Portsmouth. His first engagement here was the rebuilding of the Erwin, Hunter & Erwin Mill, after its partial destruction by fire, in the Spring of that year. In the Fall following he went to Wisconsin to locate a hydraulic improvement to the Milwaukee River, north of that city. Returning from Wisconsin, he engineered the repairs to the old toll-bridge, which was well-nigh swept away by the great flood in the Miami, January 1, 1847. "The old bridge" was one the earliest public improvements in Butler County, and was finally washed away by the great flood of 1866. In the Fall of 1847 he contracted for the building and equipment of a steam flouring-mill in the city of New Orleans, of the capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels per day. The engines and cast-iron machinery for the mill were built in Cincinnati; the wood and timber, ready-worked and in readiness to be set up in at the large warehouse for which they were designed, were prepared at Hamilton, the whole outfit loaded on barges at Cincinnati and towed to New Orleans. Within ten weeks from the time of reaching its destination the mill was in complete and successful operation, and the skilled workmen employed in its construction were homeward bound. In the Winter of 1848-49 Mr. Martin contracted with Calvin Riley to build and equip—furnishing all machinery and materials—the paper-mill now owned and operated by Messrs. Beckett & Laurie. Mr. Riley had previously had some experience in the manufacture of paper at Cuyahoga Falls. While the mill was being built, under that contract, Riley engaged in produce speculations, in the northern part of the State, which were attended with heavy losses, consequent on the declining markets in the Spring of 1859, and he was thereby compelled to abandon the enterprise. Meantime the contractor had gone forward with the work, incurring an expenditure of over six thousand dollars, no part of it having been advanced by Riley. All he could do was to transfer his interest in the property. Thereupon the firm of Beckett, Martin & Rigdon was instituted, and the mill carried forward to an early completion. Shortly after the mill went into operation a disastrous flood swept away the hydraulic head-gates and long lines of embankment. More than two months' time was expended in repairing the works, during which time all the mills were idle. The following Summer Mr. Martin sold his interest in the mill to his partner, William Becket. In January, 1849, he was married to Sarah Ann Potter, youngest daughter, and only child of a second marriage, of Samuel M. Potter, a well-known and highly respected citizen, who resided in the vicinity of Trenton, Butler County, from about the year 1805 until the time of his death, in 1842.
In the Spring of 1852 the Middletown Hydraulic was projected. The State had just then contracted for the building of a new feeder dam at the old site, two miles north of the village. This together with the rights reserved to Abner Enoch, the original proprietor, as far back a 1826, when the canal was located—which rights the Hydraulic Company secured by purchase—rendered the creation of valuable water power at that point at once practicable. Mr. Martin became at once identified with the development of the works. In the Spring of 1853 he formed a partnership with Joseph Sutphin. Thereupon they secured a lease of power from the Hydraulic Company with the exclusive privilege, for a term of years, of erecting a flouring-mill at that point. The firm continued in the joint ownership of the mill till 1873. They were also engaged in the manufacture of paper with the Messrs. Wrenns, now Sutphin & Wrenn. The flouring-mill firm is now Joseph Sutphin & Son.
In 1858 Mr. Martin received the Republican nomination for the State Board of Public Works. He was elected to that office in October of that year, and his term of office expired in February, 1862. The division of the public works assigned specially to his charge was the Miami and Erie Canal, and, for a part of his term, the national Road, or that portion of it in Ohio which many years before had been ceded by the general government to the State. In June, 1861, the entire public works of the State was leased to a private company by authority of an act of the Legislature passed at the previous session, for the term of ten years. But before the expiration of the term the lease was, by joint resolution of the Legislature, extended for an additional term of ten years. The lease was, however, surrendered in June, 1878, three years before the expiration of the term, on the ground, as was alleged by the lessees, of its forfeiture on the part of the State by reason of its having authorized the cutting off and abandonment of the Hamilton Basin. The act of the State authorizing the abandonment provided that the consent of the lessees should first be obtained. This, however, was not done, but the city took forcible possession by filling up the channel at its entrance to the main line of canal in the night time, so as to prevent injunction proceedings. Thereupon the lessees, after notice, abandoned the entire works to the State. The advantages that were to result to the city—as predicted by the advocates of the measure—from the filling up of the basin, even after an expenditure of near seven thousand dollars, seem not to have been realized. It was, to say the least, a measure of doubtful expediency.
In August, 1862, Mr. Martin was appointed by President Lincoln collector of internal revenue for the third district of Ohio, comprising the counties of Montgomery, Preble, Butler, and Warren. He served in that capacity until September, 1866, when General Van Derveer succeeded him, under appointment of Andrew Johnson. During his incumbency of the office of collector he resided in Dayton, where the principal office of the district was located. He also held a commission from Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, issued under an act of Congress, passed March 3, 1863, as receiver of commutation money on account of exemption from the draft, as authorized by that act. During the pendency of the draft over 2,600 person commuted, paying the treasury of the nation $80,000 in the third district alone. After his retirement from the office of collector he, in the Spring of 1867, returned to Hamilton, taking the presidency of the Second National Bank. He remained in that position until January, 1870. At this time, through the agency of Cincinnati patties, stimulated by the speculative activities in the distilling and wholesale liquor interests, a majority of the stock of the bank changed ownership, Mr. Martin retiring, and A.C. Sands becoming president. One year thereafter, financial embarrassments having depressed those interests, and the large defalcation having just then occurred in the office of county treasurer, reorganization of the bank was deemed necessary. Mr. Martin was urged to again take the presidency of the bank, which he declined. The stock that one year before had commanded a premium of fifteen per cent was now offered at par. The bank was, however, reorganized under the skillful and highly successful management which still continues.
In March, 1871, Mr. Martin moved to his farm, one and a half miles east of the city. Here he continued to reside until the death of his wife, which happened after a short illness, in April, 1873. Being left quite alone, he returned to the city, where he lived in the family of his brother-in-law, Ezra Potter. In September, 1874, he married his second wife, Mrs. Mary C. Roosa, who for many years had been a resident of Lebanon, Warren Country, Ohio. He once again took up his residence in Hamilton in August, 1875, where he now lives. His family consists of himself, wife, and son, Edwin C. Martin, who was born in Hamilton in February, 1850, and he now lives in Richmond, Indiana, engaged in the business of journalism. A second son, who died in infancy, February, 1859, was born at Middletown in September, 1858.
From A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County Ohio, With Illustrations and Sketches of its Representative Men and Pioneers, Western Biographical Publishing Company, Cincinnati Ohio, 1882.