California Biographies Mendocino and Lake Counties, California Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California With Biographical Sketches History by Aurelius O. Carpenter And Percy H. Millberry Illustrated, Complete In One Volume Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1914 STEPHEN BYRON MARTIN.� The first call for volunteers in the Union army at the opening of the Civil war found Mr. Martin eager to respond. It is significant of the patriotic spirit of the family that not only he, but also five of his brothers, gave courageous service to their country in time of need. Previous to the Civil war he had lived principally in Illinois, where he was born near St. Mary's Mission, Edgar county, January 6, 1837, the third in order of birth in a family numbering nine children, seven sons and two daughters. The parents, Charles K. and Sarah (Basham) Martin, were natives, respectively, of Breckinridge county, Ky., and Botetourt county, Va., and became early settlers of Illinois, where both remained until death. The spirit of patriotism possessed by the sons came as an inheritance from their father, who was a brave soldier in the Black Hawk war. Few advantages brightened for Stephen Byron Martin the drudgery of toil on the home farm in the years of his boyhood. At times he attended school in a cabin with a puncheon floor and slab benches, wholly destitute of equipment considered a necessity in schools of the present generation. At the outbreak of the Rebellion he was employed in Burlington, Iowa, and when the first call came for troops he enlisted under Captain Streator in Company E, First Iowa Infantry, for three months of service. During this time he took part in the battle of Wilson creek, where General Lyons was killed. After nearly four months of active service he was mustered out at St. Louis. Returning to Edgar county, two months later he volunteered in Company K, Thirty-fourth Illinois Infantry, and went to the front with the commission of first lieutenant. Among his principal engagements were those of Shiloh, Stone River and Chicamauga. After the last named battle he was detailed and placed in command of a guard of the First Ohio Infantry, v/hose officers had been captured by the enemy. Under his leadership the guard conveyed ammunition from headquarters to Chattanooga and Chicka- mauga. In the battle of Stone river he had been wounded in the right side by a shell and after a time he became so troubled by the injury that in 1863 he resigned on account of physical disability. For some time after leaving the army he remained in poor health, but gradually overcame the effects of the wound and regained his former rugged physical condition. The following years were spent in Missouri and Kansas, where he had various unfortunate experiences in farming and met with not a little hardship and privation. Coming to California in 1885, Mr. Martin engaged in lumbering in Humboldt county. During 1887 he came to Mendocino county and took up timber land at Half-way House, where he remained until 1890. For ten years he operated a ranch eight miles northwest of Willits, and when he finally sold that property he retired from ranching and established his home in Willits. His marriage was solemnized in Holt county, Mo., and united him with Miss Jennie F. Minton, who was born and reared in that county, and is a woman of earnest Christian character and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her parents, John and Mary Ann (Noble) Minton, were natives, respectively, of Alabama and Pike county, Mo. The father, being taken from Alabama to Tennessee at an early age, removed from the latter state to Missouri in young manhood and settled in Franklin county on a farm, but afterward followed the same occupation in Holt county, where he died. His widow spent her last days with Mrs. Martin in California and died at the age of ninety-one. Mr. and Mrs. Martin were the parents of four children, three of whom attained maturity, namely: Mrs. Daisy Viola Moore, of Willits ; John Wesley, also a resident of this town ; and Clarence Byron, who remains with his parents. In fraternal relations Mr. Martin is a demitted Mason and a member of the Loyal Order of Moose, while in politics he is a Republican of progressive tendencies.