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WPA Interviews: Martin, Orlando -- Norah (Coats)
INTERVIEW, 1938, Mr. Orlando Martin who lives on a farm between Halsey and Peoria in Linn County. Mr. Martin related the following facts concerning his life and his family history.
I was born in Benton County, Oregon, twelve miles back of Corvallis and six miles south of Philomath, in 1856. My father's name was Jacob Martin and he was born in Pennsylvania. My mother's name was Eveline Martin and she was born in Indiana. They were married when they came to Oregon in the year 1847 and were already the parents of a number of children. One child, Daniel is supposed to have died on the trip to Oregon. Altogether my parents had twelve children. Seven of them were boys and five were girls.
Their names were:
Of the above named children the informant, Orlando Martin, and the youngest of the family, Rose Eveline Martin, are the only ones still living.
(There was some dispute between the informant and his wife as to whether all the above grew to maturity. The informant contended that he had seen and known all of his brothers and sisters. The wife contended that her mother-in-law had plainly stated that one child, Daniel Martin, had died of the rickets while on the road to Oregon.) "All of my brothers and sisters born before 1847 were brought with my parents from the east. That is, up to Harriet, who was born in 1846. The rest were born either in Benton or Polk Counties, Oregon. Miles was born a few weeks after the family arrived in Oregon. Rose Eveline lives in Chicago.
My brother Will (William Martin) taught school in Benton county nine successive years in one single school. He was much liked as a teacher and often wished to resign but the directors would not hear of his leaving.
That school was somewhere over towards Monroe or Bellfountain. I do not know its exact locality.
My mother, Eveline Park Martin, and my father Jacob Martin were in the very early part of the century. Father on March 20, 1811 and mother on October 27, 1815. I do not know the date of their marriage.
My father, Jacob Martin was the Captain of the train which brought them to Oregon. The way was hard and difficult but I have never heard of any special trouble that they had with the Indians or otherwise. I have often heard them remark upon the roughness of the way, and how milk, drawn fresh in the morning and hung on the wagon, would be churned into butter before they stopped at night. In that train were some people who later became prominent in the early settlements. Of names told me by my father I can remember:
My father was a particular friend of Colonel Nesmith.
The family first settled in Benton County as already stated. There my father took up land and first built a log house. A few years later he built a rather nice house of sawed lumber. About the year 1868 or 1869, when I was about nine years of age my father traded his eight hundred acres in Benton County to men named Hayes and Hinkle for a farm in Polk County five miles north of Independence. That farm in Polk County consisted of about four hundred acres.
However, I am running ahead of my story. While living in Benton County we had for neighbors the Irvines, the Skiptons, the Morses, Hendersons, Currys, and a man named Quivy or Quivey who later became a prominent newspaper man at Corvallis. There was also a man named Walker who became a member of the Legislature. He had two sons, James Walker and Jess Walker. These two sons of Walkers married two of my sisters. James Walker lived to be ninety-five years old. He died about a year ago. Manley Curry was an especial friend of my father's. There was also a family by the name of Stockton and one by the name of Shipley. A daughter of the Shipley family, Mrs. Clarence Lurwell, now lives at Brownsville, Linn County.
Near Philomath where we first lived the country was still quite wild. We always kept two or three hunting dogs to chase wolves and coyotes. When we butchered hogs the cougars would often come about the house of nights. My older brothers would get up and take their guns and try to shoot the cougars but were usually unsuccessful as in the darkness they feared to kill their own dogs.
On father's farm in Polk County we had a very large orchard. Father built a big cider press, supporting it between two tree trunks and there he used to press out large amounts of cider. He also boiled down much of the cider and made apple butter.
I was married in 1893, to Norah Coats, at the town of Independence in Polk County. We have had five children. Of these one is dead and four are living. My sons are William and Otis Martin. My daughters were Myrtle Martin (Mrs. Sylvester).
Fay Martin.
Ruth Martin.
Esther Martin. She married a man named Wallace but is now dead.
In crossing the mountains I have often heard my parents say that they were forced to let the cattle and horses down or pull them up with hand windlasses. They came by way of the Barlow route across the Cascades. I have no real data on the immigration of that year but full details can probably be secured from Dewey Hill of Independence. He knows all the history of the crossing of the plains by our train." (Mr. Martin is quite a vigorous man for his age, but seems to be vague in certain memories and his family declare that he is rapidly becoming childish with age. He states that he has been a farmer all of his life, and he still takes an active part in the farm work in so far as his strength permits. He is a member of the Halsey Church of Christ and besides that boast of his boyhood membership in the Good Templars Lodge of Eola.) (Family records produced for inspection seem to indicate that "Grandma" (Mrs. Eveline Park Martin) was born in Montgomery County, Indiana.)
Questions asked of Mrs. Orlando Martin, wife of the above informant produced the following information:
My maiden name was Norah Coats. I was born in Texas County, Missouri, May 10, 1880. I came to Oregon with my parents in 1892. Was married to Orlando Martin at Independence, Oregon in 1893." (When comment was made on her apparent youth at marriage, she replied, "Yes, I wasn't old enough to wash dishes.")
The following was added by Elsie Youngberg.
Volume I, Oregon Donation Land Claims states:
Copyright © 2000 Patricia Dunn. All rights reserved. This transcription may not be reproduced in any media without the express written permission by the author. Permission has been given by the Transcriber to publish on the LGS web site.
| Owner of original | Transcribed by Patricia Dunn |
| Linked to | WPA Interviews for Linn County Oregon; Norah COATS Martin; Orlando Martin |
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