Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
NameAnnis NETTLETON 
Birth27 Jun 1800, Augusta, Ontario, Canada1327,587, p 2; date only
Death24 Jun 1886, Rockford, Winnebago, Illinois1327,587, p 4; date only,1347 Age: 85
MemoAged 85 years 11 months 24 days
Burial27 Jun 1886, Lighthouse Cemetery, Nashua, Ogle, Illinois592, date only; buried on her 86th birthday,586,1331, p 4; burial only,1332, p 13; burial only
FatherDaniel NETTLETON (~1769-1832)
MotherDeborah HURLBUT (1775-1836)
Individual Notes
• Her parents being Connecticut people of New England ancestry.598, p 741
• Annis Nettleton is daughter of Daniel, son of Amos I.592, p 10; margin note by Jim Scofield
• “Mother knew but little of her line – only knew of a floating idea of a very wealthy Nettleton back some where whose filthy lucre was yet to make them all rich. What family does not look back to some such mirage? My Grandsire Nettleton [Daniel Nettleton] kept hotel on the present site of Prescott. Mother often attended the bar. In 1812-13 as the English were about to cross the ice for the capture of Ogdensburg Mother distinctly remembered the scene. She served two officers to their drinks before they started. Both fell in the attack before they left the ice – one across the other.
“For fear you have forgotten the courtship scene I must give it. In an evening party at Prescott all the young men were to hold the girls in turn on their laps. John Martin was very shy and dropped each girl until Annis Nettleton came, when he held her as nice as could be. The Martin boys always did know a good thing when they saw it.
“In mother’s home was but the one son, Uncle Moses, and a lot of girls, so mother became an expert in many boyish lines. Could row passengers across the wide St. Lawrence with ease, could ride any colt they would bring. She was in the “sampler” business up in G. Could to old age make a fancy letter in worsted. When it came to carding, spinning and weaving your grandmother led the hosts.
“In her prime my mother for her limited advantages was clear above the average. Her study of grammar, by the laws of heredity, may account for your skill in its use. [Here I blush modestly.] She took a grammar to school and all went well until it came to “He loves. She loves. They both love,” when she gave up in disgust.”
The young Annis Nettleton doubtless got a lot of thrills out of the War of 1812 from the fact that she lived at Prescott, a town which was the center of considerable war activities. Once the Yankees crossed the river and there was a real smart fight and lots of men were killed and wounded, and they used the tavern her father kept as a hospital. I remember that when I was a small boy my Grandma Martin used to tell me about going into a room in the tavern where they had performed operations, and of their seeing an assortment of dismembered limbs. I can still remember that as a boy I used to picture a pile of arms, legs and heads several feet in height.
[I could now swap yarns with grandma about what I’ve seen in a war hospital, too.]
And I have often wondered about those British officers who were served at the bar by the young Annis Nettleton to their drinks before they started across the ice to attack Ogdensburg. My Uncle Wesley, historian of the scene, wrote “both fell in the attack before they left the ice, one across the other.” My uncle neglected to state, however, whether they fell across each other as a result of the drink grandma served them, or whether they were laid low by Yankee bullets.
But there were other soldiers that the young girl bartender served to drinks, “and thereby hangs a tale.” It seems that one night she had dreamed of seeing the young man whom she was to marry, for doubtless a century ago, the girls dreamed of matrimony the same as they do in our own unregenerate day. But it happened that this young man was unknown to her, she had never seen the face before. A day or so later a party of British soldiers entered and came swaggering up to the bar. [I believe that soldiers always “swagger” when they approach a bar.] But among them the young bar maid instantly recognized one as the very one she had dreamed about whom she was to marry. He turned out to be one John Martin.
[My sister Lillian has strongly protested against putting in these archives that our beloved Grandma Martin has been a “bar maid,” when a girl. So it behooves me to explain that in those Colonial days every hotel had a bar and practically everybody was a patron. Personally I do not consider that it was any reflection on the young girl’s character, for it was doubtless a household duty that all the girls in the family took a turn at. The fact that three of her sons became Methodist preachers, and that all her children were devout Christians is sufficient proof to me that there is no call to look upon her services behind the bar as a family skeleton.]
John evidently saw that his coming had caused a flutter with the pretty bar maid – that he had made a “killing.” So doubtless he had a growing thirst for which he found it necessary to take frequent trips to the tavern to quench.
[My sister Luna has today – March 25, 1924 – remarked to me: “Now, Riley, I don’t think you should have written that the way you have. Our relatives reading that in after years may get the idea that Grandpa Martin was a drinking man. Of course we know different, but the coming generations won’t and they may think that what you have written is true.”
So, for the benefit of Martins of future generations, the above allusion to our grandfather’s “growing thirst” is only a figment of my imagination.]
But it was not until three years after the close of the war that John Martin and Annis Nettleton were married. How different it was in those days and a hundred years later. That the young girl, who was destined to become our grandmother, should have fallen in love with a uniform is taken as a matter of course by us today, who have so vividly before our minds the days of our own recent war, and the feminine infatuation for anything in uniform. The girls and their rookie lovers in “our war” never thought of waiting until the war was over before getting married, and before our boys rode away to France war brides were thicker than June bugs on a summer night.592, pp 5-11
• This young woman - Annis Nettleton - was strong enough to row a boatful of people over the St. Lawrence, so that says something about her! Her grandfather, Amos Nettleton, had served on both sides of the Revolution War (many people had changes of opinion about the War).1346, p 2
• The Nettleton Hotel was also used as a hospital during the war, and Riley, as a young lad, remembers his grandmother speaking of it. The young girl had an indelible memory of the operating room where she once encountered a collection of “dismembered limbs.”1346, p 15
• At the age of 15, Annis was serving as a barmaid in the tavern during the War of 1812. That’s where she met young John Martin. She had dreamed of meeting the man she would marry but did not know what he looked like. She recognized Martin as the lad she had dreamed about.1348
• I did not know the father, but became well acquainted with the mother in later life. Her residence then was with her children in Rockford, Illinois. The traits of character prominent in her earlier days were still in evidence. Even then, she was remarkable for intelligence, vigor and saintliness. She loved the house of God, and communion with His people was her delight.
There were seven children, six sons and one daughter, and the mother’s traits seem to have been, in uncommon measure, inherited by them. They were virile, intellectual, ambitious and God fearing. I think that every one enlisted under the banner of the cross. Three of her boys became preachers, and each, in his own field, attained prominence and large usefulness. James was a spiritual evangelistic pastor and an eminent educator; Henry for fifty years served on prominent charges and districts in the great Rock River Conference, John Wesley for years engaged in successful city missionary work.1335, p 21
• Dad’s note: this was your great grandmother whom your dad remembers well. She visited us at Hamline in 1884 to attend graduation of your Uncle Edward. Dad was past 5 years old. Also Dad was taken to Rockford, Ill. in 1886 and saw her on her death-bed.1349
• An Annis [Nettleton] Martin apparently was in possession of some of [Samuel, b 1807] Bass's documents. The brother-in-law referred to, Freeman Woodcock, I find to have been the husband of Elizabeth Bass, a sister of Samuel. So far I don't quite understand why Annis had Samuel's papers. Annis was married to a John Martin, I believe.1350
• He had a brother-in-law residing in Ogle County, Illinois near Daysville. Annis Martin in that vicinity has his land titles & many other valuable papers in her possession. He says that his above mention Brother-in-law Freeman Woodcock knows where Annis Martin resides.1350, p 4
• Annis Nettleton is daughter of Daniel, son of Amos I.592, p 10; margin note by Jim Scofield
• “Mother knew but little of her line – only knew of a floating idea of a very wealthy Nettleton back some where whose filthy lucre was yet to make them all rich. What family does not look back to some such mirage? My Grandsire Nettleton [Daniel Nettleton] kept hotel on the present site of Prescott. Mother often attended the bar. In 1812-13 as the English were about to cross the ice for the capture of Ogdensburg Mother distinctly remembered the scene. She served two officers to their drinks before they started. Both fell in the attack before they left the ice – one across the other.
“For fear you have forgotten the courtship scene I must give it. In an evening party at Prescott all the young men were to hold the girls in turn on their laps. John Martin was very shy and dropped each girl until Annis Nettleton came, when he held her as nice as could be. The Martin boys always did know a good thing when they saw it.
“In mother’s home was but the one son, Uncle Moses, and a lot of girls, so mother became an expert in many boyish lines. Could row passengers across the wide St. Lawrence with ease, could ride any colt they would bring. She was in the “sampler” business up in G. Could to old age make a fancy letter in worsted. When it came to carding, spinning and weaving your grandmother led the hosts.
“In her prime my mother for her limited advantages was clear above the average. Her study of grammar, by the laws of heredity, may account for your skill in its use. [Here I blush modestly.] She took a grammar to school and all went well until it came to “He loves. She loves. They both love,” when she gave up in disgust.”
The young Annis Nettleton doubtless got a lot of thrills out of the War of 1812 from the fact that she lived at Prescott, a town which was the center of considerable war activities. Once the Yankees crossed the river and there was a real smart fight and lots of men were killed and wounded, and they used the tavern her father kept as a hospital. I remember that when I was a small boy my Grandma Martin used to tell me about going into a room in the tavern where they had performed operations, and of their seeing an assortment of dismembered limbs. I can still remember that as a boy I used to picture a pile of arms, legs and heads several feet in height.
[I could now swap yarns with grandma about what I’ve seen in a war hospital, too.]
And I have often wondered about those British officers who were served at the bar by the young Annis Nettleton to their drinks before they started across the ice to attack Ogdensburg. My Uncle Wesley, historian of the scene, wrote “both fell in the attack before they left the ice, one across the other.” My uncle neglected to state, however, whether they fell across each other as a result of the drink grandma served them, or whether they were laid low by Yankee bullets.
But there were other soldiers that the young girl bartender served to drinks, “and thereby hangs a tale.” It seems that one night she had dreamed of seeing the young man whom she was to marry, for doubtless a century ago, the girls dreamed of matrimony the same as they do in our own unregenerate day. But it happened that this young man was unknown to her, she had never seen the face before. A day or so later a party of British soldiers entered and came swaggering up to the bar. [I believe that soldiers always “swagger” when they approach a bar.] But among them the young bar maid instantly recognized one as the very one she had dreamed about whom she was to marry. He turned out to be one John Martin.
[My sister Lillian has strongly protested against putting in these archives that our beloved Grandma Martin has been a “bar maid,” when a girl. So it behooves me to explain that in those Colonial days every hotel had a bar and practically everybody was a patron. Personally I do not consider that it was any reflection on the young girl’s character, for it was doubtless a household duty that all the girls in the family took a turn at. The fact that three of her sons became Methodist preachers, and that all her children were devout Christians is sufficient proof to me that there is no call to look upon her services behind the bar as a family skeleton.]
John evidently saw that his coming had caused a flutter with the pretty bar maid – that he had made a “killing.” So doubtless he had a growing thirst for which he found it necessary to take frequent trips to the tavern to quench.
[My sister Luna has today – March 25, 1924 – remarked to me: “Now, Riley, I don’t think you should have written that the way you have. Our relatives reading that in after years may get the idea that Grandpa Martin was a drinking man. Of course we know different, but the coming generations won’t and they may think that what you have written is true.”
So, for the benefit of Martins of future generations, the above allusion to our grandfather’s “growing thirst” is only a figment of my imagination.]
But it was not until three years after the close of the war that John Martin and Annis Nettleton were married. How different it was in those days and a hundred years later. That the young girl, who was destined to become our grandmother, should have fallen in love with a uniform is taken as a matter of course by us today, who have so vividly before our minds the days of our own recent war, and the feminine infatuation for anything in uniform. The girls and their rookie lovers in “our war” never thought of waiting until the war was over before getting married, and before our boys rode away to France war brides were thicker than June bugs on a summer night.592, pp 5-11
• This young woman - Annis Nettleton - was strong enough to row a boatful of people over the St. Lawrence, so that says something about her! Her grandfather, Amos Nettleton, had served on both sides of the Revolution War (many people had changes of opinion about the War).1346, p 2
• The Nettleton Hotel was also used as a hospital during the war, and Riley, as a young lad, remembers his grandmother speaking of it. The young girl had an indelible memory of the operating room where she once encountered a collection of “dismembered limbs.”1346, p 15
• At the age of 15, Annis was serving as a barmaid in the tavern during the War of 1812. That’s where she met young John Martin. She had dreamed of meeting the man she would marry but did not know what he looked like. She recognized Martin as the lad she had dreamed about.1348
• I did not know the father, but became well acquainted with the mother in later life. Her residence then was with her children in Rockford, Illinois. The traits of character prominent in her earlier days were still in evidence. Even then, she was remarkable for intelligence, vigor and saintliness. She loved the house of God, and communion with His people was her delight.
There were seven children, six sons and one daughter, and the mother’s traits seem to have been, in uncommon measure, inherited by them. They were virile, intellectual, ambitious and God fearing. I think that every one enlisted under the banner of the cross. Three of her boys became preachers, and each, in his own field, attained prominence and large usefulness. James was a spiritual evangelistic pastor and an eminent educator; Henry for fifty years served on prominent charges and districts in the great Rock River Conference, John Wesley for years engaged in successful city missionary work.1335, p 21
• Dad’s note: this was your great grandmother whom your dad remembers well. She visited us at Hamline in 1884 to attend graduation of your Uncle Edward. Dad was past 5 years old. Also Dad was taken to Rockford, Ill. in 1886 and saw her on her death-bed.1349
• An Annis [Nettleton] Martin apparently was in possession of some of [Samuel, b 1807] Bass's documents. The brother-in-law referred to, Freeman Woodcock, I find to have been the husband of Elizabeth Bass, a sister of Samuel. So far I don't quite understand why Annis had Samuel's papers. Annis was married to a John Martin, I believe.1350
• He had a brother-in-law residing in Ogle County, Illinois near Daysville. Annis Martin in that vicinity has his land titles & many other valuable papers in her possession. He says that his above mention Brother-in-law Freeman Woodcock knows where Annis Martin resides.1350, p 4
Census
• 1806 Census: Augusta, Grenville, Ontario, Canada.1341
• 1813 Census: Augusta, Grenville, Ontario, Canada.1351
• 1823 Census: Augusta, Grenville, Ontario, Canada. 1 man, 1 woman, 1 son.1343, p 9
• 1840 Census: Washington Pct., Ogle, Illinois. 1111001/001001.1344
• 1850 Census: Nashua, Ogle, Illinois. Age 50, born Canada.603,604
• 1860 Census: Mt. Morris, Ogle, Illinois. Age 61, b Canada W.605
• 1870 Census: Rockford, Winnebago, Illinois. Age 70, b Canada. Living adjacent to son, Philetus.606
• 1870 Census: Ashton, Lee, Illinois. Age 71, b Canada.1345
• 1880 Census: Rockford, Winnebago, Illinois. Age 79, b Canada. Widow. Head. Father b NY; mother b Canada. Listed as Alice Martin [sic].1352
• 1813 Census: Augusta, Grenville, Ontario, Canada.1351
• 1823 Census: Augusta, Grenville, Ontario, Canada. 1 man, 1 woman, 1 son.1343, p 9
• 1840 Census: Washington Pct., Ogle, Illinois. 1111001/001001.1344
• 1850 Census: Nashua, Ogle, Illinois. Age 50, born Canada.603,604
• 1860 Census: Mt. Morris, Ogle, Illinois. Age 61, b Canada W.605
• 1870 Census: Rockford, Winnebago, Illinois. Age 70, b Canada. Living adjacent to son, Philetus.606
• 1870 Census: Ashton, Lee, Illinois. Age 71, b Canada.1345
• 1880 Census: Rockford, Winnebago, Illinois. Age 79, b Canada. Widow. Head. Father b NY; mother b Canada. Listed as Alice Martin [sic].1352
Spouses
Birth29 Mar 1794, Augusta, Ontario, Canada592, p 4; date only,1327,587, p 2; date only
Death29 Aug 1870, Ashton, Lee, Illinois1327,587, p 4; date only Age: 76
Memodied at home of son, Moses Dewitt
BurialLighthouse Cemetery, Nashua, Ogle, Illinois1330,1331, p 4; location H4,598, p 741,201,1332, p 13
OccupationFarmer586
ResidencePrescott, Ontario; Ogle County, IL
FatherJames MARTIN (1766-1838)
MotherHannah BASS (1776-1806)
Individual Notes
• Birthdate of 29 Mar 1794 also based on statement of Philetus Sylvanus Martin: “Sixty years ago the 27th of last March (1904) I made my advent into this world. If I was intended as a birthday present to my father on his 50th birthday I spoiled the program by making my appearance just two days ahead of time.”
• John and Annis (Nettleton) Martin are two of our favorite ancestors. John fought for the British in the War of 1812, thus nailing down the disbarment of his family from the Daughters of the American Revolution. Annis Nettleton was tending bar in her father’s hotel and tavern when a group of British soldiers, including John, came in, and apparently a romance followed.
The Yankees made an attempt to invade Prescott during the War of 1812 and were finally repulsed after considerable bloodshed and losses of life on both sides. The hotel of Annis’ father was used as a hospital. John and Annis were married after the War of 1812. They had six sons, William, James, Henry, Moses, John Wesley and Philetus, and one daughter, Sarah Jane. Henry, James and John Wesley all became Methodist ministers.1333, pp 7-8
• We spent a few hours in the Land record office in Prescott and found no land in the Robinson name until 21 Aug. 1837 when John Martin sold 2 acres, the SW corner of the West1/2 of Lot 18 in Concession 3 to Desire Robinson. Remember John Martin had married Annis Nettleton, a sister of Desire, and was a brother-in-law. He was selling most of his land to a George Lane at this time and was about the time he went to Ogle Co. Ill.1334, p 2
• This [book] told of the founding of the church [St. Paul’s (Methodist) Church in Prescott] in 1830 and listed, among others, the familiar names of John Martin, Adonijah Bass, Joseph Bass and Heman Hurlbut as trustees for the new church.
The church started out as Methodist Episcopal but merged with the British Wesleyan Church. This congregation was loyal to Britain, and during the Rebellion of 1837 it was noted that Adonijah Bass, Joseph Bass and John Martin had “ceased to be members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.” John and his brother Richard, Moses Nettleton, John Bissel and Amasa Wood all set out for Illinois. They were not impressed with the new town of Chicago and pushed on farther west.1333, p 9
• In 1837 John Martin, Nathaniel Brown, Anthony Wood, Phillip Plantz, and Amasa Wood came from Canada to the area. The following year brought Moses Nettleton, Richard Martin, John, Richard, and Daniel McKenney, and John Edmonds came also from Canada.1328, p 365
• The family moved to Ogle county, Illinois, when he [James N. Martin] was fourteen years of age.1335, p 21
• They emigrated with four sons by covered wagon to Ogle County, Ill. in 1838.591, p 1
• It was in 1838 that John and Annis Martin left their home in Canada and came with their five children to Illinois. They came in a covered wagon and their route lay through Chicago, then a straggling frontier town stuck in the mud. It must have been in the summer time when they arrived for Grandma Martin in telling of the trip years afterward to her grandchildren told of gathering wild berries on their way.
When they arrived at Lighthouse and Grandpa Martin pointed out the little log house in the timber that was to be their home our grandma burst out crying and said, “Have I come all the way to this?” It seems that the home they left near Prescott was a fine old homestead, and naturally our dear could not see the whys and wherefores of driving a thousand miles or more and putting up with all the privations and hardships they had endured only to land in a dump like that.592, p 13
• Lighthouse Methodist Church.
Preaching services were held in the first frame house on the prairie built by John Martin in 1839.
Lighthouse Methodist Church is one of the oldest churches in the Rock River Conference and has served the community since 1836.1328, p 365
• 3 separate land acquisitions in Ogle County in 1841 and 1842 of 392 acres.1336
• We spent a day in the Rockford area. The newspapers had a great deal about Henry and Jane who celebrated their 60th anniversary. We went to Lighthouse Point where John and Annis settled. John built Annis a big stone house shortly after they came. In the history of the Lighthouse Point church, there's a good account about the building of the house and the church. We found the graves of John and Annis. The headstones have been replaced in the recent past.
John Martin made one of the greatest investments. When Northwestern University was strapped for money, they offered perpetual scholarships for $100. John bought one. I'm not sure who was the first to use it, but it wasn’t my grandfather, Joseph Earle, or his father, Henry. Much later my mother used it (four years’ tuition free!). The last one was my cousin, Frederick Barteldes. None of his children used it, so it may have lapsed. Northwestern would hope so!1337 Also see1333, p 12
• John Martin was a successful farmer in Ogle County. When the farmers would go to Chicago to sell wheat, hogs or lumber, they’d form a wagon train, not only for protection, but to pull each other out of the mud.1333, p 11
• Dale Martin: I read about John Deere and his development of the polished steel plow that made less difficult the cultivation of the dense, moist soils. Since the Martins lived about a half-dozen miles east of Deere’s town of Grand Detour, it seems within the realm of possibility that the early Martins may have been customers of Deere.1338
• MARTIN – At the residence of his son, Moses Martin, in Ashton, Ill, August 29, John Martin, in his 77th year. Father Martin was converted and joined the M. E. Church in 1816. For about forty years he was a class leader and steward. On the 21st of October, 1818, he was married to Miss Annie Nettleton. For near fifty-two years they walked together. Their home was one of prayer and praise; their religion a saving power and a shining light. Greatly were they blessed of God in their own experience, in the work they were permitted to accomplish for the Church, and in the children which were given them. Their five sons are all honored members of the Church, and three of them, Rev. James N. Martin of the California Conference, Rev. Henry L. Martin of the Rock River Conference, and Rev. John W. Martin of the Minnesota Conference are in the active work of the ministry. For years father Martin has been feeble. He always seemed cheerful, always ready to talk about Christ and his salvation.
T. C. CLENDENNING.201
• You’ll all be interested in knowing that the graves of our ancestors, John and Annis Martin, at Light House are always to be taken care of (which is not always true of those in country places) as the sum of $1200 has been raised and put at 6% interest with good security for that purpose.206, p 53
• John and Annis (Nettleton) Martin are two of our favorite ancestors. John fought for the British in the War of 1812, thus nailing down the disbarment of his family from the Daughters of the American Revolution. Annis Nettleton was tending bar in her father’s hotel and tavern when a group of British soldiers, including John, came in, and apparently a romance followed.
The Yankees made an attempt to invade Prescott during the War of 1812 and were finally repulsed after considerable bloodshed and losses of life on both sides. The hotel of Annis’ father was used as a hospital. John and Annis were married after the War of 1812. They had six sons, William, James, Henry, Moses, John Wesley and Philetus, and one daughter, Sarah Jane. Henry, James and John Wesley all became Methodist ministers.1333, pp 7-8
• We spent a few hours in the Land record office in Prescott and found no land in the Robinson name until 21 Aug. 1837 when John Martin sold 2 acres, the SW corner of the West1/2 of Lot 18 in Concession 3 to Desire Robinson. Remember John Martin had married Annis Nettleton, a sister of Desire, and was a brother-in-law. He was selling most of his land to a George Lane at this time and was about the time he went to Ogle Co. Ill.1334, p 2
• This [book] told of the founding of the church [St. Paul’s (Methodist) Church in Prescott] in 1830 and listed, among others, the familiar names of John Martin, Adonijah Bass, Joseph Bass and Heman Hurlbut as trustees for the new church.
The church started out as Methodist Episcopal but merged with the British Wesleyan Church. This congregation was loyal to Britain, and during the Rebellion of 1837 it was noted that Adonijah Bass, Joseph Bass and John Martin had “ceased to be members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.” John and his brother Richard, Moses Nettleton, John Bissel and Amasa Wood all set out for Illinois. They were not impressed with the new town of Chicago and pushed on farther west.1333, p 9
• In 1837 John Martin, Nathaniel Brown, Anthony Wood, Phillip Plantz, and Amasa Wood came from Canada to the area. The following year brought Moses Nettleton, Richard Martin, John, Richard, and Daniel McKenney, and John Edmonds came also from Canada.1328, p 365
• The family moved to Ogle county, Illinois, when he [James N. Martin] was fourteen years of age.1335, p 21
• They emigrated with four sons by covered wagon to Ogle County, Ill. in 1838.591, p 1
• It was in 1838 that John and Annis Martin left their home in Canada and came with their five children to Illinois. They came in a covered wagon and their route lay through Chicago, then a straggling frontier town stuck in the mud. It must have been in the summer time when they arrived for Grandma Martin in telling of the trip years afterward to her grandchildren told of gathering wild berries on their way.
When they arrived at Lighthouse and Grandpa Martin pointed out the little log house in the timber that was to be their home our grandma burst out crying and said, “Have I come all the way to this?” It seems that the home they left near Prescott was a fine old homestead, and naturally our dear could not see the whys and wherefores of driving a thousand miles or more and putting up with all the privations and hardships they had endured only to land in a dump like that.592, p 13
• Lighthouse Methodist Church.
Preaching services were held in the first frame house on the prairie built by John Martin in 1839.
Lighthouse Methodist Church is one of the oldest churches in the Rock River Conference and has served the community since 1836.1328, p 365
• 3 separate land acquisitions in Ogle County in 1841 and 1842 of 392 acres.1336
• We spent a day in the Rockford area. The newspapers had a great deal about Henry and Jane who celebrated their 60th anniversary. We went to Lighthouse Point where John and Annis settled. John built Annis a big stone house shortly after they came. In the history of the Lighthouse Point church, there's a good account about the building of the house and the church. We found the graves of John and Annis. The headstones have been replaced in the recent past.
John Martin made one of the greatest investments. When Northwestern University was strapped for money, they offered perpetual scholarships for $100. John bought one. I'm not sure who was the first to use it, but it wasn’t my grandfather, Joseph Earle, or his father, Henry. Much later my mother used it (four years’ tuition free!). The last one was my cousin, Frederick Barteldes. None of his children used it, so it may have lapsed. Northwestern would hope so!1337 Also see1333, p 12
• John Martin was a successful farmer in Ogle County. When the farmers would go to Chicago to sell wheat, hogs or lumber, they’d form a wagon train, not only for protection, but to pull each other out of the mud.1333, p 11
• Dale Martin: I read about John Deere and his development of the polished steel plow that made less difficult the cultivation of the dense, moist soils. Since the Martins lived about a half-dozen miles east of Deere’s town of Grand Detour, it seems within the realm of possibility that the early Martins may have been customers of Deere.1338
• MARTIN – At the residence of his son, Moses Martin, in Ashton, Ill, August 29, John Martin, in his 77th year. Father Martin was converted and joined the M. E. Church in 1816. For about forty years he was a class leader and steward. On the 21st of October, 1818, he was married to Miss Annie Nettleton. For near fifty-two years they walked together. Their home was one of prayer and praise; their religion a saving power and a shining light. Greatly were they blessed of God in their own experience, in the work they were permitted to accomplish for the Church, and in the children which were given them. Their five sons are all honored members of the Church, and three of them, Rev. James N. Martin of the California Conference, Rev. Henry L. Martin of the Rock River Conference, and Rev. John W. Martin of the Minnesota Conference are in the active work of the ministry. For years father Martin has been feeble. He always seemed cheerful, always ready to talk about Christ and his salvation.
T. C. CLENDENNING.201
• You’ll all be interested in knowing that the graves of our ancestors, John and Annis Martin, at Light House are always to be taken care of (which is not always true of those in country places) as the sum of $1200 has been raised and put at 6% interest with good security for that purpose.206, p 53
Census
• 1796 Census: Augusta. 1 male, 1 female, 1 boy.1339, p 7,1340
• 1806 Census: Augusta, Grenville, Ontario, Canada.1341
• 1813 Census: Augusta, Grenville, Ontario, Canada. Unmarried, age 16-50.1342
• 1823 Census: Augusta, Grenville, Ontario, Canada. 1 man, 1 woman, 1 son.1343, p 9
• 1840 Census: Washington Pct., Ogle, Illinois. 1111001/001001.1344
• 1850 Census: Nashua, Ogle, Illinois. Age 56, b Canada. $4000.603,604
• 1860 Census: Mt. Morris, Ogle, Illinois. Age 66, $1,500; $1,500, b Canada W.605
• 1870 Census: Rockford, Winnebago, Illinois. Age 76, farmer, $0; $1500, b Canada. Living adjacent to son, Philetus.606
• 1870 Census: Ashton, Lee, Illinois. Age 76, b Canada. In household of his son, Moses.1345
• 1806 Census: Augusta, Grenville, Ontario, Canada.1341
• 1813 Census: Augusta, Grenville, Ontario, Canada. Unmarried, age 16-50.1342
• 1823 Census: Augusta, Grenville, Ontario, Canada. 1 man, 1 woman, 1 son.1343, p 9
• 1840 Census: Washington Pct., Ogle, Illinois. 1111001/001001.1344
• 1850 Census: Nashua, Ogle, Illinois. Age 56, b Canada. $4000.603,604
• 1860 Census: Mt. Morris, Ogle, Illinois. Age 66, $1,500; $1,500, b Canada W.605
• 1870 Census: Rockford, Winnebago, Illinois. Age 76, farmer, $0; $1500, b Canada. Living adjacent to son, Philetus.606
• 1870 Census: Ashton, Lee, Illinois. Age 76, b Canada. In household of his son, Moses.1345
General
• Chicago [1838] – “a struggling frontier town stuck in the mud.”1346, p 32
• John found a place on the Rock River known as Lighthouse Point, so named because the lights from the home of Dr. John Roe there acted as a beacon for stagecoaches and covered wagons about to cross the Rock River (the city of Rockford lies about twenty miles to the north.)1333, p 10
• Lighthouse Cemetery is on the west side of Daysville Road, midway between Daysville and Franklin Grove, at the corner of Lighthouse Road. The lightly wooded, fenced grounds adjoin the church. First burials took place in the 1840s.1332, p 13
• John found a place on the Rock River known as Lighthouse Point, so named because the lights from the home of Dr. John Roe there acted as a beacon for stagecoaches and covered wagons about to cross the Rock River (the city of Rockford lies about twenty miles to the north.)1333, p 10
• Lighthouse Cemetery is on the west side of Daysville Road, midway between Daysville and Franklin Grove, at the corner of Lighthouse Road. The lightly wooded, fenced grounds adjoin the church. First burials took place in the 1840s.1332, p 13
Family Notes
• In 1838, Mr. and Mrs. John Martin removed with teams from Canada to Ogle County, camping by night and journeying in primitive fashion by day for six weeks, at the expiration of which time they reached Lafayette Township.598, p 741
Marriage Notes
• John Martin and Annis Nettleton met one another during the War of 1812. Annis was in her early teens in those days, a bar maid in her father’s hotel, where the young soldiers would fortify themselves before facing battle. John was one of the soldiers.1355, No. 1
ChildrenWilliam (1819-1840)
James N. (1823-1909)
Henry Leslie (1827-1915)
Sarah Jane (1830-1860)
Moses DeWitt (1835-1911)
John Wesley (1839-1916)
Philetus Sylvanus (1844-1934)