My Genealogy Hound

Whitaker A. Martin, a druggist, of Steelville, was born in Jefferson County, Mo., in 1835. Reared a farmer and receiving a limited education, he began clerking in Washington County when twenty years of age, in which capacity he was employed until 1861, when he entered the army as captain of Company A, White's Battalion, Missouri State Guards; having served his term of enlistment he was on his way to join the regular service, when he was taken prisoner, though soon afterward paroled. From 1864 to 1866 he was engaged in mining gold in Montana; and then returning to Missouri he spent some years in contracting on the Iron Mountain Railroad. For a short time he was commissioned stock merchant in East St. Louis, and in 1886 he bought a stock of drugs in Steelville, where he has since been actively engaged in business. In 1870 he married Susan J. Scott, and to their union were born two children. Mrs. Martin died, and in 1885 Mr. Martin married Mrs. Mollie Mayes, by whom he has one daughter. Politically, Mr. Martin is a stanch Democrat. His parents were Willis F. and Lucy N. (Mothershead) Martin, natives, respectively, of Georgia and Kentucky, who reared a family of seven children. Willis F. Martin, a farmer by occupation, came to Missouri in 1812; he died in 1864, at the age of fifty-four years. Mrs. Martin is still living, aged seventy-eight years. They were among the earliest settlers of Jefferson County.