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Athens, Limestone County,Alabama

In my hurried and imperfect "scraps of the past" many worthy and deserving names and items escaped my memory, and incompliance with the request of many persons here and abroad, I have decided to continue them for the present. James Martin was one of the earliest settlers in town;he was a tanner by trade, and a clever and useful man; he has four sons now living,Nelson, William and Wilburn in Mooresville, and Joseph in Texas. The Martin boys are highly respected citizens of our county - 'Esq Nel' is a candidate for Sheriff, and if he is as popular throughout the county as he is here where he was born, it will hurry 'Roney' or anyone else to beat him. Mrs. Polly Edwards for many years an old citizen of our town, now lives with the Martin Bros., she being their aunt.

MY REFLECTIONS.....

I never knew why my grandmother was named Nellie Martin Medlin..I knew her maiden name was Medlin...But thanks to my wonderful cousin, Richard Martin who still resides in Athens, Alabama, I now know the history of her family and know the wonderful man she was named after...my great-great grandfather,Captain John Nelson Martin.

1 James Martin b:1794 in North Carolina
  d: 1846 in Illinois
  +Elizabeth Edwards b: in So.Carolina
  d: in 1835 in Athens, Limestone Co.,
  Ala.
 2 Captain John Nelson Martin b: May 15,
   1824 in Athens, Limestone Co, Ala
   d:Feb 4, 1884 in Mooresville,
   Limestone Co.,Ala
   +Rebecca W. Southall d: in Limestone
   Co,Ala m: March 4,1845 in Madison Co,
   Ala.
  3 Martha A. Martin b: 1846 in Limestone
    Co, Ala.
  3 Joseph L. Martin b: 1848 in Limestone
    Co.,Ala.
 +2nd Wife of John Nelson Martin
   +Henrietta Skinner b:Aug 2,1830 in
   Southampton Co,Va d:Sept 4,1855 in
   Limestone Co,Ala m:May 17,1849 in
   Limestone Co,Ala Father:Stephen S.
   Skinner Mother:Sarah A.
  3 William Stephen Martin b:July 1851 in 
    Limestone Co,Ala d: July 1854 in
    Limestone Co,Ala
  3 Mary Elizabeth Martin b: March 1853 in
    Limestone Co,Ala d:July 1854 in Lime-
    stone Co, Ala
 *3rd Wife of John Nelson Martin
   +Susan E. Peavy b: Aug 1831 in Madison
   Co,Ala d:April 16,1912 in New Hope,
   Madison Co,Ala m:Dec 26,1859 in 
   Madison Co,Ala Father:Wade H. Peavy
   Mother:Jane Armstrong Childress
  3 Jane Armstrong Childress b:1862 in
    Mooresville, Limestone Co,Ala d:1900
    in Huntsville,Madison Co,Ala
    +Richard Henry Medlin b:Oct 20,1840 in
    Jackson Co,Ala d:bef 1910 in Madison
    Co,Ala m:Oct 5,1887 in Mooresville,
    Limestone Co,Ala Father:Richard Medlin
    Mother:Lucinda A. Childress
   4 Dick Medlin b:1889 in Madison Co,Ala
     d:1889 in Madison Co,Ala
   4 Nellie Martin Medlin b:May 5,1890 in
     Huntsville,Madison Co,Ala d:Jan 6,1958
     in Houston, Harris Co,Texas
     +Ross Barton McKelvey b:Oct 17,1889 in
     Ala d:Nov 21,1956 in Houston,Harris co
     Tex m:Oct 26,1907 in Huntsville,
     Madison Co,Ala Father:Robert McKelvey
     Mother:Lucindy D.Hulsey
    5 Lois A. Mckelvey b:1910 in Madison Co,
      Ala d:1950 in Colorado City,Texas
    5 Edward Martin McKelvey b:1913 in 
      Madison Co,Ala d: 1981 in Houston,
      Harris Co, Texas
      +Rina Servoc d:in Houston,Harris Co,Tx
     6 Carl McKelvey b:October 1,1942 in 
       Houston,Harris Co,Texas
    5 Roscoe Barton McKelvey,Jr b:Sept 19,
      1915 in Madison Co,Ala d: July 5,1965
      in Alice,Texas
      +Evelyn Patricia Alterman Jackson b:
      July 22,1917 in El Paso,Tx m:Feb 14,
      1937 in Weatherford,Tx Father: Jacob
      Alterman Mother:Ruby Clara Callaway
      Adoptive parents:Grand-parents George
      Jackson and Mollie Pricilla Luttrell
     6 Patricia Barth McKelvey b:Oct 8,1939
       in Ft.Worth,Tarrant Co,Tx d:Oct 8,
       1939 in Ft Worth,Tarrant Co,Tx
     6 Barthlynn Gale McKelvey b:Oct 1,1941
       in Ft.Worth,Tarrant Co,Tx 
       +Living m:Aug 27,1961 in Battle Creek
       Michigan
      7 Lari Lynn Robinson b: Nov 23,1962 in
        Houston,Harris co,Texas
        +Daryl James Machart b:Nov 21,1956 in
        El Campo,Tx m:May 31,1981 in Missouri
        City,Ft.Bend Co,Tx Father:Frankie Jim
        Machart Mother:Delores Faye Childress
       8 Tifany Gale Machart b:March 14,1984
         in Houston,Harris Co,Tx
       8 Natalie Lynn Machart b:July 29,1991
         in Houston,Harris Co,Tx
       8 Emily Patricia Machart b:Nov 29,
         1996 in Houston,Harris Co,Tx
  *2nd Husband of Barthlynn Gale McKelvey
    +Leonard Nile McCoy,Sr b:July 25,1923
    in W.Va. m:Dec.12,1970 in Mexico/Richmond,
    Ft.Bend Co,Tx Father:Brennie Samuel
    McCoy Mother:Pearl Missouri Brock
*2nd Wife of Roscoe Barton Mckelvey,Jr.
  +Bell m:1947 in Alice,Texas
     6 Ariel Belinda McKelvey b: 1947 in Alice,
       Tx
     6 Roscoe Barton McKelvey b:1949 in Alice,
       Tx
     6 Richard McKelvey b:1950 in Alice,Tx
     6 Barbara McKelvey b:1955 in Alice,Tx
     6 Russell McKelvey b:1962 in Alice,Tx
    5 Russell McKelvey b:1917 in Madison Co,
      Ala d: in Oregon
      +Ariel(Dink)
   4 John Grayson Medlin b:Nov 14,1891 in
     Huntsville,Madison Co,Ala d:Sept 11,1945
     in Huntsville, Madison Co,Ala
   4 Charles A.Medlin b:May 29,1899 in Hunts-
     ville,Madison Co,Ala d:June 27,1954 in
     Huntsville,Madison Co,Ala
   4 Ruby Lee Medlin b:June 1894 in Huntsville,
     Madison Co,Ala d:aftt 1958in Huntsville,
     Madison Co,Ala
     +Thomas A. McKelvey b:Aug 1887 in Marshal
     Co,Ala d:in Madison Co,Ala m:in Madison Co,
     Ala  Father:Robert McKelvey Mother:Lucindy
     D.Hulsey
    5 Hattie C.McKelvey b:1912 in Madison Co,Ala
    5 Marvin McKelvey b:1914 in Madison Co,Ala
    5 Minnie B.McKelvey b:1918 in Madison Co,
      Ala
    5 Hubert McKelvey(twin)b:1920 in Madison Co,
      Ala d:1944 in Europe
    5 Herbert McKelvey(twin)b:1920 in Madison
      Co,Ala
 2 William Graham Martin b:Jan 5,1826 in Athens,
   Limestone Co,Ala d:March 9,1903 in Limestone
   Co,Ala
   +Mary Fogg b:May 14,1827 in Va. d:June 29,1881 
   in Limestone Co,Ala m:March 3,1847 in Ala
  3 Sally B. Martin b:in Limestone Co,Ala
  3 Louis Edward Martin b:March 6,1854 in Lime-
    stone Co,Ala d:July 13,1869 in Limestone Co,
    Ala
  3 Etta Martin b:in Limestone Co,Ala
*2nd Wife of William Graham Martin
  +Molly Mengeas b:March 10,1862 in Ala d:Nov. 16,
  1920 in Ala m:March 17,1882 in Mooresville,
  Limestone Co,Ala
  3 W.G. Martin, Jr.
 2 Joseph J. Martin b:Feb.19,1829 in Athens, Lime-
   stone Co,Ala d:May 1,1915 in Ala
   +Mary E. Shinpock b:Dec.13,1828 in Limestone Co
   Ala d:Feb.11,1859 in Arizona m:Jan.24,1849 in
   Limestone Co,Ala Father:John Shinpock Mother:
   Mary
*2nd Wife of Joseph J. Martin
  +Louisa Jane Means b:in Paris,Tx m:Sept 25,1861 in
  Paris,Tx
  3 Mary Olive Martin
  3 Willie Denter Martin
  3 Lillie Ann Martin
  3 Sallie Elizabeth Martin
  3 James Adam Martin
 2 James Wilburn Martin b:Oct 5, 1834 in Athens, Lime-
   stone Co,Ala d: Sept 10, 1914 in Limestone,Co,Ala
   +Nancy Boleyn Fogg b:Feb 9,1835 in Va.d:June 6,1881
    in Limestone Co,Ala m:April 13,1858 in Ala
  3 Hattie Lou Martin
  3 Mary Fannie Martin
  3 William Lee Martin b:March 17,1865 in Limestone Co
    Ala d:Aug 24,1957 in Tenn
    +Mamie b:Jan 7,1870 in Ala d:April 22,1928 in Ala
    m:Jan 15,1891 in Tenn
   4 William lee Martin,Jr
   4 James Hunter Martin
   4 Wilburn Lee Martin
   4 Macca Elizabeth Martin
   4 Robert Chandler Martin
   4 Elbert Higgins Martin
   4 Mary Houston Martin
   4 Thomas Temple Martin
  3 Charlie Martin
*2nd Wife of James Wilburn Martin
  +Emma Conley m:April 6,1882 in Ala
*3rd Wife of James Wilburn Martin
  +Sarah T. Black m:Jan 10,1899 in Ala




SEARCHABLE MARTIN RECORDS:




INDEX OF SURNAMES







 

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THE 35TH ALABAMA REGIMENT CO. D


Originally known as the Molly Walton Guards because Molly Walton
sewed the uniforms for them - The Molly Walton house still stands
today in Mooresville, Alabama....

AS RELATED BY DR. WILLIAM O. SOWELL


I  was born october 5, 1842.  I enlisted in the war when I was
nineteen years old.  Our company was organized at Cambridge Camp
Ground about the later part of March, 1861, under the name of the
"Mollie Walton Guards". Dr. W.T. Sanders was made captain;Dr. Thomas
Thach, first Lieutenant; Nell Martin, second lieutenant, John B.
Floyd, third lieutenant, and myself orderly sergeant.

On about the first of April,we left Limestone for Lagrange,
Alabama,where we entered the 35th Alabama Regiment,then being
organized, becoming known as Company D of the regiment. Captain
R.W. Robinson was made colonel. lieutenant Colonel Ed Goodwin and
Major Hunt, whose given name I am unable to recall were also of
us. They were professors om Lagrange College, and had much to do with
having the regiment made up. Hunt was soon transferred to the Army of
Virginia. Robinson after awhile went into another department of the
service. Goodwin died later on. As these parted from us others took
their places. We had Ives as colonel, Ashford as Lieutenant Colonel,
and Dickson as Major. Colonel Ives, though severely wounded at Baton
Rouge, and shot in a dozen different parts of the body at the battle
of Franklin, remained our Colonel unto the end. Of the old officers
Captain Sanders was made surgeon of the regiment. Dr. Thach's health
soon failing, he was discharged from the service. This made Nell
Martin of Mooresville, captain which position he held unto the end of
the war.

The Yankees had obtained possession of this part of the country.
Learning of our regiment being formed, they laid plans to capture us.
This made it necessary for us to leave LaGrange at once, which we did
rather hurriedly late on Monday evening, April 14, 1861, without
equipment or arms of any kind, and with the Yankees in close pursuit.
But we succeeded in reaching Corinth Wednesday, April 23, 1862. We
reached Corinth at the time the army was undergoing reorganization
under General Bragg and everything was confusion. We were fast broken
up as a regiment and the company was divided among other regiments, a
thing which caused us much distress. But on April 26th, we were
gathered together again and temporarily assigned to Gardner's Brigade
and to Breckenridge's Division. We were with Preston and Breckenridge
as brigade and division commanders until after th battle of Baton
Rouge, August 5th, 1862, which was fought by our division and in
which we lost a good many brave fellows.

Our regiment took part in the various skirmishes and minor engagement
around Corinth and in the battle of Farmington, Friday, May 9th,
where the enemy was utterly routed, throwing away Knapsacks and other
accouterments as they sought to escape the yelling rebels.

Our army entered Corinth, May 29, 1862, and made a stop at Tupelo,
Mississippi, until June 19, 1862. After the battle of Baton Rouge,
General Rust was made our Brigade commander and General Lovell, our
division commander. Under their command we fought the battle of
Corinth, October 3-4, 2862. Corinth was strongly fortified and after
hard fighting for two days in which our army lost heavily we were
froced to retreat.

A short time after the battle of Corinth, General Buford was made our
Brigade commander and Loring, our division commander. Buford was
subsequently transferred to the cavalry servce and colonel Scott, of
the 12th Louisiana Regiment being ranking colonel, succeeded him.
Scott and loring remained our Brigade and Division commanders during
the continuance of the war. The next battle of any importance in
which my regiment was engaged was the battle of Baker Creek, May 16,
1863. It was a hard fought but useless battle in which we lost many a
brave soldier. Being overcome by numbers we were ordered to retreat.
our division covered the retreat of Pemberton's army. he went into
the fortifications of Vicksburg where he ordered Loring to follow
him. But General Loring refused to take his men into the trap at
Vicksburg. He took us closely pursued by the enemy around by Crystal
Springs by means of an all night march. Across fields and through
woods, as there was no direct road open for us, we carried our
artillery as far as we could. But it was very dark and as we were
marching through wwods and swamps, we finally had to abandon it. Our
wagon train was shot up in Vicksburg with Pemberton's army, so we
were without provisions, having nothing but our knapsacks and
cartridge boxes. We reached Jackson, Mississippi, late on the evening
of May 20th, but marched for five miles over the Canton Road and
reported to General Joe Johnston whose headquarters were at Canton.

The next day we were marched back to the vicinity of the bridge over
Big Black River, and marched and counter-marched around there for
several days, waiting to hear the sound of Pemberton's guns. He had
been ordered to cut his way out of Vicksburg and we were to attack
the enemy in the rear. But Pemberton(traitor that he was, as I shall
always believe)surrendered on the 4th of July, and we fell back to
Jackson, followed by the enemy. There was almost constant fighting
night and day from July 9th to the 16th. At eleven o'clock on the
night of the 16th, we began a noiseless march eastward along the line
of the Southern railroad.

Our command took part in no more regular battles in Mississippi. From
there we were transferred to Joe Johnston's Army of the Tennessee,
which was at Dalton, Georgia, sometime in April, 1864. I was in all
the fighting and skirmishing from Dalton to Atlanta--the fights at
Pesaka, Kennisau Mountains, Marietta, and so on.

After General Johnston was removed from his command of the army at
Atlanta, and the appointment of Hood in his place, I was in all the
skirmishes and battles during the seige of Atlanta, including the
severe battle of Peach Tree Creek on our left, which was gought on
July 22 and also the hard fought battle on our left on July 25th. We
were confined to the trenches which were about knee deep in stagnant
stinking water, with the hot sun pouring down by day, and where the
least movement would lay you liable to a shot from the enemies sharp
shooters. At night all hands had to work to strenghten our
breastworks. it was a terrible time. Finally the end came and we gave
up Atlanta and fell back to Palmetto Station. Here we stayed a short
time and then started for Tennessee, September 29, 1864. On our
northern movement through Georgia and northern Alabama, after the
evacuation on Atlanta, we captured quite a number of yankee
garrisons. Big Shanty and Dalton were among the number. At those
places we had some hard fighting. In what we supposed to be a fort at
Decatur, Alabama, October 26 and 28th, our regiment suffered a great
deal. As we approached this place, which was strongly fortified, our
regiment was the advance guard of the army, and my company--Company D
and Company B--the advance guard of the right. These two companies
waded Flint river on the morning of October 26th after we had a dark,
rainy, and muddy march the day before, and stood picket beyond it
until the pontoon could be put down for the rest of the troops to
cross over, and then we were thrown forward to skirmish with the
yankees. They were calvalry forces and offered but little resistance.
By a little strategy we drew them into the ambush we had formed, and
could have secured them had not half of our guns failed to fire from
having been rained on so much after they had been loaded. But we
emptied a good many saddles, as it were, and they had about the
hardest retreat I ever witnessed. At this junction our entire
regiment was formed into a skirmish line for the brigade, and began
to encounter the infantry picket of the enemy in the grove
surrounding the house of Col. Gibbs. We fought all around the house
and behind fences. I remember charging right through the porch of the
Gibb's house. We followed the enemy, pushing very close to the
fortification around Decatur. Here we were ordered to lie down and
await further orders. A battery of our field artillery was planted in
our immediate rear and a duel was engaged in with the yankee heavy
guns until night set in, there being quite heavy firing of muskets in
the meantime. Our position was exceedingly exposed one, being in an
open field, and we suffered the loss in killed and wounded of some of
our best men. We drew off from Decatur on October 29th, and went to
Tuscumbia to make arrangement for crossing the Tennessee river which
was finally accomplished. After various skirmishes and hard marching,
we succeeded in cutting off a portion of the enemy's force at
Columbia. But through some misunderstanding, allowed them to move
quietly along the pike and through our lines and unite with their
army at Franklin. We followed and engaged in the battle of Franklin.
The enemy was heavily fortified while our troops fought without
covering at all. This was the hardest fought battle our troops had
yet engaged in, and according to history, the heaviest loss of life
took place than any battle of the war, considering the number of
troops engaged. Hood simply sacrificed the army of the Tennessee in
the battle of Franklin. After the battle it took what had once been a
regiment to make a company, and a brigade to make a regiment. The
colonel of my regiment was shot in sixteen different places, but is
living yet, or at least was the last time I heard of him.

After the battle of Franklin, we followed the enemy onto Nashville,
where somewhere in the later part of December, we fought the two-day
battle in front of Nashville. At this two-day fight our division was
stationed in line of battle on the left of Granny White Pike. We were
in line of battle on the brow of a hill behind a rock fence. Our men
stretched out only one line deep with about six feet interval between
each man. In our immediate front was a wide bottom. The enemy
advanced on us in the line of battle eight lines deep, with negro
soldiers in the front line. Here we fought nearly all day, repulsing
several of their charges and literally covering the ground with their
dead and wounded. Along toward noon they broke our line on the
extreme left, toward the river, and gained our rear. I could look up
the lines and see our men falling back by companies and brigades at a
time. The enemy in our front, heavily reinforced, charged again. They
were soon in possession of the rock fence. Mixed all together, both
sides used the bayonet and the butt of the musket in a hand-to-hand
fight. Then it was every man for himself. How I got out I hardly know.

Immediately back of the line of battle was a level plateau for some
two or three hundred yards to the foot of a high hill or mountain
that rose abruptly and very steep, with great rocks, and covered with
a growth of stump pine and oak. I had reached the top of this hill. A
soldier belonging to the artillery came along riding one of the
artillery horses and leading another. I asked him to let me ride the
horse he was leading. He threw me the line and kept on. I was so
exhausted that it was sometime before I could succeed in mounting the
horse, and all the time bullets were cutting all around me and the
yankees crying out to halt and surrender. After I had mounted the
horse I could not get him to bulge on account of his being an
artillery horse and used to certain commands, that I knew not how to
give. So I had to abandon him and make the best of my way on foot. I
finally got to Columbia. Here I found my servant. But he had lost my
saddle. it was pouring down rain. Hood's army, what was left of it,
was making for Bainbridge on the Tennessee River. So in company with
Billy Cain, his brother, and Lou Emmett whom I met up with, we
started out in the rain, got home at Athens, Alabama, about three
o'clock that night. The next morning the report came that the yankees
were out at Piney Creek coming from Huntsville, to cut off the
stragglers from Hood's army. So I started off again, and after
various hardship, was lucky enough to get in with some engineers who
had a flat-boat. Here I was joined by my brother Jimmy and Capt. Dan
Coleman. We succeed in getting the engineers to take us aboard the
flat boat with our horses. We floated down the Elk river onto and
across the Tennessee. The next day was Christmas and a glorious one
it was. I stayed a day or two within the vicinity of Courtland to
rest and then started to overtake the army. When I arrived at
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, I reported to General E.A. O'Neal who was in
command there. he gave me written order which I have in my possession
to proceed back to North Alabama and collect up all the men belonging
to the army of the Tennessee, with headquarters at Newburg, to mount
them as fast as I could; and then rejoin the main army. I started for
North Alabama the next day. Just as I was leaving the mountain and
going into the valley, I heard shots. A woman came out of the little
cabin by the roadside. Seeing I was a Confederate soldier, she told
me I was riding right into the Yankees. She hid me in a cave, hid my
horse for me, and fed me for two days, until Wilson's Cavalry left
the valley. I then went on to Newbury and suceeded in collecting
about sixty men belonging to various Alabama regiments. They elected
me Captain. Of course, it was almost impossible to mount the men,
both armies having recently passed through and made a clean sweep of
all stock. About the time I had suceeded in mounting most of my men
the collapse came. I remained in camp at Newbury until all the armies
had surrendered. Then I took my men to DeCatur, Alabama, to
surrender. When I arrived at the picket line, they told me I could
not bring my men into DeCatur; but I could come in alone, be paroled,
and then go back and parole my men. This I did. I have my parole yet.
I was paroled May 16, 1865, and I think we were about the last of the
Confederates to surrender.







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