Robert B. Martin

In the record Generation 5 — Earl's great-great-grandparents and their siblings

1. S172The last will and testament of Peter H. Martin — Sumner County, Tennessee, written in his own hand 30 June 1849, proved August Term 1849. Tennessee, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1779–2008; Sumner County Will Books 1789–1904; Ancestry record 3819223, image 004776071_00479. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. "I Peter H. Martin of the County of Sumner and State of Tennessee, being in my usual health and of sound and disposing mind, do make and ordain this my last will and Testament." To his wife Jane Martin, for life: the home plantation, the timbered tract bought of William Walton, the horses Charley and Rhoda and choice of three more, eight cattle, the farm gear, a year's provisions, the household furniture, twenty stock hogs, and "Choice of my Servants to the Number of three." The residue "to be sold at public sale for the benefit of my children." "My Town property to be Sold at a Credit for the benefit of my Children. Robert B. Martin has had an advance of three hundred & seventy dollars for which he will account to the other children in the division of my estate … The Shoe Store may be sold to the Crutchers & R. B. Martin and the latter allowed to retain the use of the Capital I put in." "To David B. Martin I give … a dark bay filly four years old. To Joseph D Martin I give unto a light bay filly now two years old." "To Mr. Wm Bell I leave a house and a support with his Sister as long as he Shall choose to accept it." "Witness that I have written with my own hand this 30th day of June 1849 … P. H. Martin (Seal)." Witnesses Thomas Crutcher, J. B. Wilson, W. H. Crutcher; proved in open court, Sumner County Court, August Term 1849, on the oaths of Thomas Crutcher and Wm H Crutcher; recorded by Wm S. Munday, Clerk. 🔑 This is the document the line page named as the one that would close the Joseph question [S107] — and it had never been read. 🔑 Joseph D Martin is named by his father, inside the passage disposing of the estate for the benefit of my children, in the same breath as David B. Martin and immediately after Robert B. Martin is told to account to the other children in the division of my estate. Three named Martins stand inside the class "my children" in the testator's own instrument. ⚠ The caveat travels with it: the will never writes the word son beside any of the three names. The filiation is carried by the structure of the bequest, not by a kinship term. It is far stronger than the two census households the link rested on [S98] [S161], and it is still not the word. 🔑 William Bell was Jane's BROTHER — with his Sister, in Peter's hand. S98's open brother or uncle is answered, and it explains why he was living in her house in 1850: her husband provided for it. 🔑 Peter Hines Martin kept a SHOE STORE, with capital still in it in 1849 and partners in the Crutchers, and held town property apart from the plantation. Read with Persons engaged in Manufactures: 4 at Gallatin in 1820 [S163], it is one trade across thirty years — and David, 19, "Clerk" in 1850 [S98] was clerking in his father's store. 🔑 Holographic, and four days before his death — written 30 June 1849, and his grave gives 4 July 1849 [S105]. 🔑 Nine people in an instrument Ancestry indexes under one name: Jane Martin, Robert B., David B. and Joseph D Martin, Wm Bell, William Walton, and three witnesses. ⚠ Ancestry's Probate Date 30 Jun 1849 is the date the will was written and sealed; probate is the August Term. ⚠ The will bequeaths Servants by choice of three; it names none of them.
2. S4281850 U.S. Federal Census — Robert B. Martin household, District 5, Sumner County, Tennessee (dwelling 463, lines 31–34). Ancestry record 6857995. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Robert B. Martin, 23, merchant, real estate $1,500, born Tennessee; Urilda, 21; Charles H., 4 months; and Howel Webb, 16, clerk; enumerated 30 September 1850. Ancestry's index reads the wife as “Milda”; the image, and the later censuses, give Urilda. The page names no parents.
3. S4291860 U.S. Federal Census — R. B. Martin household, Beat 2, Cherokee County, Texas, P.O. Rusk (dwellings 426–427). Ancestry record 34989871. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed R. B. Martin, 33, farmer, real estate $3,000, personal $6,000, born Tennessee; U. P., 30; Charles H., 10, and Jennie B., 8, both born Tennessee; Laura B.(?), 6, born Texas; enumerated 26 June 1860. Next door: D. B. Martin, 29, merchant, born Tennessee, with S[usa]n W., 23, born North Carolina, and Ella, 1 month. The page states no relationship between the two households. The children's birthplaces put the move from Tennessee to Texas between about 1852 and 1854.
4. S4301870 U.S. Federal Census — Robert B. Martin household, Rusk, Cherokee County, Texas (page 6, dwelling 32, lines 10–17). Ancestry record 5079851. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Robert B. Martin, 43, merchant, real estate $2,000, personal $2,500, born Tennessee; Urilda P., 41; Charlie H., 19, and Jennie B., 17, born Tennessee; Clarra B., 10, and Percy, 6, born Texas; with Jennie Hicks, 22, a domestic servant, and George, 1; enumerated 12 July 1870.
5. S4311880 U.S. Federal Census — R. B. Martin household, East Half of Rusk, Cherokee County, Texas (ED 12, page 4, lines 12–14). Ancestry record 7324308. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed R. B. Martin, 53, widowed, farmer, born Tennessee, father born Virginia, mother born Tennessee; sons Charles H., 30, schoolteacher, born Tennessee, and Percy, 16, born Texas; enumerated 3–4 June 1880. The parents' birthplaces match Peter Hines Martin (born Virginia) and Jane Bell (born Tennessee). That is consistent with his being their son, but it is not proof, and he stays Probable.
6. S432U.S., Appointments of U. S. Postmasters, vol. 14 (1842–1858), ff. 488–489 — Gallatin (court house), Sumner County, Tennessee. Ancestry record 747676. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Probable Postmasters at Gallatin: Thomas C. Moore, 30 April 1841; Robt. B. Martin, 20 April 1848; Jno. H. Malone, 16 August 1849; Wm. Menefee, 26 December 1850. The page gives only a name, a town and a date. That this is the Robert B. of Peter H. Martin's will is a reading of place and time, not a stated fact: his successor was appointed six weeks after Peter died at Gallatin.
7. S10461870 United States Federal Census — Ward 4, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, page 12, dwelling 514. Ancestry record 30599178. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 29 September 2026. Probable 20 June 1870: D. B. Martin, 37, merchant, real estate $5,000, born Tennessee; S. N., 32, born North Carolina; Ella, 7, and Clarance, 5, both born Texas; Henry Winfrey, 34, laborer, born Tennessee. The same family as the 1860 Rusk, Texas household (S429): merchant, Tennessee-born, a North Carolina-born wife S., a daughter Ella. Weak: every age here runs 2–3 years young against 1860 and 1880, and nothing on the page names Peter H. Martin or Sumner County.