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Note: The facts about this family, documented below, are: 1. Welcome married first Betsey Boggs and may have had children for whom there are no records. These children had left home or died by the time of the 1850 census enumeration.
2. Welcome married second Margaret Johnson and died in 1850 leaving her a widow with the several children enumerated on the 1850 census.
3. Margaret had two sons after 1850 without being married.
4. Margaret relocated with these children (with the exception of eldest daughter Amanda who married and remained in Lawrence County) to Iowa sometime after 1854.
Two unresolved problems with this family, addressed below, are the two boys presumably born out of wedlock in Ohio on the 1860 Iowa census, and the two daughters named Amanda on the 1850 census.
PARENTS:
Source for the marriage of Welcome to first wife Betsey Boggs is the Marriage Book, Lawrence County, Ohio. The source for the marriage to second wife Margaret is the Lawrence County, Ohio Marriage Book 1-2-3, pg. 180.
The source for the 'bef. 1833' death of Betsey is based on the 1833 second marriage of Welcome to Margaret. Betsey's 'bef. 1810' birth is based on an assumed age of least eighteen at the time of the 1828 marriage.
The source for the reconstruction of the Welcome Martin family is the 1850 Lawrence County, Ohio census. "United States Census, 1850," database with images, <i>FamilySearch</i>(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXQJ-N8Y : 9 November 2014), Margaret Martin, Windsor, Lawrence, Ohio, United States; citing family 127, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
Welcome had died in 1850 leaving widow Margaret with seven children enumerated on the 1850 census. The children at home are Amanda, William, Emma, Amanda (a second time of a different age), Margaret, Welcome and James. There may have been a 'first' child born between 1833 and 1836 who was not listed on the 1850 census. A Welcome Nance is boarding with Margaret's family and is listed as a laborer. His importance is discussed below.
The US Census Mortality Schedule Index says Welcome died in Mar of 1850 at age 48 (it lists him as a farmer who died of ulceration), which puts his birth at abt. 1802. The source for this is: Jackson, Ron V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp.. U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999. Original data: Compiled and digitized by Mr. Jackson and AIS from microfilmed schedules of the U.S. Federal Decennial Census, territorial/state censuses, and/or census substitutes. For notes on his Lee County, Virginia birth see notes under father, Benjamin Martin.
While the initial source for the death of Welcome is the US Census Mortality Schedule Index it only states March 1850. The source for the 17 March comes from one of the later pages of the 1865 Application for Mother's Army Pension, in which Margaret Martin applied for a pension for the death of her son, Welcome, during the Civil War.
Margaret moved to Iowa with her children sometime after 1854 (based on Lorenzo's 1854 Ohio birth) and appears on the 1860 and 1870 census in Jackson and Dallas Counties, respectively.
"United States Census, 1860," index, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M8LS-7NL : accessed 31 May 2014), Margaret Martin in household of Wm Martin, Fairfield Township, Jackson, Iowa, United States; citing "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," <i>Fold3.com</i>; p. 13, household ID 87, NARA microfilm publication M653; FHL microfilm 803326.
"United States Census, 1870," index and images, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MDJT-GXV : accessed 31 May 2014), Margret Martin in household of James Martin, Dallas County, Iowa, United States; citing p. 1, family 7, NARA microfilm publication M593, FHL microfilm 000545884.
In both Iowa census reports, while her oldest son at the time is listed as head of household, there are two new children in her family, Thomas born in 1852 and Lorenzo born in 1854. As Margaret's husband Welcome had died in 1850, these children cannot have been sired by Welcome Martin.
I suggest two theories for the appearance of these children. First, they may have been children of one of Welcome's brothers who were adopted into the family. The wives of brothers Benjamin, William and David would have been too old to conceive children in the 1850s. This leaves brother Otis, who also died in 1850, and therefore could not have been the father of Thomas or Lorenzo. A second theory put forth by a descendant of Welcome Martin, with whom I corresponded in 2013 (mustanglvrgtcs on Ancestry.com), and based on family tradition, is that Welcome Nance, the laborer listed on the 1850 census cited above living with the family, fathered these children illegitimately while living in the home of Margaret Martin. This is certainly plausible since Margaret conceived while a widow, and still gave them the name Martin which points to illegitimacy. There is no documentary evidence at present (2014, and I suspect there never will be) for this theory. As they were Margaret's blood son's I have adopted them into the family of Welcome and Margaret Martin.
CHILDREN:
The source for the birth and death date, location of burial, and married name for Amanda Martin is from her Ohio State Death certificate. Her approximate birth year is 1840 on the 1870 census, 1836 on the 1880 census, and 1837 on the 1910 census. Further information about her marriage and married name is from "Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994," index and images, <i>FamilySearch</i> (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XD7N-727 : accessed 30 May 2014), James R. Ross and Amanda Martin, 30 Nov 1862; citing Lawrence, Ohio, United States, reference bk 7 p297; FHL microfilm 317717.
This oldest daughter Amanda (and perhaps any older unknown children born between 1828 and 1835) remained in Ohio after mother and siblings relocated to Iowa.
No other information is at hand for James R Ross at present (2014). There are a few James R Ross' in Lawrence County so more research is necessary.
Welcome Martin Jr. died in a Military Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland in either April or June of 1865. The sources are the many papers contained in the Pension application of his mother, Margaret Martin. His death is referred to as April and June, 1865 in the papers.
The primary curiosity of the 1850 census cited above is that two Amanda Martins are listed as children in this family. One is age 15 (born 1835) and the other age 10 (born 1840). Amanda Martin born 1835 can be documented as the daughter of Margaret Johnston and Welcome Martin through marriage records, later census records, and her Ohio State Death Certificate. The other child in the family named Amanda Martin is at present (2013) a mystery. I suggest four theories, based on the premise that Welcome and Margaret did NOT name two of their daughters (only about five years apart in age) Amanda.
1. This younger Amanda could be a mistake, entered carelessly by the census taker for a daughter of a completely different name, now lost to us. Widow Margaret Johnson Martin's 1860 Iowa census report has no Amanda Martins residing with her.
2. This name could be a mistake, re-entered as Amanda carelessly by the census taker, and there is actually NO child of this age in the family.
3. The 1850 census does not indicate relationships and the younger Amanda could be a cousin, or daughter of a deceased family friend.
I lean toward theory no. 1. If theory no. 2 were correct this would leave an unnatural four year gap between births of children William and Margaret. While such a gap is not impossible, it is not in keeping with the birth patterns between the other children.
For the marriages and data on the other children, see under their own notes.
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