Timeline for Great Grandpa William Martin Martin

• born 1885 in Florida
• left Florida at age 17
• worked for the railroad for awhile
• married Frances Louise Campbell April 18, 1914, St. Louis - marriage records are linked below
• William Scott Martin, my grandfather was born, April 4, 1915 at 901 Valentine St., E. St. Louis, ILL, Wm Marvin Martin was a salesman for Funsten Nut and Fruit in 1915
• remarried to Ida Scheller November 4, 1918, Kansas City, Missouri
• can be found on the St. Louis City Directory 1927, manager Funsten Nut and Fruit Co, St. Louis; home address on Hickory, St. Louis, Missouri
• still at Hickory Street in 1933, chauffer
• worked for a construction company in St. Louis
• 1942 Family vacation with daughter and wife to hometown Oxford, Florida
• died December 1949

Where was William Marvin Martin from? His son's, William Scott Martin, birth certificate indicated that he was 30 years old in 1915 and was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Additionally, it notes, that he was working as a salesman at the Funsten Nut and Fruit Company in St. Louis, MO.   As it turns out, he was not born in Birmingham, Alabama; but was born in Florida.

Frances and William were living at 901 Valentine, E. St. Louis when young "Billy" was born. Their marriage records would indicate that William Marvin Martin was living in E. St. Louis in 1914 when they married.

In 1920, their son, William Scott Martin, was enumerated with his Grandmother, Emma Kassell Campbell in St. Louis, but we could not find either Frances or William M. Martin in the census. Sometime prior to November 1918, they divorced, Wm Marvin Marrtin remarried Ida;  and in 1922, Frances had remarried Pete Eftimoff.   We do not know the date or the location of the divorce.

In 1927, William Marvin Martin was the manager of Funsten Nut and Fruit Company.  And he remained on Hickory when the 1933 city directory was published.  We were not able to locate him with Frances on either the Illinois or Missouri census records in 1920.  We are posting Martin census information - please check our census page.

My mom knows of 2 stories about her grandfather, William Marvin Martin.  When her father, William Scott Martin was a small boy, his mother Frances Campbell Martin (Eftimoff) used to take young "Billy" to see his father.  They would get on the street car and go across the river to see his father.  One day, young "Billy" decided to through his hat over into the Mississippi River from the street car window.  Apparently, his mother was most unhappy about the hat.  We do not know how long these visits went on but one day Frances arrived without young "Billy" and the senior William refused to give her any money for his care.  The visits ended.

Many years later, my mother can remember as a young girl, her father coming home visiably upset. Seems he had "ran into" his father in E. St. Louis that day and the meeting must not have been a good one. This would indicate that William Marvin Martin was still living in the late 1940's. My mother never meet her grandfather.

The clue that might lead us to our William Marvin Martin was provided by a researcher on the St Louis, MO List; Joan Miley. Her William M. MARTIN connection is a  was born in 1885 and died in 1949. He married Ida Emma (Scheller) Meister on 4 Nov 1918, in Kansas City. They had one son, Marvin MARTIN & one daughter, Eileen MARTIN. William was Ida's 2nd husband. Ida's 3rd husband was Joan's Great Uncle Bruno H. HAUSTEIN. The son, Marvin Martin has been able to confirm that this is in fact our missing William Marvin Martin.

Marvin can remember that when the younger William was about 21 years old, he ran an ad in the St. Louis newspaper looking for his father, Wm. Marvin Martin.  The senior William, went to his children and asked how would they like to have another older brother.  This seemed acceptable to each of them but the meeting never took place.  Marvin was also able to tell me that Frances used to bring "Scott" (William Scott Martin) across the Eads Bridge to see his father every other Saturday until one Saturday when Frances showed up without the child.  The senior William demanded to see his son and Frances, probably being quiet angry, told him that he would have to go to the cemetery.  Marvin agrees that the we have no real way of knowing exactly why Frances quit bringing her son to see his father but the child had not died and was alive and well.  Both my mother and Marvin knew the story about William Scott going across the river with his mother on the street car to visit his father.

fyi:
We did find an obit for a William M. Martin of E. St. Louis, IL with a very similiar past as our missing grandfather and offer this information to anyone else looking for an elusive William. We include a pedigree for this William.  As it turns out this is not our William M. Martin.
 

 e-mail:Pat, PO Box 9, Mead, Nebraska 68041