Samuel Martin (1744 - 1790)

Born 1744 in Lebanon, Hunterdon, New Jersey

Ancestors

Died 11 Mar 1790 at about age 46 in Mecklenburg, North Carolina, United States

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Biography

Samuel was born in New Jersey in 1744. He was the son of Hugh Martin and Jane Hunter. After his father’s death in 1761 Samuel inherited a portion of the Estate. In 1769 he moved with his family to Orange, Virginia where his brother Thomas was the Rector of a church and a tutor of children of a wealthy landowner. After Thomas’s death in 1770, Samuel’s mother and younger siblings moved to Rockingham County, North Carolina to his brother Alexander’s Danbury Plantation and Samuel moved to Mecklenburg County where he became part of its leadership. Samuel was a signer of the Mecklenburg Resolves of May 1775, a precursor to the War for Independence which declared Crown laws and authorities null and void. During the Revolutionary War Samuel was a Captain in the Mecklenburg County Regiment. He later made bad management decisions and died insolvent. He passed away in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina in 1790 at age 45. He is buried in the Martin Family Cemetery in Stokes County, North Carolina.

Notes

• Named in Hugh Martin’s 1761 Will as Son, Executor and Witness. Brothers Alexander and Thomas had been given a Princeton education as their inheritance while Samuel and brothers James and Robert were to divide the New Jersey estate.

• It is almost certain Samuel as a signer of the Mecklenburg Resolves of 1775 was also a Patriot in the Revolutionary War. Records found indicate there may have been more than one Samuel Martins in the North Carolina enlistments but this was probably his record: Martin, Samuel Mecklenburg County Regiment 1780 1781 1780, a Captain under Maj. Robert Wilson at the battle of Ramseur's Mill. Sep. 1780, a Captain under Col. William Richardson Davie (NC State Cavalry-Western District). 1781, a Captain under Col. Robert Irwin. April 1781, in SC unit. Ramseur's Mill, Wahab's Plantation (SC), Fort Granby #1 (SC), Cowan's Ford. In April 1781, this unit was assigned to Lt. Col. William Polk, who had assembled a new regiment of Light Dragoons for the state of South Carolina.

• No records found of having married but reportedly he had a daughter who went to live at the Danbury Plantation until she was married.

• No Will found but his Estate was inventoried and probated in 1790 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina with his brother Alexander Martin as one of the Administrators.

Sources

• Ancestry.com. New Jersey, Abstract of Wills, 1670-1817 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.Original data: New Jersey State Archives. New Jersey, Published Archives Series, First Series. Trenton, New Jersey: John L Murphy Publishing Company. SAMUEL AS SON IN HUGH MARTIN’S WILL.

• Carolana.com;J.D. Lewis,2013;The American Revolution in North Carolina;Captain Samuel Martin of Mecklenburg County.

• Wills and Estate Papers (Mecklenburg County), 1663-1978; Author: North Carolina. Division of Archives and History (Raleigh, North Carolina); Probate Place: Mecklenburg, North Carolina;Source Information;Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.Original data: North Carolina County, District and Probate Courts.SAMUEL MARTIN ESTATE PROBATED 1790.

• Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.Find A Grave.https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/67224834

• ”Governor Alexander Martin, A Biography of a North Carolina Revolutionary War Statesman” by Charles D. Rodenbough;2004;McFarland &Co. Inc. p.14, 21, 27, 35-36, 42, 142.