In our quest for more information about some of our “residents,” we present the following in hopes someone might help us attain more personal information or locate family members of the Martin family.
Frank M. Martin (1859-1931) was a publisher of newspapers in Caldwell and Woodsfield, Ohio. Apparently, an industrious man, Frank Martin was also very active in state and national Republican politics. He served several terms on the Republican state central committee from the 15th congressional district and served as the secretary of the state convention at least twice. The elder Martin received commission appointments from three consecutive Republican presidents – McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft – serving first as a supervisor of the 1900 census and later as postmaster in Woodfield. In 1902 Frank Martin ran for congress but evidently was not elected. Ten years before his death, Frank moved to Bexley but did not retire for another eight years. Several weeks after suffering a stroke, he passed away in his home.
Frank and Kate Martin had three sons – Donald, Samuel and Edmund. While both Edmund and Donald are entombed in the Abbey along with their parents, we know very little about Donald (1888- 1968). He served as executive secretary and counsel for the Ohio State Medical Association and was manager of the Ohio Manufacturers Association.
Edmund M. Martin (1886-1960) seemed cut from the same cloth as his father. As a youth he was a newspaper boy and apprentice printer on his father’s Noble County newspaper. After graduating from Marietta College and the National Law School in Washington, D.C., he returned to Caldwell and edited or published several local papers. In 1913 he headed to Washington where he held several important positions. He served as secretary to the late U.S. Senator Simeon D. Fess; special assistant to Postmaster General Walter Brown; journal and tally clerk in the U. S. House of Representatives, and secretary to five different congressmen. Edmund and his wife Mollie returned to Columbus in 1933, and until 1956 he served as the executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association. In May 1960 he died after an extended illness. His wife Mollie did not join him at the Abbey but was buried in Green Lawn Cemetery.
