Tom Martin Chapter 4

 Later Life

   With the beginning of the new century Tom was left with 2 young children and no wife. Of course he had abandoned his first wife and 7 children, and she had remarried in 1893. She (Anne Marie) had married Joe Anderson who was a good stepfather for her children and they had produced a daughter, Eula. So Tom’s need for a wife may have instigated a mystery which may never be solved. But first the local newspaper, the Chelan Leader, ran a front page feature in the Thursday July 4 1901 issue. The article praised him for his service in the War of the Rebellion and for his enviable record as a loyal citizen. The reporter’s summary of his war record was almost entirely correct, but his knowledge of elementary arithmetic led him to conclude that Tom must have joined the Union army at the age of 14. Thus another consequence of Tom’s variable birth date.

   Now to the mystery. There is a document in the Washington State Marriage Records 1854 - 2013; Whitman County marriages 1902 Jan - Apr. The document is numbered 1389 and includes:

   Mary E. Robertson (nee Zimmerman), a widow, b. Ohio, age 49

   Married Apr 18, 1902 to

   Thomas J. Martin, b. Illinois, age 55, residence Chelan, a farmer

   Father Joel, Mother Elizabeth

   Married in Colfax, Whitman County, WA

   Marriage performed by Judge Chadwick

   Witnesses O.L. Kennedy and Harry M. Love

It seems virtually impossible that there could be another Thomas J. Martin, living in the same place, born of the same parents, etc. And yet I have found no evidence that Tom and Mary ever lived together, or that Mary ever took the Martin name. Mary and Mr Robertson had moved from Ohio first to Nebraska and then later to Palouse. They had 6 children and apparently farmed right on the Washington/Idaho line. Mr Robertson died in 1895 and is buried in Viola, ID, and later Mary moved to Clarkston, WA. She died in 1925 and is buried there.

Is it possible that Tom and Mary, both widowed and with young children, married in desperate need of a partner but very soon realized their union would not work?

   Tom returned to Chelan and in Sept 1902 he applied for a pension increase from $6.00 to $12.00 per month. He was ordered to report to a doctor in Wenatchee before a certain date in 1903, and he failed to report in time. His application was rejected. Sometime in 1903 and early 1904 Tom moved to Burnt Ranch in Trinity County, California. He applied again and was ordered to a doctor in Hoopa, who in October 1905 gave him a thorough exam . Tom’s measurements were: 5’8”, 150 lbs, blue eyes, light hair, fair complexion. He had a corneal ulcer of the right eye and very minor symptoms of rheumatism. His application was again rejected. He continued several times to apply again, until 1907. He was now living in Chinaflat, Humboldt county, CA. At the age of 62 he would qualify for a pension increase even without a physical exam, and he very probably turned 62 in 1906. However his “variable” birth date gummed up the works again. Finally, all parties involved agreed to accept Oct 23, 1844 as the date of his birth, and as of June 1908 he began to receive $12.00 per month.

   When Tom moved to Northern California in 1903 or 1904, he left baby Zola with her grandparents. He probably also left Willy too, but sometime before 1910 he

brought Willy to California with him. In 1910 Tom was the cook in a boarding house in Yreka, and Willy was living in a nearby neighbor’s house. He was 15 and was probably working as a farm hand. Tom had 9 children and he never acknowledged the oldest 7 after he left them in 1886. He probably never saw Zola after 1903 or 1904, and Willy after 1914. The rest of the Martin clan did not know that Willy and Zola existed until fairly recently. As it turned out, Willy joined the U. S. Army in 1914 as a Private and fought in WWI. He spent the rest of his life in the Klamath Falls area, married and lived to 101, dying in 1996. Zola stayed in the Central Washington area all her life, married and died in 1976.

   Tom stayed in Northern California, and in 1912 he was in Yreka, Siskiyou County. His pension was increased to $16.00 per month, and Tom’s brother Levi wrote to the Bureau of Pensions asking for Tom’s address. Levi had been farming in Prescott, Arkansas for at least 20 years and had not heard from Tom for several years. I don’t know if Tom and Levi got back in touch.

   Finally in 1914 Tom won the prize - he was admitted to the Soldier’s Home, at Sawtelle, Los Angeles County, as of Nov 4, 1914. The Soldier’s Homes were established by the federal government in several places around the country, starting in 1887. They were intended for veterans who were disabled and/or elderly and did not have the means to support themselves. I would have assumed that he would move into the Soldier’s Home promptly, but he remained in Yreka for more than another year. His reaching 70 (based on his birth date of Oct 23 1844) made him eligible to live in the Soldier’s Home and also a boost in his pension. However, what I can determine from his correspondence with the Bureau of Pensions is that there was a new commissioner at the Bureau who was not accepting the Oct 23 1844 birth date. Here is an example of some of the correspondence:

      DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF PENSIONS

Washington

      Mr Thomas J. Martin

      Yreka, California

 Sir:

         Your claim for increase of pension under the Act of May 11, 1912 requires        

      your explanation, under oath, of the discrepancy in your statements, giving    

      October 3 and October 23, 1844, October 23, 1845 and November 3, 1843

      as the date of your birth, and you should state the correct date, without oath,

      the name of the town or township, county and state in which you resided 

      during the summers of 1850 and 1860; with whom you then lived; the full 

      names of your parents, brothers and sisters living in June 1850 and June

      1860, and, if you lived in a city, you should state your street and between     

      what streets.

                                                         Very respectfully,

                                                             E. C. Tiemann

                                                         Acting Commissioner

Here is a bit from Tom’s hand-written letter (including mistakes) to the Bureau of Pensions:

…it was nessary for me to furnish a Recrd of my Birth in reply Will say it is imposabel for me to do so as thair Was no record only our family record and I have not saw it since 1868 When I left my home my father was ded When I left and my mother did in 1872 and the home was burnt up and I lost trace of the record and have no means of finding it… 

 Finally, in 1916 Tom moved into the Soldier’s Home, Sawtelle, Los Angeles, California and his pension increased to $24 per month. Other occurrences in 1916 were that Levi wrote again to the Bureau of Pensions asking for Tom’s address, and also on March 27 1916, in the Soldier’s Home Chapel, Tom married Barbara C. Palmer, a resident of Sawtelle, white, 63 years old, widowed, and 2 prior marriages. Her late husband was a veteran and evidently she had remained at or near the Soldier’s Home (her first husband, deceased, was not a veteran).

   Tom and Barbara must have lived together, but only Tom’s name was on the list of “inmates” which the old soldiers were called on census documents. Tom and presumably Barbara left Sawtelle and he officially transferred to the Soldier’s Home in Johnson City, TN on March 18, 1920. This was evidently meant to be a short stay on the way to Florida, as Tom was officially discharged from Johnson City on Sep 15, 1920.

   Tom and Barbara arrived in St Cloud, FL shortly after leaving Johnson City, and they took up residence on Columbia Ave at 12th St. St Cloud was different from the Soldier’s Homes as it was not run by the federal government; it was essentially a small town that had been built especially for veterans. It was a precursor to retirement “towns” such as Leisure World, and was probably more comfortable for couples than the Soldier’s Homes. Depending on which birth date is chosen, Tom was 75 or 76 and his health was failing.

   In 1923 Tom applied for the maximum amount for his pension because of the extent of his disability. The examining doctor’s comments were: “The claimant is an invalid, suffering tuberculosis of glands which develop in old abscesses. The abscesses suppurate profusely and do not heal. The claimant requires help all the time being totally disabled and not able to dress, undress, or care for himself at any time in any capacity.”

   The pension increase was approved and his pension of $72 per month commenced Nov 1, 1923.

   On June 3, 1924 Thomas Jefferson Martin died. He was buried in Mount Peace Cemetery, St Cloud, Florida.