Thomas Pugh Martin

Thomas Pugh Martin, b. 1846 and d. in Monterey, Mexico, in 1910 (according to martin1965). He was the youngest son of Robert Campbell Martin, Sr..

Martin apparently arrived in Marshall, Texas, in February 1864 to join a Confederate regiment there, working “as a kind of clerk for Captain [F.] R[oberts].”¹ His father was apparently not enthusiastic about his mustering in.²

Later, Thomas also became enamored of a Corrie Taylor, daughter of a Texas family that was from South Carolina and apparently related to Governor Murrah; the pairing was apparently a source of regret to the rest of the family who speculated about their possible and engagement and eventually confronted him. At that point, Thomas admitted that he had become engaged.³ At least part of Martin, Sr.’s objection to the engagement of Thomas (who was then 18 years old) apparently stemmed from the financial losses he had suffered.⁴ Other family members suspected that the Taylors mistakenly believed Thomas to be wealthy and were only interested in an engagement on those grounds.⁵

Around this same time, Martin also told his father that he had inquired about wages available for hiring out slaves. Writing from “Poplar Lane Tex” he reported:

Bro. Bob would have answered your letter in relation to the hiring of the Negroes but did not have time.

I saw Cousin Albert in town, and got him to inquire about the wages for Negroes. He says it will be about as much as you can do to get the women & children hired for their food and clothing. The men can be hired in Tyler to Col. [G. H.] Hill, in charge of Ord. Works—to whom I have to report in a few days. I will write you again from there and let you know more. Cousin A. says that Col. H will certainly hire all the men. If you wish to have your men hired here you had better get Cousin Albert to see to it as I leave day after tomorrow for Tyler …⁶

As of October 1864, Thomas was stationed “permanently” in Tyler “as inspector at the armory.”⁷

After the war ended he apparently swore that he would never return to Lafourche, having never really repaired the breach with his family over his engagement, and instead “spoke about hiring Negroes in Marshall to take to the salt works,” perhas on commission.⁸ A later letter indicates that Thomas was “doing well at the salt works.”⁹

Around the same time, the family also learned that Thomas had gone ahead and married Corrie Taylor, and that “Mr. Sloan with whom Tommie was doing business is dead.” Maggie believed, however, that Thomas “intends to remain at work there until he has prepared himself for the practice of law.”¹⁰ After a chance encounter with him in a Marshall store, Maggie reported that Thomas intended to “keep house at the Sabine.”¹¹

A few years later, when Maggie visited Marshall family again, she found Thomas and Corrie still married and with a child. Her perception was that Thomas had done well in business: “He only pays $25 per month board for his family. He told me that for two years past he has been able to lay up about $1000 per annum.”¹² A subsequent letter indicates that Thomas was planning to move his family to Jefferson, and may have ended up in Austin.¹³ A later news clipping indicates that Martin was cashier of the National Bank of Jefferson from its founding up to 1876, at which point he resigned the position.¹⁴ Some reconciliation between Thomas and the family appears to have taken place in the 1870s.¹⁵