From History of Walworth County Wisconsin, Vol. II, by Albert Clayton 
Beckwith, Publ. 1912 - Page 1098-1099
 
JAMES TREADWELL MARTIN.  No state in the Union can boast of a more heroic band 
of pioneers than Wisconsin.  In their intelligence, capacity and loyalty to 
the right they have no superiors.  Most of them have come from the Old Empire 
state, and in their daring and heroism they have been equal to the Missouri 
and California argonauts.  Their privations, hardships and earnest labors have 
resulted in establishing one of the foremost commonwealths in America, and one 
which still has great possibilities before it.  A member of this worthy band 
is James Treadwell MARTIN, long one of our thrifty agriculturists, who is now 
living retired in Lake Geneva.  Thus partly because he is a pioneer and partly 
because he is a veteran of the "grand army" that saved the nation a half 
century ago, he is worthy of our consideration here.
 
Mr. MARTIN was born in Prattsville, Green county, New York, on February 18, 
1835.  He is the son of Frederick and Elizabeth (STEELE) MARTIN, the father a 
native of Upper Province, Canada, and the mother of England, he being of 
German descent, and a man of large mental endowment, being able to speak seven 
languages, Latin, Greek, English, German, Indian and others.  Elizabeth STEELE 
came to this country from England when nineteen years old.
 
James T. MARTIN grew to manhood in his native county in New York and received 
his education in the common schools there.  In 1856 he was united in marriage 
with Lucy Lovina BARTLETT, daughter of Lock D. and Miriam (RICE) BARTLETT.  
She was born in Chemung county, New York, near Elmira, and like Mr. MARTIN, 
she came of a long and sturdy ancestry.
 
Mr. MARTIN enlisted in company B, Forty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer 
Infantry, in 1863 and saw service in Maryland for three months.  He was 
honorably discharged in August 1864, and he again enlisted in Company D, 
Fiftieth New York Engineers, and was honorably discharged on June 13, 1865, 
after a very faithful service.
 
Mr. MARTIN moved with his family to Walworth county, Wisconsin, in 1867 and 
bought twenty-nine acres south of the west end of Lake Como.  After living 
there about six years he sold out and bought forty-five acres a mile northeast 
of Lake Geneva, in the town of Lyons, and there he lived many years.  In 1902 
he bought a place at Fergus Falls and lived there two years, then returned to 
his present home in Lake Geneva.  He still owns a fine residence and other 
lots in Fergus Falls.
 
Mr. MARTIN's family consists of five children: Emma; Jane, wife of J. V. 
SEYMOUR, a sketch of whom appears herein; Hannah Eliza is the wife of James 
McCROSSON, of Elkhorn, and lives in North Dakota; James Franklin is on a farm 
of his own in the southeastern part of Lyons township, this county; George B. 
McClellan MARTIN is now in the laundry business at Howard; Nelson lives in 
Lake Geneva, where he has been street commissioner for four years.
 
James T. MARTIN has been married fifty-five years.  He is a member of the 
Grand Army of the Republic.
 
Submitted by Carol