Dr. Samuel Martin Papers

Samuel D. Martin was born in Ireland in 1796. He was educated at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin and the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Initially, his plan was to join the British Navy, but instead he settled in Ireland and married. When his wife died less than a year later, he came to the United States and settled in Noblesville, Pa., where he married Helen Anderson.

In 1831 he joined the Pennsylvania militia as assistant surgeon. After gaining his citizenship in 1834, Dr. Martin and his family moved to Xenia, Ohio where bought the practice of Dr. Joseph Templeton of Xenia. He also purchased the Casbolt house located on East Main Street. This was his home until his death in 1879.

According to the 1850 census, the Martins had four daughters and two sons between the ages of 3 and 19. In 1859, Helen Martin died and Samuel married Nancy Ligett.

Dr. Martin was a man actively involved in the refinement of his profession. He received an honorary M.D. degree from the Medical College of Ohio in 1837. He acted as an instructor for many young men who desired to become physicians. One of his students was Harvey Robert McClellan, a well-known Xenia physician. He joined the Ohio State Medical Society in 1853 when its annual meeting was held in Dayton. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees that developed the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati.

Dr. Martin died June 21, 1879, following five years of being paralyzed.