David George Martin

David Groves Martin

• Birth: 24 Mar 1815 - Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, USA
• Death: 16 Dec 1905 (aged 90) - Oroville, Butte County, California, USA
• Burial: Old Oroville Cemetery - Oroville, Butte County, California, USA Plot: Masonic section
• Parents: William Martin and Eleanor (Doneley) Martin
• Spouse: Julia Adelaide (Hulse) Martin

Children:

1. Susan Caroline (Martin) Reagan
2. Ebenezer Martin
3. William John Martin
4. Franklin Pierce Martin
5. Pvt. George Alexander Martin, (USA)
6. Harriet Jessie (Martin) Hensley

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Biography

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/34888904/david-groves-martin

Note: a record of David's daughter born 1857 in Bidwell Bar shows father George Martin and mother Adelaide Martin Only knew his middle as Groves, so by record his middle name was actually George and Groves could had been another middle name since Groves is in the marriage records etc. Explains his son name George and he had a brother name George validated in his father's will.

Bio:

Before moving to Bidwell Bar for Gold rush was a Marshal of the city in Keokuk, Lee, Iowa. Was a Miner and Baptist minister in California and built the first congregational church also preached at the first Orange tree in California to Veterans, miners and drunks. Became a farmer as shows in 1860 census in Bidwell township. Martin's had a business buying gold from Miners and prospecting in Bidwell Bar and continued on two generations in the family after David.

David G Martin home and grave was covered by the lake.

Bidwell's Bar (also known as Bidwell Bar) was a gold mining camp in Butte County, California and which lay at the end of the California Trail.

It was founded by John Bidwell, who discovered gold near the Middle Fork of the Feather River in 1848. By 1851, the camp had attracted enough miners to warrant a post office, and by 1853, the town's population swelled to 3,000, becoming prominent enough to become the county seat. A fire destroyed much of the town in 1854, but it was quickly rebuilt.

Ferrying people and supplies across the river proved to be difficult, especially during the winter months, and funds were raised to construct the Bidwell Bar Bridge, the first suspension bridge west of the Mississippi River. The bridge was completed in 1856.

As quickly as the town rose, it went into decline. By the end of 1856, the year the bridge was completed, the gold disappeared and the "San Francisco Bulletin" called it "Another Deserted Village." Miners were instead going to nearby Ophir (now Oroville). Within a year, the population was down to 200, and by 1882, only 30 people remained. The last remnants of the town were submerged with the creation of Lake Oroville in 1968, and only the original bridge and the clock tower (in Butte County Historical Museum) are left. Another survivor of the town is the Mother Orange Tree, the first orange tree in Northern California.

The site of the town has been declared a California Historical Landmark (# 330)

References

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Nov 7 2023, 2:43:34 UTC

https://goldennuggetlibrary.sfgenealogy.org/btreag.htm