PATRICK MARTIN

 Bio- Pen Pictures
SURNAMES:  DOYLE, TAYLOR

        One of the substantial citizens of San Jose Township is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He is a native of Ireland, born in County Wexford, January 1, 1833. His parents, Murtha and Nellie (nee Doyle) Martin, were of ancestry remarkable for intelligence and integrity. Mr. Martin was reared in his native country, and, January 9, 1852, when he was but nineteen years of age, left home for the purpose of emigrating to America, to cast his lot among a people much more like the Irish than is any other foreign nation. January 29, 1852, was the date of his embarkation, at London, on the ship Douglas, bound for San Francisco; and after a prolonged and tedious voyage, having to double Cape Horn, he at length arrived at the Golden Gate, August 22, 1853. He soon came to Santa Clara County, and made his home at the old Seven Mile House, with the Tennant family, with whom he had been acquainted before coming to this country.

What a satisfaction it was to find acquaintances in a region so far from the land of his nativity, especially friends with whom he could, at least for a time, make his home! But he had no capital, except his strong hands and a stout heart. A determination to win success, combined with rare energy, good habits, and sound business qualifications, enabled him at length to acquire a competence, and even more than sufficient for the needs of advancing years, and to win recognition from all who know him. He immediately engaged in farm work, which has ever since been his vocation. In 1864 he purchased the land where he now resides, which was then a wild spot, having never been cultivated; and all the improvements that have since been placed upon it are the work of his own hands. The handsome family residence, which is two stories in height, and has a ground area of thirty-two by forty feet, was erected in 1883, at a cost of $6,500. It has an extension twenty feet square, and a kitchen in the rear of this fourteen feet square. The ranch, which is ten miles distant from San Jose, on the Monterey road, consists of 550 acres, of which about 400 are cultivated for grain, and the remainder devoted to stock purposes. Wheat averages about fifteen sacks to the acre on this place, and hay about a ton and a half. The live-stock consists principally of cattle.

        February 16, 1863, is the date of Mr. Martin's marriage to Miss Annie Taylor, also a native of County Wexford, Ireland. They have four children, named Mamie Ellen, John M., MurthaWilliam, and Annie M.

 Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
Pg. 491

 

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