Benjamin D. Martin

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little color on top. Benjamin D. Martin.

Born February 21, 1823. And if you're keeping score on a life well lived, he made it all the way to March 28, 1891. That's a long road, and he used every mile of it.

He came out of Virginia, pointed himself toward Texas, and by the 1850s he had put down roots right here in Hunt County. Now, some men arrive somewhere and wait for history to find them. Benjamin Martin was not that kind of man.

When the Confederate army called, Martin didn't just show up, he organized. He put together Texas Sharpshooters, a company that went by the name Ben Martin's Company. That tells you something right there.

When a military unit takes your name, you were not standing in the back of the room. After the war, Greenville needed a mayor. In 1873, Benjamin D.

Martin became the first mayor of Greenville under the present regime. And he was just gettin' warmed up. In 1875, he helped draft the Texas Constitution.

The next year, 1876, he took a seat in the state senate, and he held it through 1878. Then, in 1884, Greenville called on him one more time, and he answered, serving as mayor again. The marker says he rendered outstanding public service in a long career, and there is not a word in that sentence doing unnecessary work.

Back in 1845, before any of the battles and ballots and constitutions, Martin had married Elizabeth Caroline Dickenson. Together they raised six children. A man who built a family, built a company, shaped a city, and put his hand to the founding document of a state.

That's the full measure of Benjamin D. Martin, right there on a marker in Hunt County.

What the marker says

(Feb. 21, 1823 - Mar. 28, 1891) Came to Texas from Virginia and settled in Hunt County in 1850s. In Confederate army, organized Texas Sharpshooters, called "Ben Martin's Company." First mayor of Greenville (present regime), 1873; helped draft Texas Constitution, 1875; state senator, 1876-1878; and Greenville mayor again, 1884. He rendered outstanding public service in a long career. Married Elizabeth Caroline Dickenson in 1845. They had six children.