Friday, July 28, 2017

Louisiana Martin, Perry Watson Cate and Francis Elijah Franklin

Louisiana Martin was born on May 4, 1865 in Bradley, Tennessee to John and Caroline Martin ().  She died on November 9, 1945 in Tuscumbia, Alabama, at the age of 80, and was buried in Sheffield, Alabama.   The first record that I can find of Louisiana is the 1870 census.  From it we are able to see that her father is either no longer alive or lives elsewhere.  Her brother, 21-year-old Samuel, is the main male of the household.  In the 1900 census, Louisiana (Lou) is the head of the household.  She has in her care her son, sister, two nieces and a nephew.  We learn that she did attend school and can read and write.  We are also able to see that she rents a house.  In the 1910 census she is married to Francis Franklin.  It appears that they have been married for five years.  From this we are also able to learn that they own their own farm and are mortgage free.  In the 1930 census we find Louisiana in Alabama with her son John and his second wife Annie.  There we discover that they are renting a farm.


(step-father of John Frank Martin)  Francis Elijah Franklin was born in Sep 1856 in Bradley County Tennessee.  He passed away on March 14, 1925 in Clinton, Anderson, Tennessee. 
I was also able to find several documents on him starting in 1860.  In the 1870, census it says that his occupation at 15, was a farmhand.  In the 1910 census it says that he is a self-employed farmer, that he cannot read or write, he owns his home without a mortgage.  It also says that he is already married to Louisiana and that John Frank Martin is his stepson.   In the 1920 census, he can read and write, he is a farmer and he is self-employed.  The next document that I found was his death certificate.  It says that his cause of death was paralysis and that he was buried in Clinton.

(biological father of John Frank Martin)  Dr. Perry Watson Cate
was born on October 12, 1854, in Polk, Tennessee, his father, Andrew, was 40 and his mother, Nancy, was 36. He had one son with Louisiana Martin in 1888. He died on December 10, 1915, in Cleveland, Tennessee, at the age of 61, and was buried in Bradley, Tennessee.  His only wife, Lillian Ross, died December 23, 1882 at the age of 19.  It was previously believed that Louisiana had had an affair with a married doctor with the last name Brown.  However, through dna analysis, it was discovered the Perry Cate was John Frank Martin's biological father and that he was in fact a widower.  In the 1870 census, Perry is 16-years-old.  At this time it says that he is still attending school along with two of his three siblings.  In the 1880 census it says that he is now a physician, his wife is keeping house and that they have a one-year-old daughter named Pearl.  In the 1900 census, we find that he is widowed.  We also discover that he has another daughter, Inez R Cate, and a son-in-law, Benjamin Hornsby.  All of them are able to both read and write.  We are also able to see that they rent a farm.  In 1910 his occupation has changed from physician to farmer.  He now owns his own farm and works for himself.   Perry Cate passed away five years later from cirrhosis of the liver and complications according to his death records.

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