Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Nelson Martin

According to his death certificate, Christopher Nelson Martin was born in 1827 to Richard and Sallie Teller Martin. Records on file at Erie County Probate Court list November 23, 1852 as the marriage date of a Nelson martin and Phebe Reed. The 1900 Erie County Census shows Phoebe martin's birthplace as England and her birth year to be 1834.

Christopher Nelson Martin died on December 30, 1909. His obituary in the January 1, 1910 Sandusky Register reported that Mr. Martin's funeral was to be held at his home in Crystal Rock. On January 9, 1910, Mrs. C. N. Martin placed a "Card of Thanks" in the local newspaper, in which she thanked the Knights of the Maccabees, the clergymen, and the funeral director, Mrs. John J. Marquart. The article ended with this phrase:

"Rest in peace dearest father,
Thou art gone but not forgotten."

Mrs. C. N. Martin passed away on August 4, 1915.

A 50-year History booklet, printed by the Village of Bay View in 2001, tells us that the father of C.N. Martin, Richard Martin, came to the area now known as Bay View in the early 1800's. He owned and farmed the land, which was known in the early days as "Martin's Point." Martin's Point Road is the name of the portion of State Route 269 which runs through the western edge of the Village of Bay View today. (Image below from Google Maps.)



Descendants of Richard Martin lived in the Crystal Rock and Venice areas of Erie County for many years.

The tombstone for Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Nelson Martin is located in the Castalia Cemetery. The shape of the monument is an open book lying atop a tree stump. (Click on images for an enlarged view.)



Though covered with lichen, and quite worn, the initials and last name of the couple appear on the pages of the open book, with their birth and death years listed below their names.