Fonds F1234 - Martin family fonds

Daniel Martin, 1838-1918, was born in Belfast, Ireland and came to Canada in 1861. He lived for some years in St. Thomas, Ontario, and Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA before settling in Gleichen, Alberta in 1884 as farm instructor on the Blackfoot (Siksika) reserve. In 1886 the family homesteaded east of Gleichen and in 1897 moved north to Rosebud Creek. He married Julia Ann Crowley and they had eight children, Mary (Wishart), 1874-1931, Margaret (Brereton), 1876-1943, James, 1879-?, Daniel, 1882-1943, William, 1884-?, John Julius, 1888-1973, Alice, 1891- , and Annie (Hamilton), 1894- . John worked with his family and neighbouring ranchers until about 1914 when he joined his brother-in-law, David Brereton, on the Blackfoot reserve as an instructor and cook. In 1917 he married Millicent Vigar and they farmed in the Rosebud area.

In his later years he published a number of books on the history of the Rosebud area including The Rosebud Trail (1963), The Prairie Hub (1967), Westward Bound (1968) and The Dinosaur Valley (1971). For further information see Stone Gods and Haunted Schoolhouses : Nostalgia and Vernacular Local History in Rosebud, Alberta, 1960-1983 / Janene Rae Holman. -- unpublished MA thesis, University of Calgary, 2015.