Biography of 	Martin, Thurston B. Logan Co., KY., then Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by 	Mike Miller August 2001

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Thurston B. Martin is president of the First National Life, Health & Accident Insurance 
Company of New Orleans.  Mr. Martin has made a notable success in the insurance field, 
a business he has followed since leaving school, and has worked through all the grades 
of responsibility, long ago demonstrating unusual effectiveness as a business getter.

Mr. Martin was born in Logan County, Kentucky, August 27, 1884, son of Henry Richard 
and Alice (Cornelius) Martin.  Both parents were natives of Kentucky, and his father 
spent his life as a Kentucky farmer, growing corn, wheat and tobacco.  He was a member 
of the Methodist Church, and died December 4, 1916, while his widow, who is a Presbyterian, 
resides in Russellville, Kentucky.  Of their six children four are living.

Thurston B. Martin grew up on a farm, attended country schools, and had some share 
in the farm duties until the age of eighteen.  At that time he went to work in the 
office of an insurance company at a salary of $7 a week.  For three years of his 
working experience he remained in Chattanooga and was then transferred to Memphis, 
where he first attracted attention as an insurance salesman.  He remained in Memphis 
six years, and on January 1, 1914, was transferred to New Orleans, where he took the 
general agency for the Life & Casualty Company of Tennessee.  The first year he had 
charge of the New Orleans business the company took in $110,000 in premiums, while at 
the end of 1922 its annual volume of business in Louisiana was represented by more 
than $700,000.

Mr. Martin in 1923 became president of the First National Life. Health & Accident 
Insurance Company, and during that year he increased the volume of business 102 per 
Cent.  This company was established in 1914, and Mr. Martin now has eighty-five 
agents working under him.  The company at present confines its business entirely to 
Louisiana.

Mr. Martin married, in 1910, Miss Eva Belle Truax, a native of Indiana. Mrs. Martin 
is a member of the Baptist Church.  Fraternally he is affiliated with the Friends of
Harmony Lodge No. 58, F. and A. M., and Royal Arch Chapter No. 66.

NOTE:  The sketch is accompanied by a black and white photograph/drawing of the subject.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 355-356, by Henry E. Chambers.  Published by 
The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.