Logan County, West Virginia Biography of Charles Alexander MARTIN, M. D. This file was submitted by CJ Towery, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, page 238 CHARLES ALEXANDER MARTIN, M. D. Some of the most important service rendered by the medical profession in West Virginia is that given by the physicians and surgeons who attended the eases of illness and injury among the population grouped around the mines. That has been the service of Doctor Martin practically ever since he graduated from medical college, and since 1913 his home and headquarters have been at Amherstdale in Logan County. Doctor Martin was born in Dawson, Greenbrier County, December 5, 1879, son of Obediah C. and Sallie (Lowry) Martin. Obediah C. Martin, who died in 1893, at the age of sixty-eight, was a native of Greenbrier County, son of Joseph Martin, and followed farming and the carpenter trade as his life's occupation and became very well to do. He was a democrat in politics. Doctor Martin has two brothers, Joseph L., in business at Charleston, and William L. at Springdale. The mother of these sons died in April, 1880, at the age of thirty-five years. Doctor Martin was five months old when his mother died, and he was reared in the home of her uncle, Thomas Lowry, at Springdale. He attended public school in Fayette County, and he had to make every opportunity count to provide for his own living and secure a higher education. At the age of eighteen he became a teacher, and he taught six terms of school in Fayette County, at $35.00 per month. During 1900 he attended Marshall College at Huntington, and from 1904 to 1908 pursued his medical studies in the University of Louisville. In 1919 he again returned to his alma mater for post graduate study. After graduating in 1908 he practiced four and a half years around the mines at Harvey and Fayette County, and then came to Amherstdale, about the time the mines were being opened in this section of Logan County. His practice as a mining physician and surgeon has associated him with the Amherst Coal Company, Proctor Coal Company, Buffalo Eagle Coal Company, Madne Coal Company and Proctor Eagle Coal Company. At one time he had charge of the practice for about eleven mines. Doctor Martin in 1913 married Beulah Thrash of Roane County, West Virginia, daughter of C. C. Thrash. They have two children: Bess and Shirley. Mrs. Martin is a member of the Methodist Church. Doctor Martin is affiliated with McDonald Lodge No. 103, F. and A. M., at Mount Hope, the Royal Arch Chapter of Thurmond, West Virginia Consistory No. 1 of the Scottish Rite at Wheeling, and Beni Kedem Temple, A. A. 0. N. M. S. He is a member of the Logan County, West Virginia State and American Medical Associations. Doctor Martin has been a personal witness of nearly all the important phases in the development of Buffalo Valley. In 1899 he drove a wagon down the valley, long before a railroad was built or before the operation of the mines was considered.