The colonization of the North American continent in the modern times began with the arrival of three boat loads of immigrants in May 1607, on the northeast shore of the James River in Virginia, on the site of present day Jamestown.

One of the leaders was Captain John Smith, with a score of companions, he sailed into several of the many bays and river openings along the zigzagging east coast and became acquainted with the lay of the land. Having done nothing to provide food for the winter, more than half of the colony succumbed from illness and lack of food.

The summer of 1608 brought them new supplies from England and 120 more immigrants. In the fall of 1608 the colony of 130 or 140 persons were augmented by the arrival of 70 more immigrants in the third expedition to Virginia.

At the beginning of the winter of 1609 the colony consisted of 490 persons. When the spring of 1610 arrived only 60 persons were left in the colony.

Determined to return to England, the group embarked. The ship was coming out of the mouth of the James River when Virginia bound ships under the command of Lord Delaware came in sight. Against their own judgment, the disgruntled colonists were persuaded to return to their abandoned homes. Early 1610 more food and additional colonists arrived from England.

Virginia became a royal colony in 1624. From then until 1776 when it was announced its independence it was in almost constant trouble with the Crown.

Every month in the year, with the exception of the winter months, saw boat loads of new immigrants arriving. More and more settlements were established, some as far north as the Potomac River. By 1700 there were more than 80,000 persons living in the Tidewater region of Virginia.

Virginia was the tenth state to join the union in 1788. The western portion of the state withdrew from Virginia in 1861 and in 1863 became West Virginia.

Depressed by the constant persecution in England of the members of the Roman Catholic Church, with which he had become affiliated, Lord Baltimore (George Calvert), a member of Parliament and Secretary of State of James I from 1609 to 1625, sponsored movements to establish colonies in America for the persecuted religionists in his homeland.

Failing in his first attempt to build a colony in Newfoundland about 1620, he persuaded the King of England to grant him land for a colony farther south along the Atlantic Coast. After the grant was made, but before the charter had been signed, Lord Baltimore died. King Charles I then transferred the grant to Lord Baltimore’s son, Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore.

The grant included all of the land between the fortieth parallel and the southern bank of the Potomac River. The first contingent of emigrants to be shipped to the new colony in 1634 consisted of about twenty Catholic gentlemen and two hundred Protestant laborers. They established a settlement about nine miles up the St. George’s River, which empties into the north side of the Potomac River, near its mouth.

Already occupying Kent Island in the Chesapeake Bay, just opposite the present side of Annapolis, were William Claiborne, a Virginia planter, and a large group of settlers he had brought there from Virginia several years ahead of the Calvert colonists.

The Maryland colony enjoyed a rapid growth. This was due, in a measure, to the pronouncement of its founder that religious toleration and protection would be extended to Christians of whatever shad of religious belief who would come there to establish their homes.

Prince George’s County was created by an act of the Colonial Assembly meeting in Annapolis in May 1695, from Calvert County which was created in 1654 and Charles County which was created in 1658. The County was named for Prince George of Denmark, husband of Princess Anne who later became Queen of England. When the County was first formed its boundaries were the Pawtuxet River on the east, the colony of Pennsylvania on the north, and the Potomac River and the distant Blue Ridge Mountains on the west. The boundaries of the County were changed in 1748 and again in 1791, when Prince George’s gave most of the land for the building of the nation’s capital, the District of Columbia. No other changes have been made since then.

Lanham, Maryland is located just east of Washington D.C., just outside of the present Beltway. Maryland became the seventh state in 1788.

Long before any white man had explored the entire Kentucky area, it was claimed by Virginia.

In 1774, James Harrod and his party came down the Ohio River, then into the Kentucky River and established the first permanent English settlement at Harrodsburg, now Mercer County, Kentucky.

In 1775 Daniel Boone led a party to clear the Wilderness Road from the Cumberland Gap into the center of the state. No sooner had the road been cleared than Richard Henderson led a group along it and established a settlement in 1775, called Boonesborough. The building of Fort Boonesborough began 20 April 1775 and it is claimed to have been completed July 1776. There were only 30 cabins in the Fort plus other buildings. A copy of the Declaration of Independence reached Boonesborough in August 1775. The Shawnee attacked Boonesborough.

In 1779 there were 120 houses located in and around the Fort, according to the 1810 Census the population of the Fort and surrounding area had dwindled to only 68. By this time the pioneers had scattered about the county, settling on their land and building new homes.

In December 1776 the Kentucky area was designated as Kentucky County, Virginia.

In 1780 it was divided into three counties, Fayette, Jefferson and Lincoln. By 1790 those three counties were subdivided into nine counties, including Merecer and Madison, which came into being in 1786 from Lincoln County. Madison County at that time comprised much more area than the present day county.

On June 1, 1792, Kentucky became the fifteenth state.

The first actual American settlement in Missouri was in 1787. In 1795 American settlements were established on Femme Osage creek in what is now St. Charles County, north of St. Louis. It was then called Upper Louisiana or New Spain.

From 1682 until 1803 control over the Missouri section was passed back and forth between France and Spain. In the Louisiana Purchase, consummated in 1803, ownership passed into the hands of the United States.

In 1805 became a part of the Territory of Louisiana and remained so until 1812, when it became a territory in its own name. At that time it claimed a population of 20,000.

Missouri became the twenty fourth state in 1821. The area of the present counties of Platte, Buchanan, Andrew, Holt, Atchison and Nodaway, originally was not considered a part of Missouri, but was at that time the home of the Sac and Fox Indians, of Missouri, where reservations had been previously granted them by solemn treaty.

The principle advantage of acquisition of this area was that the state would then have a natural boundary line - the Missouri River - between the whites and Indians, also the people already located in the counties contiguous to this territory on the east could avail themselves of the transportation facilities offered by the Missouri River, without being compelled to cross the Indian territory.

This territory was acquired by treaty in 1836, and known as the Platte Purchase. From this territory was formed the counties of Platte in 1838, Buchanan in 1839, Andrew in 1841, Holt in 1841, Atchison in 1845 and Nodaway in 1845.

Illinois was part of the Northwest Territory, which the United States obtained after the Revolutionary War with Great Britain. It became part of the United States in 1783. It was organized as an American Territory in 1787. It included the land north and west of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River and south of Canada.

Illinois became the third of five territories and eventual states formed from that area. Illinois became the twenty first state in 1818.

Morgan County was created in 1823 from Sangamon County.

Adams County was formed in 1825.

The Waverely area is located in the southeastern part of Morgan County.

Texas has been under the jurisdiction of six separate governments since 1685, those of France, Spain, Mexico the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy, and the United States.

In 1820 the white settlers of Texas were very few, but a short time later former residents of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee were brought into the section under the leadership of Moses Austin and his son, Stephen. By 1830 more than 20,000 Americans had become tillers of Texas soil.

Texas became the twenty eighth State in 1845.

The town and county of ROCKWALL, Texas, takes its name from an underground wall of rock, which was discovered just west of the town of Rockwall in 1852 by B. F. Boydstun, who had settled in this community in 1848. The wall was discovered while digging a well, the wall at this time formed a part of the curbing for the well.

The town of Rockwall, Kaufman County, Texas was first platted on 17 April 1854 and replatted on 6 September 1861. Rockwall County was created from the northeast corner of Kaufman County in 1873, and the smallest county in the state of Texas.

The town of Rockwall is located approximately 20 miles northeast of downtown Dallas, which came into being only a few years before Rockwall.

According to the 1880 Census Report, the population of the village of Rockwall was 222.

After Oklahoma became part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, it was included in the Indiana Territory. In 1812 it was combined with the Missouri Territory, and in 1819 with the Arkansas Territory. For several years, most of Oklahoma was included in what was called the Indian Territory, which continued until about 1893 when the section was divided into the Indian Territory and the Oklahoma Territory, the latter being thrown open to white settlements.

ALTUS is located in the southwest part of Oklahoma, shown on a 1891 Rand McNally map as “Unassigned Land.”

Settlers began coming into the area in the early 1880’s and by 1886 several families lived in the area and the village of Frazer came into being, located 21 to 22 miles west of the present location of Altus, near Bitter Creek.

On 4 June 1891, a cloud burst occurred and that night Bitter Creek went well out of its banks and flooded the buildings at Frazer. This caused the people to look east toward higher ground and the creation of Altus at its present site came into being in 1900.

In 1901 the name was changed to Leger, in order to secure a railroad to serve the area. However there was a delay by the railroad and in 1904 the name was changed back to Altus.

In 1906 the Supreme Court ruled this area to be a part of Oklahoma Territory, Greer County (Texas had claimed this area, and others thought it was a part of Indian Territory). Oklahoma became the forty sixth State in 1907, with the creation of Jackson County out of Greer County, and Altus as the county seat.

MARTHA, is located 6 miles north and 3 miles west of Altus. The first store, post office and school were established in 1889. The first Sunday School was organized in 1888 by the Rev. J. T. Hosmer, who organized the Methodist Church in Altus in 1889, also the Methodist Church in Vernon, Texas in 1881.

At one time Martha had: A school, 4 cotton gins, drug store, 3 grocery and general merchandise stores, 4 service stations, 2 garages, 2 blacksmith shops, bank, cafe, lumber yard, feed and seed store, telephone co., post office, Methodist and Baptist Church. Little remains of Martha in 1996.

The 1940 Census reports the population as 242.

HESS, is located 11 miles south and 3 miles east of Altus. At one time had several stores and school, at present very little exist.

DOANS CROSSING, the Red River cattle crossing was located in the Hess area.

In the year of 1885, just four years before Martha was Martha, Clint Maddox with his little family located here, and was perhaps the first settlers. W.T. Medlin, a Baptist Minister, camped with his family in this small settlement.

In 1888 Miss Martha Medlin taught the first school in a dugout located about one-half mile north and one-half mile west of the present Martha Post Office, with an enrollment of twelve pupils. This was a "Subscription School", where the money for both the school and the teacher’s salary was donated by the patrons. In 1889 the first school house was built. The children came barefooted, brought their lunches in pails, sat on benches made of rough lumber and studied old newspapers, catalogs, and magazines as well as a few books. Some few had slates. Mr. I.B.Gee, whose son Joe was a student of this early school, plowed a furrow from his house to the old sod school house so children could have a path to guide them through the lush sage grass, mesquite bushes and to protect them from the many rattle snakes.

The name "MARTHA" was selected for this settlement honoring its first school teacher, Miss Martha Jane Medlin, a dark haired, grey-eyed girl of fine Christian character and leadership. After a petition was circulated and sent to Washington, Miss Medlin was appointed in 1889, Martha’s first Post Mistress. Mail was brought here by stage coach from Texas.

On June 4, 1891, a flood which was accompanied by a terrible hail and electrical storm brought such high waters that it was necessary to move the cemetery from the Cummingham place just west of Martha to the present cemetery site. It was this time that Old Frazier was moved to the present location of ALTUS.

It was about the year 1889 that the Martha settlers were alarmed by the news that a band of Indians, five hundred strong, has camped east bank of the North Fork Red River, and were making merry in dance and feasting in preparations for the war path. The settlers brought available weapons to the Maddox blacksmith shop, strung barb wire across Bitter Creek, set guards to watch for the Indians, and waited anxiously. Soldiers from nearby Fort Sill were sent in to disband them and they moved on peacefully.

Union Sunday School met each Sunday in the school building with the Baptist’s Minister, T.F. Medlin and the Methodist’s Minister, J. T. Hosmer holding services on alternating Sundays. Martha is indeed proud of its wonderful heritage resulting from high moral standards set by the early settlers, who were courageous in the face of many crises.

Time has made many changes in Martha during the last 90 years. The grass covered prairie has turned into modern equipped farms and the dugouts have been left for modern homes. Good years and bad years have been on the calendar-years when the land produced more than a bale of cotton to the acre and again when it was so dry that the birds died of thirst.

The school, too, has made many changes since the dugout days, becoming an accredited High School in 1917. In 1920, the districts of Orient, Wheatland, Center, and Martha formed Martha Consolidated District No. 9, and the bus transportation was begun. The present brick building, with its many facilities, was constructed in 1930. Martha lost its high school in the year 1967.

Martha is justly proud of its alumni that have gone on to make their contribution to nearly every part of the globe. Only eternity will reveal the full extent of this vast influence on mankind.

This history was prepared for a reunion of Martha grads in about 1975.

Oran Stroud Lanham completed his schooling in Martha. At the age of 15 he drove a school bus for two years, was a top flight student and was a recognized tennis player for the school team.

At one time Martha had: A school, 4 cotton gins, drug store, 3 grocery and general merchandise stores, 4 service stations, 2 garages, 2 blacksmith shops, bank, cafe, lumber yard, feed and seed store, telephone co., post office, Methodist and Baptist Church.

Clifford W Lanham’s grandparents, T. B. Lanham had his house about a quarter of a mile from the church. Cliff Lanham grew up in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s and spent much time at the small farm and residence of his Grandparents. He has many cherished memories of his experiences on the farm and with his grandparents.

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