schooner, and in company with Reuben Coffman and P. P. Hopson and their
families, set out for their new homes. Six weeks of travel brought them
to Pella. At the outskirts of the village they were met by Rev. E. O.
Towne, land agent, who learning that Mr. Martin and Mr. Hopson,
afterward a resident of Pella for many years, were anxious to abide in
the little town, took the women and children to his home while he and
Mr. Martin searched for places in which to house the two families. None
being found, the weary travelers drove to a small settlement in Polk
township, Marion county, now known as Coal Ridge, where they were warmly
welcomed by friends who had preceded them a few years. There Miss Martin
grew to womanhood.

In September, 1869, she came to Pella and was enrolled as a student at
"Old Central." Rev. E. H. Scarff was President at that time, and C. C.
Cory was at the head of the Grammar Department. Six months later, Miss
Martin was engaged as teacher in the public schools of Pella, and in
March, 1870, entered upon her duties. Prof. W. H. Post, an acquisition
from the East, was at the head. Miss Martin began her labors in a little
old building, just east of Vander Meulen' s, formerly used for church
purposes. (This school was located on the lot where Theophilis Tice now
lives).

But little had been done in the way of grading the schools, and Miss
Martin found the eighty pupils, for whom she had been chosen as guide
and mentor, of varied attainments. Many were numbered as the A. B. C.
Class; others ranged from First to Third Readers; the latter pursued the
study of Mental Arithmetic, too, upon which much stress was placed in
those days. School was taught until July 3rd. Then a vacation of four
weeks was granted; at the expiration of that period the weather was
intensely hot and the time for opening school was extended two weeks,
thus making the period of rest six weeks. All teachers were paid by the
year, and with the exception of two, the salary was thirty dollars per
month. That was perhaps the last year of the old custom.

After a little more than three years spent in the Public Schools, Miss
Martin, feeling the inadequacy of her mental equipment, resigned, and in
the fall of 1874 again found her way to "Central." from which she was
graduated in 1878. Three months previous she had been advised that the
teaching force of the City Schools was to be augmented by one, and asked
by Banner G. Bowen, a member of the Board, to apply for the position.
Accordingly the last term of her student life found her teaching in one
of the lower grades in the new building of the City Schools, and
pursuing her studies at the College. In September of that year she was
elected to the position of assistant to C. C. Cory, a man who became
strongly entrenched in the hearts of scores of the young people of
Pella. That position she held for nine years. Years which demanded and
received all she had to give; then failing health brought her
resignation.

A few months later she was induced by Dr. Dunn, President of Central,
and other friends to undertake work at the College. Three hours per day
proving too great a strain upon nerves already overtaxed, the plan of
conducting but two recitations daily was tried, only to be abandoned
after a few months. After a two years' rest Miss Martin was visited by
the President of the City Schools and asked to resume her former
position as Assistant Principal, but was forced to decline. She
continued to reside in Pella until 1899 when she removed to Des Moines,
where she became a member of the family of her brother, L. M. Martin,
well known in railway circles throughout the state. At present, she is
living in Detroit, Michigan, in the home of her nephew, F. H. Martin, of
whose family she has been a member since the death of his father in 1909.