Mary Ann BEAN MARTIN

William
January 16, 1851 - November 4, 1916

W.T., or Bud as he was known, is the son of Edmund Thomas Martin and Margarette Schrum Jones Martin. Education was important to W.T., but the children had to go all the way to Bell Grove at Ludwig. The Bell Grove school was crowded and the children didn't have proper attention, the roads were rutty and narrow and in bad weather it was difficult to get the small children there. So on June 10, 1882 W. T. Martin, and others, petitioned the court to grant them permission for a separate school to be established at Mt Vernon on Red Lick Mountain. The petition for a new school district was granted and the children did not have to gown down the mountain to attend school.

Mary
February 5, 1853 - January 10, 1942

Mary Ann Bean migrated to Johnson Co. from Jefferson Co., IL with her parents,4 brothers, and 3 sisters in 1867. On 21 Dec 1871 she married William Thomas Martin in Johnson Co. Marriage Book N. p.269. W.T. and Mary Ann had 11 children, 8 growing to adulthood on Red Lick Mountain. W.T. died in 1916 and that left the working of the farm to Mary Ann and the kids and grand kids that would come and lived with her on the farm.

My mother would tell of spending the night at her "Grandmother Mary's house" (this would be her Great Grandmother), and how they would take the slay and go down the path to the meadow and cut a cedar tree for Christmas. They roasted peanuts that had been grown in their garden and hung in the barn to dry. They popped popcorn and the children would string it and drape it on the tree. Mary Bean grew her own cotton and used it for batting in the quilts she made. The kids put some on the Christmas tree too. Mary Ann also had a feather bed that mother used to sleep in when she would go visit. She has such pleasant memories of her Great Grandmother Mary Ann and all her Great Aunts and Uncles.

Mt. Vernon Cemetery was named for the town of Mt. Vernon, Illinois, by the Bean family, who had moved from there to Johnson County. Both of Walter Bean's sons, John Bean, (Mary Ann’s Uncle), and Peter Michael Bean, (Mary Ann's father), are buried here. Walter's daughter, Gooley Bean Sanders, also moved to Johnson Co. from IL, but I have not located her grave. W.T. and Mary Ann's land was just across the field from the cemetery. The annual cleanup is normally held the first Saturday in May in preparation for Decoration Day on the fourth Sunday in May. My Grandmother, Fern Martin Johnson, would tell of her grandmother, Mary Ann Bean Martin, walking with her and the other grandchildren to Mt. Vernon cemetery to sweep the graves and make paper flowers for, “Decoration Day.” There are 209 unmarked graves in this cemetery. W.T. Martin’s mother, Margaret Schrum Jones Martin, is buried in one of the unmarked graves in the North East corner of the cemetery. In the fall of the year, when the leaves are gone, you can see where Margaret Schrum Jones Martins' land was located.

On her certificate of death Mary Ann died Saturday 10 Jan 1942 at 7:00 A.M. and was buried the next day at Mt. Vernon Cem. Dr. J.M. Kolb said he had attended her since Jan. 4th and had last seen her alive Friday, 9 Jan 1942. Listed on the certificate were her parents, Peter Bean and Nancy Lemons both b. IL and her husband William T. Martin. The informant was their youngest daughter, Zola Johnson.

Contributed on 10/13/21 by billsully060
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Record #: 1395539

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