Francis Marion Martin

Martin's 1888 run for governor shows how far his politics had traveled. Denied the Democratic nomination in 1886 after a campaign for selling public land to settlers instead of speculators and for regulating railroads, he ran in 1888 as the Prohibition Party nominee, with endorsements from the Union Labor Party, Republicans and a nonpartisan committee. The Handbook of Texas gives him 98,447 votes, 28 percent of the ballot. He returned in 1892 and 1894 as the Populist nominee for lieutenant governor, then retired because of failing health.

What the plaque says

Francis Marion Martin FRANCIS MARION MARTIN Francis Marion Martin, also known as "Swamp Fox of Navarro," was a 19th century Texas politician, holding the office of Lt. Governor from 1883-1885. In the dynamic post-Civil War period, he championed farmers and laborers, garnering significant African American support. Martin was born in Kentucky in 1830 and orphaned at an early age. He was raised by the Hodge family of Livingston County and married Mary Catherine Hodge in 1849. The Hodge family decided to move to Texas and Martin was chosen to lead the move. He journeyed to Chatfield's Springs in northeast Navarro County and moved his family there in 1853. Martin later established himself as a successful horse breeder and farmer in an area called Wadesville. In 1858, Martin campaigned for U.S. Senator Sam Houston and became interested in Texas politics. He was elected to the Texas State Senate in 1859 as a National Democrat due to his connection to Houston. Martin was one of the county enrolling officers and was named captain of the militia company for Rush Creek in Beat No. 3. In the 1861 state senate election, Martin lost his seat and entered the Confederate Army in 1862 where he was elected captain of his cavalry company. Because of frail health, he spent much of the war at home. Martin was widowed in 1869 and remarried in 1877 to Angie Harle. Martin returned to public life after reconstruction as a constitutional convention delegate in 1875. Later, he won a state senate seat as a Democrat representing Navarro County. He was proud of being a "farmer-senator" and was elected president pro tem of the senate with farm organization support. Denied the governorship in 1886 and 1888, he became a Populist Party leader. Martin died at his home in Corsicana in 1903. (2014)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Petroleum Industry Park — 11 mi
  The pipes and drilling tower mark where a city water well struck oil on June 9, 1894, the start of the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important quantities.
• Ellis County Courthouse — 27 mi
  J. Riely Gordon's courthouse of 1897 in Pecos red sandstone and pink granite, with twenty-one carved stone faces and two cornerstones left by a quarrel over its building.

More markers nearby

• General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. — steps away
• Chatfield United Methodist Church — steps away
• Chatfield Baptist Church — 0.7 mi
• Last Review of the Confederacy — 1.1 mi