Contents
Whose family are you here for?
Showing both families — every line on the page. Pick a side to hide the other
family's ancestors; Earl, Kristin and their three children stay on either way.
Person · Joseph Daniel Martin Jr.
The record
- HHomethe fan · what changed · open questions
- MMigrationbirths and deaths on a map, by decade
- TTimeline609 entries · 5 eras
- PPeople290 cards, by generationJoseph Daniel Martin Jr.
- LLines13 surname pages
The evidence
- DDocuments896 thumbnails, filterable
- SSourcesS1–S1207, with where each is cited
The findings
- How the wall came downProeger line
- The glass patentsProeger line
- How the Caffey half was closedCaffey line
- What the DNA saysits own page
- Four routesMigration
- The asymmetryLines
- Open questions20 questions
- Add to this recorda form, read by Earl
How to read this record
Every claim is tagged
Most family trees flatten everything into the same confident typeface. This one does not.
The three research tags below are the whole point of the exercise: they say what a document
proves, what the weight of evidence suggests, and what nobody has found yet. A fourth marks
what the family stated directly, where no document has been retrieved at all — it is kept
separate on purpose and is never quietly promoted to confirmed. A fifth, added on
13 September 2026, marks biological evidence: a DNA result is not a document, and it is not
testimony either. Two further labels mark where this page withholds information
rather than lacking it.
ConfirmedAttested by a document that was actually retrieved and read — a census sheet, a
government index, a grave marker, a family-written obituary.
ProbableStrongly supported but not nailed down: a user-contributed tree, a masked index field,
or a chain of consistent circumstances. Believable, not proven.
Not foundSearched for and not located. This is a statement about the search, not about the
person — the record may well exist somewhere unsearched.
Family testimonySupplied by the family and recorded on their word — no document has been retrieved for
it. Note the diamond rather than the dot: this is provenance, not proof, and it stands
apart from the three record tags above S24.
DNA evidenceBiological evidence consistent with a claim. It corroborates origins; it does
not by itself establish a person or a link. Note the bar rather than a dot or a diamond:
no DNA result on this page is ever counted as confirmed, because no document
was read for it S46.
Living — withheldThe person is living. By the privacy rule for this page, name and relationship are
shown, and at most a year the family has already published. Full dates of birth, ages,
places of residence and record identifiers are held back.
Research in progressA branch that is actively being worked on. The node exists in the structure so the
shape of the family is honest; the detail is simply not in yet.
- Born
- 21 December 1876
- Died
- 7 May 1959
- Parents
- Joseph Daniel Martin & Nannie Chenault
- Married
- Pauline
- Sources
- 6
Research status
Research status: CONFIRMED — added 24 September 2026 from a record that names the parents; entered in the family tree the same day.
Life in the order the records give it
Birth1876
Born
21 December 1876, Gallatin, Tennessee; Joe, 3, in the 1880 census
S207Death1959
Died
7 May 1959, Memphis, Tennessee
S371Census1918
🆕 In September 1918 he was manager of the sundry department at Van Vleet-Mansfield Drug Co. in Memphis; nearest relative
Olga Norvell Martin S368. In 1940 a manufacturers' agent in drug sundries, owning a farm at Rosemark, Shelby County, with his wife
Olga Norvel S369; added 24 September 2026.
Census1950
🆕 By 1950 retired at 1646 Harbert, Memphis, with his wife
Pauline E. S370. His 1959 death certificate names his parents, J. D. Martin and Nancy Chenault
S371.
Census1930
🆕 In 1930 he owned 1845 Cowden Avenue, Memphis, an agent in druggist sundries, with his wife
Olga S376; added 24 September 2026.
Family parents, marriages, children, siblings
Marriage1950
Married
Pauline (surname not yet found); living in Memphis in 1950
S370In the record
Generation 4 — Earl's great-grandparents and their siblings
- S2071880 U.S. Federal Census — Martin household, 10th Civil District, Sumner County, Tennessee. Ancestry record 16828687; ED 214, page 32. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. Martin [given name left blank], 47, farming; Nannie, 36, parents both born Kentucky; children Luisa B. 13, Mary 11, Emma 10, Kate 7, Mattie 5, Joe 3 and Nannie 1. 🔑 Two children not otherwise on this record: Kate (c.1873) and a son Joe (c.1877). Mattie is Martha Martin McConnell [S203]; Nannie, 1, is Nancy Louise (Martin) Timberman.
- S368World War I draft registration card — Joseph Daniel Martin, Memphis, Tennessee, 12 September 1918. Ancestry record 23058756. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Joseph Daniel Martin, 539 LeMaster, Memphis, age 41, born 21 Dec. 1876; manager of the sundry department, Van Vleet-Mansfield Drug Co.; nearest relative Olga Norvell Martin; medium height and build, blue eyes, brown hair.
- S3691940 U.S. Federal Census — Joseph D. Martin household, Rosemark, Shelby Co., Tennessee (ED 79-5, sheet 15-A). Ancestry record 36234464. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Joseph D. Martin, 62, manufacturers' agent (drug sundries), owns a farm on the Rosemark–Atoka road, in the same house in 1935; wife Olga Norvel, 56.
- S3701950 U.S. Federal Census — Joseph D. Martin household, 1646 Harbert, Memphis, Tennessee (ED 98-300, sheet 74). Ancestry record 106085825. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Joseph D. Martin, 73, born Tennessee, retired manufacturers' agent; wife Pauline E., 60, born Tennessee.
- S371Tennessee certificate of death no. 59-12636 — Joseph Daniel Martin, Memphis, 7 May 1959. Ancestry record 1512634. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Joseph Daniel Martin, died 7 May 1959 at Methodist Hospital, Memphis, aged 82, of 1646 Harbert Avenue, manufacturer's representative; born Tennessee 23 Dec 1876; father J. D. Martin, mother Nancy Chenault; wife and informant Mrs. Pauline Martin; buried Memorial Park, Memphis, 9 May 1959. The certificate gives the 23rd; his own draft card (S368) gives 21 December, which the tree keeps.
- S3761930 U.S. Federal Census — Joseph D. Martin household, 1845 Cowden Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee (ED 79-107, sheet 9A, lines 1–2). Ancestry record 66506840. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Joseph D. Martin, 52, agent, druggist sundries, owning his house ($10,000); wife Olga, 47, her father born Mississippi and mother Virginia. This is the son (1876–1959), not his father Joseph Daniel Martin (1832–1899). The census age puts his birth about 1878; his draft card and death certificate give December 1876.