Zenas’s parents were separated when he was 8 years old and officially divorced when he was 9.  The 1880 census shows 11-year-old Zenas living with his father, his Martin grandparents, and his two brothers in Falls City, Richardson County, Nebraska.  (His sister Stella was not in the household but was instead living with his mother and her new husband in St. Louis.)  In November 1880, Zenas’s father remarried, so he suddenly had a new stepmother and half-a-dozen step-siblings.

In 1885, two state census records, collected 5 months apart, show 15-year-old Zenas and his siblings living with his father and stepmother in Cass County, Iowa, in January, and then in Seward County, Nebraska, the following June.  (Zenas is shown as “Zena” in the Iowa census and as “Enos” in the Nebraska census.)

The next information we have about Zenas comes from three items published in The Blaine Journal of Blaine, Washington.  On 3 April 1890, the paper reported that Zenas had arrived in Blaine in the company of his uncle John I. Martin and John’s family.  (Zenas’s father had already been in the area since January, conducting revival meetings.)  Four months later, 3 July 1890, the paper identified Zenas as a clerk working in the men’s clothing department of the Cain Brothers department store.  Then on 2 April 1891 it reported, “Zenas Martin, whose smiling countenance had become so familiar behind the counters of the grocery department in Cain Bros. store, has severed his connection with that institution, and started Sunday morning for eastern Colorado, where he will make his future home.”

I don’t know whether he might have spent any time at all in eastern Colorado, but it’s clear that he soon ended up in western Colorado at Hotchkiss in Delta County, where he had many relatives.  In August 1899, the North Fork Times (Hotchkiss, Colorado) wrote:

Z. W. MARTIN
      This genial and accommodating gentleman has been in the employ of the Duke Bros. for the last five years.  He was born in Nebraska and came to Colorado in 1891.  He was located in the state of Washington in the mercantile business.  He is the son of a preacher who lives in Iowa and he has two brothers in the North Fork country.  Mr. Martin has identified himself with the community, owns some property in town and intends to remain permanently in this section.

The 1900 census lists Zenas (as “Zenith Martin”) in Precinct 2 of Delta County.  He is a boarder in the household of David Long, and his marital status is shown as “Single.”  Zenas, unfortunately, passed away less than a year later, 31 January 1901, at the age of 31.  He was laid to rest at the Riverside Cemetery in Hotchkiss.  I received the following obituary for him from another family researcher who, unfortunately, was not able to say what newspaper it was from or to provide the exact date of publication:

      On last Thursday about twenty minutes past nine o’clock the spirit of Zenas W. Martin took its flight.  He was sick only a few days having a fatal attack of pneumonia.  It was in the prime of manhood that he was taken away.  The deceased was well known to our citizens and was well liked by them who knew him and his many friends realize the loss they have sustained.  His genuine honesty and unquestioned integrity won for him the unbounded confidence of employers and all with whom he had business relations: his manly bearing and considerate kindness gave to him the friendship of the whole community.  But it was in the home life that the ties of human love and admiration were the strongest, for it was here that he was best loved appreciated and understood.
      When a boy his great love for his father and mother resulted in implicit obedience to parental authority; he was exceptionally kind to his brothers and sister, and was self sacrificing to them.  As to his hope for heaven the day before his death, he told his aunt who was nursing him, that he was trusting in his savior.
      He died at his home; he was 31 years, 5 months and 13 days old at the time of his death.  The sympathy of the entire community goes out to the bereaved parents, brothers and sister in their hour of affliction.
      The funeral ceremonies took place Saturday afternoon under the management of the local order of Odd Fellows, No. 110, of which he was an active member.  Quite a number of lodge no. 220 of Delta also participated, making it one of the most elaborate funeral ceremonies that has ever taken place in the valley.  Rev. Alderson delivered a short but touching funeral service at the Methodist church, after which the Odd Fellows took charge of the remains and performed the usual ceremonies of their order.  The body was finally laid to rest in the Hotchkiss cemetery, where a concourse of sorrowing friends and relatives had gathered to pay the last tribute to the remains of Zenus W. Martin.

The “aunt who was nursing him” in his final hours might have been Jane Humphrey, Mary Rhine, or Lucinda Crook — all of whom were sisters of Zenas’s father, and all of whom lived at that time in Paonia, Colorado, 8 miles from Hotchkiss.

If you can suggest any corrections to the information above or provide any further details about Zenas’s life, please contact me at the address shown in the image below:

Thanks,      
     —Pete Martin

Return to Joseph W. Martin bio page.
Return to John Martin Family home page.