John Martin (judge) facts for kids

John Martin (1784 – October 17, 1840) was a very important judge and leader of the Cherokee Nation. Even though he was only one-eighth Cherokee, he was highly educated and played a big role in his tribe. He had blond hair and blue eyes, and some people said he looked like a white person.

John Martin did not go to law school. However, he was one of the first judges chosen for the Cherokee Tribal Court when it started in 1822. After his time as a judge ended in 1828, people still called him Judge Martin. He also worked as the Treasurer for the Cherokee Nation. He helped create the Cherokee Constitution, which set up a real national government. In 1837, he moved from Georgia to a new area called Indian Territory. There, he became the first Chief Justice of the new Cherokee Supreme Court in 1839. He served in this role until he passed away the next year.

John Martin's Family and Early Life

John Martin's mother was Susannah Emory. She was one-quarter Cherokee and grew up with the tribe. Her grandfather was Ludovic Grant, a Scottish trader who married a full-blooded Cherokee woman. Susannah was raised in the Cherokee culture.

John's father was John (Jack) Martin Sr., a white man. It's not clear exactly where John Martin Jr. was born. Some say he was born in what is now Tennessee, while others say Georgia. Jack Martin Sr. was a successful trader. Instead of sending his son away to school, he hired a tutor to teach John at home. John's father died around 1800 or 1801. His mother passed away when John was a teenager. After that, he lived with his sister Nancy and her husband. Later, John went away to school to finish his education.

Life in Georgia and Moving West

John Martin inherited money from his father. He built a home in Georgia, near Sautee Creek, before 1818. In that year, he was part of a Cherokee group that went to Washington, D.C. He signed a treaty in 1819 that gave the land where his home was located to the United States. The treaty said he could keep living there on a large piece of land.

However, by 1822, he decided to move his family inside the new Cherokee boundary. Their new home was near the Coosawattee River in what is now Murray County, Georgia.

The Indian Removal Act and Its Impact

In May 1830, the U.S. Congress passed a law called the Indian Removal Act. This law forced many Native American tribes, including the Cherokee, to move from their lands east of the Mississippi River. Soon after, the state of Georgia claimed authority over millions of acres of Cherokee land. Surveyors quickly divided the land into smaller lots to be given to non-Native Americans through a lottery.

The Georgia Guard, the state's military, entered the Cherokee territory in 1831. They were supposed to keep people out, but they actually started bothering the Cherokee people to make them leave. In February 1831, Guard members even arrested John Martin at his home, saying he was "under suspicion."

Losing Homes and Moving Again

The first Cherokee Land Lottery happened in October 1832. This lottery included John Martin's large farms. One farm, Coosawattee, was where he lived with his wife Nellie McDaniel. It had 28 buildings and a lot of land for farming, plus fruit trees. He also ran a toll gate there on the Federal Road. Another farm, Salequoyah, was where he lived with Nellie's sister, Lucy McDaniel. It had 11 buildings and farming land.

Even though the law said lottery winners couldn't take over new properties until the Cherokee people moved out, this rule was often ignored. New owners simply moved in and, with help from the Georgia Guard, forced the Cherokee families out. The Martin family was forced to leave their Salequoyah home around 1833 or 1834.

A wealthy Georgian bought the right to John Martin's Coosawattee farm from the lottery winner. In January 1835, this person asked Martin to leave. The Governor of Georgia stepped in and said Martin could stay until the end of that year if he helped convince the Cherokee people to move. However, the Martins left the farm in February 1835. They moved to a house in Bradley County, Tennessee, close to the Georgia state line. This house is still there today.

Decision to Move West

By 1835, some of John Martin's family members joined a political group called the Treaty Party. This group believed the Cherokee should move west. This caused a big split in the tribe between the Treaty Party and Chief John Ross's National Party. John Martin tried to stay neutral, but he eventually believed that Chief Ross's efforts to stay in Georgia would fail.

The harassment continued. One night, U.S. soldiers surrounded his house while he was meeting with other Cherokee leaders. They arrested them and took all their official documents. In March 1837, Judge Martin and one of his sons-in-law led about 300 Cherokee families on a long journey west.

Moving to Indian Territory

Losing his homes in Georgia and seeing his people suffer convinced John Martin that the Cherokee could not stay east of the Mississippi River. He had hoped that his white skin, blond hair, blue eyes, and ability to speak English would protect his family, but he was wrong.

The U.S. government took the Cherokee land but agreed to pay for the improvements the residents had made. John Martin received about $22,400 for his farms in Georgia. He also received $2,500 in 1837 for his land and house in Tennessee.

The Martins made a new home on the Saline River in Indian Territory, near where Locust Grove, Oklahoma is today. The Eastern and Western Cherokees came together and formed one government with a new constitution. Judge Martin was chosen as the first Chief Justice of the new Cherokee Supreme Court in Indian Territory. He served his nation until he passed away from a serious illness on October 17, 1840. He was buried at Fort Gibson.

John Martin's Work as a Judge

The Cherokee Nation created its court system on October 20, 1820. It had eight districts, each with district judges and circuit judges. John Martin was appointed a Circuit Judge in 1822. In November 1822, he was also chosen as one of the District Judges for the new Superior Court. This court handled cases that were appealed from the lower courts and called itself the Supreme Court of the Cherokee Nation. The first judges of this court were John Martin, James Daniel, Richard Walker, and James Brown. None of them had formal legal training.

After his time on the Cherokee Supreme Court ended in 1828, Martin was asked to be the Treasurer of the Cherokee Nation. He was in charge of handling money paid to the tribe by the U.S. Government. He also collected debts owed to the nation and managed leases for turnpikes and ferries within the Cherokee Nation. He continued to be the Treasurer until he and his family moved to Indian Territory in 1837.

Personal Life

John Martin Jr. was not baptized into the Christian religion. He married two sisters, Nellie and Lucy McDaniel. He reportedly had eight children with each of them. He had one house in Coosawattie where he lived with Nellie, and another house in the Salacoa Valley where he lived with Lucy. Some records suggest these marriages happened in 1807 and 1810. It was common for some Cherokee men to have more than one wife at that time.

John Martin's obituary in the Arkansas Gazette said he died on October 17, 1840, near Fort Gibson in Indian Territory. His tombstone at the fort says he was "the chief justice of the supreme court of the Cherokee Nation."