Surname: Martin

The Martin surname comes to me via my grandpa, Rosmer Kerr. His third great-grandfather was:

• William Martin, born in the mid-1700s in Scotland. With his wife, Marybelle Coventry, he had 11 children. William and Marybelle were my fifth great-grandparents.
  
• Elizabeth Martin, born 18 October 1773. She married Valentine Efner on 22 March 1796. They had ten children. She died 26 January 1841 and was buried at Old Jefferson Cemetery. Elizabeth and Valentine were my fourth great-grandparents.
  

The Eugene Bouton Papers are a source of information about The Martin Family (online at Schoharie County NYGenWeb). Although there are some known errors in the Bouton Papers, I'm grateful to have them for the clues they provide about my ancestors. About William Martin, Mr. Bouton wrote:

William Martin came from Scotland about the time of the Revolution. It is a family tradition that he fell in love with a girl whose mother opposed the match, that she sent the daughter out toward evening to sprinkle some articles bleaching on the grass; that the lover came along on horseback, lifted the maiden to the pillion and rode away; that the mother forgave her daughter and provided for her a housekeeping outfit. His wife's name was Marybelle Coventry. They had quite a little gold and silver and located near Kinderhook in Columbia County. But the British seized all their possessions. They came to Blenheim and leased land above the village on what was later known as the Frederick Shaver farm. "New York in the Revolution, p. 235: Albany County Militia (Land Bounty Rights) - Fourteenth Regiment, Enlisted Men: William Martin. He is identified by the New York Records in distinction from another William Martin of Orange County. He was in Rensselaerville with the Effner family before they came to Schoharie County about 1796 (Fernow's Colonial History of the State of New York, p. 540).