Editor’s note: The author, Steve Bailey, is outreach coordinator at the Anson County Historical Society.
One of the most prominent homes in Polkton has an interesting history.
The Rev. Charles Henry Martin was born Aug. 28, 1848, in Franklin County, N.C., to William and Lucy Jones Martin. He attended the common schools of Franklin County and graduated from Wake Forest University in 1872 and from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1875. He would later study at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
He worked as a principal at the high schools in Badin and Lumberton, was a professor of Latin at a female college in Murfreesboro and later taught at Wake Forest College. He was admitted to the bar in 1879, practicing law in Louisburg and later in Raleigh.
He arrived in the Polkton community in the 1880s. In September 1886 Charles became a member of Polkton Baptist Church and in 1887 was ordained as a Baptist minister. On May 9, 1889, he married Mary Lemuel Williams, whose ancestors helped to establish the community of Polkton. In 1893 Martin was appointed moderator of the monthly business meetings at Polkton Baptist Church.
In 1894, while a resident of Polkton, Charles ran against Democrat James A. Lockhart for Congress in the 6th District. Charles was elected to the 54th Congress and reelected to the 55th Congress, serving from June 5, 1896, to March 3, 1899. Then he decided to end his political career and was appointed pastor of Polkton Baptist Church for several years.
In 1895 his home in Polkton, which was across the street from Polkton Baptist Church, was built and he and his family lived there until his passing on April 19, 1931. In recent years, Walter Clifton Martin III, a great-great-grandson of the Rev. C.H. Martin, acquired the old Martin home and completely renovated it, with plans to live there.
Charles and his wife Mary, who died on June 2, 1925, are both buried at the Williams Cemetery on Hwy. 74 West in Polkton.