Julia Ellen was the daughter of Samuel E and Mary Ann (Henderson) Rusk according to her death certificate and Illinois marriage record. She had been married to William Gray prior to her marriage to William Martz and had several children by him.

In fact, her daughter Bessie was reported as Bessie Martz age 12 living in William and Julia’s household in 1900. I’m quite certain she was not Bessie Martz, in fact was Bessie Gray (Julia’s daughter by her first marriage) and then later Bessie Hughes who Julia went to live with after William Martz died. Bessie is on find-a-grave as Bessie (Martz) Hughes daughter of William Martz and Julia Rusk but I’m certain that is in error.

The question is was Julia William’s third wife or fourth wife? The only reason I raise the issue s that the family group sheet for the family of Jacob and Elizabeth (Smith) Martz (which I found on my visit to Rockingham) prepared by Kathleen Fite listed four wives for William Fluvia Parsons, Charlotta Bevington, Mary Bennett Hughes and Julia Rusk Grey. I am sure that William’s daughter Frances who was born in 1888 was Charlotte’s daughter and I know that William married Julia n 1895. So it is possible that Charlotte died by 890, William married Mary Hughes soon thereafter and she died by 1895 when he married Julia. But there is no evidence of this scenario.

We know William as the son of Jacob and Elizabeth from his presence in his parent’s household in 1850 and 1860 and then in 1880, his mother Elizabeth age 83 lived with him. He is designated S1b4.

William apparently was named William St Clair Martz, a somewhat unusual name. I’m reasonably certain that was his name as there are several records on which it appears that way. The most compelling of these records is the 1913 Civil War Widow’s Pension Application by his (3rd or 4th) wife Julia E. She wrote his name as William St Clair Martz but added William St. Martz as an alias. And the record of his 1895 marriage to Julia E Gray Rusk, as transcribed, gives his name as William Stmarty. This record also gives his parents names as Jacob Marty and Elizabeth Smith.

Then there is the Indiana death certificate of Frances E Gurley who says her parents were William Clair Martz and (2nd) wife Charlotte. The Indiana marriage record of William G Martz says his parents were William St Clair Martz and Lottie Bevington. And William G’s Indiana death certificate says his parents were (as transcribed) William Stclaire Marty and Charlotte.

But what is most curious is that his name was sometimes written in a way that made it seem that St Martz was his surname or perhaps the St was like a title. In the 1910 Census, where the Census taker wrote last names first, a comma, then the given name — e.g. Jones, Bill — it was “St Martz, William” and the way it was transcribed by Ancestry, because each succeeding person in the family had a ditto mark for their surname, they all went in with St Martz as their surname.

William in fact has two memorials on find-a-grave and two tombstones in two different cemeteries were erected for him. On one of them, his name, his wife Fluvia’s name and the names of five of their children who died as infants are all listed as if the surname was St Martz.

William and Fluvia had quite a number of children who died as infants. I believe his children who survived were:

Nora Virgina and Hattie Alameda by first wife Fluvia.
Salina, Alice, William and Frances by second wife Charlotte.

There are two memorials for William on find-a-grave. It seems he has two tombstones.

At the Washington Street Cemetery in Casey, Clark County, IL, there is a marker that says Wm. St. Martz, Sergt Co F, 59th Ill Vol Inf, 1840-1913. The memorial embellishes on that marker giving his full name as William St. Clair Martz, an exact date of birth (18 Mar 1840) and exact date of death (12 Jan 1913) and the information that he was born in Virginia and died in Bellair, Crawford County, IL. He is linked on that memorial to wife Fluvia (who is buried in Bellair) and daughter Hattie Almeda Blankenbeker who is buried elsewhere in Clark County.

At that same Washington Street Cemetery there is a tombstone for Lena L Martz (1883-1942) and her tombstone has the word “Sister” on it. Her tombstone and William’s are both in Section J, Row 4. Lena was William’s daughter by second wife Charlotte. She was Sister to many siblings but none are buried at Washington Street Cemetery, in fact no others of the family seem to be there. (There are two other people named Martz in that cemetery, William Harrison Martz and his wife Lorene but William Harrison is of the Dauphin County, PA Martz family and is of no relation whatsoever to William St. Clair.

But in the Bellair Cemetery in Annapolis, Crawford County, IL, there is quite a large obelisk for William, his wife Fluvia and apparently quite a number of their children who all died as infants. I think the photos of this obelisk on find-a-grave are incomplete, but what photos there are show on one face “Fluvia M, wife of Wm St Martz” with the appropriate dates. This photo accompanies Fluvia’s memorial. On the memorial for William St. Martz, a photo of another face of this obelisk says Wm St Martz but there are no dates carved there. And a photo shows that at the base of the obelisk the name St Martz is carved. And then linked to Fluvia and William are five children all of whom were born between 1866 and 1877 and all of whom died the year they were born (except one of them died the year after his birth). My hunch is that all those names and dates are also listed on that obelisk. The memorial for William has the same dates as the memorial in Casey — though they do not seem to appear on his tombstone.

Whoever posted all of these memorials on find-a-grave listed all in the family as surname St Martz. This includes William’s second wife Charlotta for whom there is a small marker, presumably nearby, that says Lotta on top and apparently the letters L M on the face. She too was listed as Charlotta “Lotta” (Bevington) St Martz.

So where is William really buried and where did he die? In 1910, he and (3rd or 4th) wife Julia E lived in Casey. I would assume, despite what it says on his Casey memorial, that he died in Casey and not in Bellair but the distance between the two cemeteries is only 20 miles. Why would he not have been taken to Bellair where there was a large obelisk for him just waiting to have the right dates engraved? But if they did that, why would they have erected another tombstone in Casey? Lena would end up there but she didn’t die until 1942. And I don’t think it had anything to do with Julia E. She went to live in Terre Haute, Indiana with her daughter Bessie (Gray) Hughes after William died, died there in 1934 and was supposed to be buried there though there is no find-a-grave memorial for her.