Before cold weather came, the son of Mr Wheeler, who lived across the river, and with whom we had a slight acquaintance a couple of years before in New Mexico, came to see us. His closest neighbor was wanting to rent his farm, and he thought Dad might be interested with his large family. Dad went to see him and rented his farm on the basis of one fourth of the cotton and one third of the feed produced. His name was Mr Hudgins.

Dad had the two horses and wagon. He purchased barely enough tools from Mr Hudgins to start a crop. The 1913 crop was good enough for Dad to buy a team of mules from Lige Embertop, a neighbor, and good enough for the family to live on for another year. Mr Hudgins also agreed to sell Dad the farm, all on credit. The price was $4000.00 with the payment the same as rent.

The Good Lord took care of us the next year. Dad planted ninety acres of cotton and produced 85 bales. Since the children had done all the work until harvest time, things began to look better for the Martins.

The home was comprised of two bedrooms and a hallway. The kitchen was an old single room that was about three feet away from the rest of the house. We used it as a kitchen for two years. After the 1914 crop, Dad built two more large rooms, a shed-room and some porches. The old kitchen was moved about 40 steps away from the new part, where it became the smoke-house and junk room.

We soon began to settle into the routing of lots of hard work. The family continued to grow, and soon there were nine kids. I don't know how Mother and Dad were able to do it all - but - I know there was never a more happy family than ours. A host of kinfolks came to visit us, and they were always welcome. There were good years and bad years, but I think the Martins enjoyed all of them.

Charley Martin is one of our families best story tellers. We are very grateful that he also liked to put his stories in writing. Charley was the son of George Washington & Emma Lillian (Dolby) Martin of Jackson Oklahoma.