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Switzerland County

Biography

Martin R. Green,

of Patriot, a life-long farmer, was born in Enfield, N.H., September 27, 1809. His parents were Rev. John Green and Pallas Ruter, his mother a sister of the late Calvin W. Ruter, the well-known pioneer clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church. One year after his birth, Mr. Green's parents left New Hampshire for Marietta, Ohio. In 1822 they removed to Quercus Grove, where his father died, and the care of the family to a large extent devolved upon him, which part he performed nobly. In 1834 he was elected justice of the peace, resigning the office in 1837. In 1838 and again in 1848 he was elected to the State Senate, and in the discharge of the duties of this trust he gained popularity which he retained till his death. During his last term in the Senate he obtained great notoriety as the original purchaser from the State of the famous Georgia swamp lands, which afterward fell into the hands of wealthy New York speculators, and became the subject of much litigation and special legislature. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention held at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1856, and was generally regarded as a safe counselor in local political matters. June 11, 1843, Mr. Green married Mary Harris, and in the same year removed to Donahue's Deadening in Mexico Bottom, but two years later returned to Patriot and engaged in merchandising. In 1853 he removed to his farm above Patriot, to which village he again returned three years before his death. His wife, died September 25, 1868, the mother of four sons and one daughter. In March, 1878, Mr. Green suffered a stroke of paralysis, and September 26, 1879, he expired. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and during an industrious life he had acquired a comfortable fortune. For sterling worth he ranked among the first citizens of Switzerland County.

Source: History of Switzerland County, Indiana 1885. Chicago, Illinois: Weakley, Harraman & Co., 1885
Transcribed by: Sheila Kell