Unknown Artist “Portrait of Wheeler Martin, 1825” Courtesy of the Rhode Island Historical Society, 2015
This oil on wood painting of Wheeler Martin who was born in 1765 the 8th son of Sylvanus Martin and Martha Wheeler Martin of Rehoboth Massachusetts was one of Albert Martin’s maternal grand uncles. He settled in Providence and rose to become a Chief Justice of the Rhode Court of Common Pleas (1809). In 1816 he completed as a birthday gift for his 94 year old mother Martha a genealogy of the Martin family which focused on Abby Martin’s side of Albert’s heritage. He lived in a brick house today located on the edge of the Roger Williams National Memorial Park from which he would have witnessed the mayhem associated with the two riots (1824, 1831). He was 71 years old when he died, May 22, 1836 just 2 months after Albert and one month before Joseph S. Martin. It was a deadly year for the Martin’s.
