Martin Family Brooch

Carlie had graduated from the Concord Biblical Institute, was ordained as a deacon, appointed a minister, and married to Mary all in the same summer— the summer of 1859. They left New York on October 26^th of the same year and did not reach Fuzhou until April of the following year. There was no transcontinental railroad, nor were there high-powered modern ships. Illness was almost inevitable, and death extremely common. It is hard to determine exactly drove this young couple to move their lives across the globe in an era of such uncertainty. A descendant of the Martins asserts that it was their dedication to spreading the word of God.^[2] Historical context, however, uncovers darker motivations for the United States to establish its presence in China. Fuzhou became the hub of the tea trade in the mid-nineteenth century, and the British spearheaded this with their 1843 Treaty of Nanjing,^[3] which ended the Opium War. It took the United States but three years to react to British involvement by establishing their own missions.^[4] The uncertainty around the abolition of slavery during the Civil War left questions about meeting demand for labor, and an 1869 Lamoille County newspaper wrote in great detail about about how Chinese people were the perfect servants because they “know their place and are willing to keep it.”^[5] Thus, the United States was interested in establishing roots in China in order to compete in the global market and find alternate sources of labor. Carlie Martin, as a young newly appointed deacon, was a perfect candidate for the long and dangerous voyage. 

Note: Fuzhou was spelled various ways in this time. This paper cites sources who use various spellings, namely “Foo Chow” and “Fuh Chau.”

When Carlie died, Mary spent months deliberating whether to return to the U.S. Her husband and son had been buried, together, only a few days after they died. Lucius’s coffin was placed on top of Carlie’s. On the day of their joint funeral, Mary noted in her diary, “Lucius rests on the bosom of his dear papa—a place where in life he loved to be.”^[6] The distance between the permanent resting places of the Martins is one of the most compelling aspects of their family history. Unable to visit her husband and son’s grave after her departure from China, Mary was left with limited memorabilia. She pasted into her diary rose and cypress leaves that surrounded their graves, and brought home with her the diary of her late husband. A shrine carved in soapstone is held by Middlebury College Special Collections, with inscriptions in Chinese referring to the father and son buried together. 

What separates this brooch, this very simple woven hair piece, from Mary’s other memorabilia, is how portable, personal, and permanent it is. There is no record of whose hair was used, but Mary specifically recounts cutting Lucius’s hair in a 1864 diary entry. Considering the culture surrounding hair and hairwork in this era, as well as the often brief diary entries Mary wrote, it is entirely plausible that she saved some of Lucius’s hair but did not mention this in her entry. The same can be said of Carlie’s.

For another memorial item with connections to Protestant missionaries based in Fuzhou, see our entry on the Peet Family brooch.

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Notes

We are grateful to the staff of Middlebury College Special Collections and Archives for so generously providing us access to the remarkable and extensive materials in the Martin Missionary Collection even during a global pandemic! Their online inventory reveals many of the rich resources in this collection available to scholars: link. Thanks also to Peter Han-Chih Wang and Stephen Whiteman for their translations and perspectives on the small stone shrine.

^[1] Destromp, Barb. Memorial page for Mary Elizabeth Allen Wedgeworth” (1 Feb. 1839-14 May 1893), Find a Grave Memorial ID 16618853, citing Milton Village Cemetery, Milton, Chittenden County, Vermont, USA. Maintained by Barb Destromp (contributor 46785064), November 12, 2006. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16618853/mary-elizabeth-wedgeworth

^[2] Mary Elisabeth Allen Martin. Mrs. M.E.A. Martin’s Diary. Transcribed by John Lucius Buttolph III. Morrisville, Vermont, 1987. 

^[3] Chisholm, Hugh. “Fuchow” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Science, Literature, and General Knowledge. 271-272, 11^thed., Vol. 11. New York: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1910. https://ia800307.us.archive.org/31/items/encyclopaediabrit11chisrich/encyclopaediabrit11chisrich.pdf

^[4] American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and Dwight Goddard, Report of the jubilee year of the Foochow Mission of the A.B.C.F.M., 1896. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1897.

^[5] D.H.B., “Our Relations with the Chinese,” Lamoille Newsdealer 19 Oct. 1869, 2. Link.

^[6] Mary Elizabeth Allen Martin, Diary, 7 Sept. 1864 (p. 24 of transcript).