James S. Martin 

James records the work of his brothers and father as they clear land and thresh and raise barns for themselves and for others in Arthur Township. His father is a furniture-maker and carpenter by trade. James and his brothers do the heavy work on the family’s farmlands. James augments his income in the winter by driving livery horses for C.C. Green’s Hotel nearby. His brother Thomas keeps diaries too for 1868-1917 but they are less detailed and hard to read.