Martha Elizabeth Pierce

When Martha Elizabeth Pierce was born on August 25, 1834, in Iredell County, North Carolina, her father, Stephen, was 30 and her mother, Elizabeth Nancy (Day), was 17. Martha was the second oldest and first daughter born to this family of 12. In the 1850 Census, fourteen-year-old Martha was living with her parents in Meigs County, Tennessee. It was in Meigs where she met and married Martin Luther Boyd on March 5, 1856. Martin was from Tennessee and was the son of Jeremiah and Susannah (Keicher) Boyd. Martha and Martin moved to Jefferson County, Illinois by 1860. Five of their 8 children were born there. Martha’s father and his family also resided in Jefferson County, Illinois at that time. Before the winter of 1875, Martha and Martin relocated to Benton County, Arkansas. In 1880, forty-four-year-old Martha was living with Martin, 48, and 6 of their children, John, their youngest was only 4 at the time. Martin died Jul 27th, 1894 in Benton County, Arkansas. Martha later married John David Hammack on June 14, 1898. It is unknown when she died. Her unfinished headstone is found in the Centerton Cemetery, in Benton County, Arkansas, but no further records have been found after the 1900 census in Garland, Benton, Arkansas.