Martin, Cornelia Williams, 1818-1899

She was born Cornelia Williams, the daughter of John Williams (1791–1853) and his wife Elizabeth (Leonard) Williams (1792–1850). John Williams had a store in Cazenovia, New York and also owned a variety of mills and properties in town; he served as president of the village three times and in the New York State Assembly in 1829.[1] An older first cousin of Cornelia's was Samuel Wells Williams (1812–1884), who became a notable missionary in China and sinologist; Cornelia helped support his work there. In 1837 Cornelia Williams married Enos Thompson Throop Martin (1808–1883), a prosperous lawyer and a favorite of his uncle Enos T. Throop, a former governor of New York. In 1850 the couple moved permanently to their summer home, the governor's estate "Willowbrook" on Owasco Lake in Auburn, New York. Cornelia Williams Martin's first major project was collecting money for the launching of the missionary ship Morning Star in 1856.[2] Cornelia Martin was one of the founders and leaders of the Auburn Female Bible Society, which became active in promoting religious and charitable projects.[3] Through the society she helped found the "Home for the Friendless" in Auburn in 1864, a home for the elderly poor (still in existence, but now known simply as "The Home").[4] In 1866 a letter from her daughter Eveline, whose husband was stationed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, prompted her to involve the Society in funding a school for Native Americans there.[5] The effort by the Auburn society was joined by other groups and led to the creation of the New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado Missionary Association, later known as the Ladies Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Boards of Domestic and Foreign Missions. The Society also supported The State Asylum for the Criminally Insane in Auburn, which was founded in 1857.

Martin supported the missionary work of her cousin Samuel Wells Williams and others in China. Between 1845 and 1859 she helped raise the funds for the first set of moveable type for printing in Chinese,[6] and in 1867 initiated the idea of creating a professorship in Chinese Language and Literature at Yale and recommended him for the position.[7] After years of lobbying by Martin, Williams was given the new professorship at Yale in 1877, making Yale the first American university to teach Chinese.

In 1877 Martin founded "The Army and Navy Auxiliary" in Washington, DC, which later became the Woman's Army and Navy League.[8]

Willowbrook
Cornelia Williams Martin lived at Willowbrook from 1850 to her death in 1899, managing the social and household affairs. During that time Willowbrook hosted a wide variety of notable political, military, and artistic figures. Jenny Lind sang there in the early 1850s.[9] Visitors included presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew Johnson, Navy Secretary Gideon Welles, General George Custer, Washington Irving, David Farragut, and many others. Secretary of State William H. Seward, a resident of Auburn, was a frequent visitor and held a meeting with foreign diplomats at Willowbrook.[10] He corresponded with the Martins, as did editor Francis Preston Blair;[11] the Blair family were long-time family friends.

The widow of Enos T. Martin and the mother of their eleven children, Cornelia (nee Williams) Martin died at the age of 80. A native of Utica, NY, and heiress to a mercantile fortune, she was born on Christmas Day 1818 to John Williams, an immigrant from Wales, and his wife, the former Eliza Sickles. On June 1, 1837 she wed the prominent attorney and journalist Enos Thompson Throop Martin, nephew of a New York governor, Enos Thompson Throop. The couple subsequently lived in New York City and Utica before settling at the Throop-Martin estate, "Willowbrook", on Lake Owasco near Auburn. There Mrs. Martin, who was known to be a gracious, attractive, and intelligent woman, entertained many prominent figures of the 19th Century, including Washington Irving, Jenny Lind, President Grant, William H. Seward, and George Armstrong Custer. A devout Christian, she authored several religious texts, including the inspirational "Songs in the House of My Pilgrimage" published in 1852 under the nom-de-plume "A Lady", and in 1880 under her own name, a biography of African missionary Albert Bushnell, an outgrowth of her zealous support of Protestant evangelical efforts in Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world. She also penned "The Old Home: Life at Willowbrook" for her family. Widowed in 1883, she died there sixteen years later. Of the Martins' eleven children, all but one, (the four-year-old Harriet Byron Martin), survived to adulthood, with several achieving prominence, most notably the writer Edward Sanford Martin (1856-1939). Mrs. Martin did, however, experience the grief of seeing three of her adult children die of tuberculosis at relatively young ages: Emily Martin Upton in 1871, and Mary and "Throop" in 1884 and 1885, respectively. At the time of her death her survivors included three sons, George, John, and Edward, and four daughters: Cornelia, Evelina Martin Alexander, Eliza Martin Tremain, and Violet Martin Wilder.