Martin, Emmett
Paducah, Cottle County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Son of trapper, J. A. Martin. In 1898, at the age of ten, Emmett was sent to his home in Shinnery settlement to remain overnight and return the next day with provisions for his father's trapping camp, ten miles south. While returning to the camp, he was caught in a blizzard, losing his way. Night fell and he perished from the cold. His frozen body was found several days later in King County. Recorded, 1967 Incise on Base: Erected by Paducah Jaycees, 1967
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Emmett Martin was the ten-year-old son of a West Texas trapper, J. A. Martin. In 1898 he was sent to the Shinnery settlement to fetch provisions for his father's camp; caught in a sudden blizzard on the return, he lost his way and froze to death, his body found days later in King County. Paducah's Jaycees erected this marker in his memory in 1967.
Why it matters
The boy's death is a stark reminder of how unforgiving the open plains were to the trappers and settlers of frontier West Texas, where weather could turn an ordinary errand fatal.
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Related people
- · Emmett Martin
- · J. A. Martin
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Cottle County
Paducah, TX
Cottle County, created in 1876 and organized in 1892 along the breaks of the Pease and Little Wichita rivers, honors George Washington Cottle, a DeWitt's Colony settler who fought at Gonzales and died defending the Alamo in March 1836. The marker frames his sacrifice within the broader story of how Texas named its 254 counties—the great majority for revolutionaries, statesmen, and Confederate figures. Cottle was one of fifteen Alamo defenders so remembered.
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