Burial record

Minonk Township Cemetery

Burial Record for Ella Martin

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Block:7 Lot:73    Grave:4
First Name: Ella
Last Name: Martin
Family: Martin,J.D.
Maiden Name:
Spouse:
Place of Death: Minonk
Birth Place:
Place of Marriage:
Father: John David Martin
Mother: Elizabeth Jane Bird

Age: 17
Birth Date:
Birth Year:
Death Date: 10/26/1879
Death Year: 1879
Marriage Date:
Marriage Year:
Occupation:
Veteran:
Conflict or War:
Newspaper:
Comments:
SC: r

This tombstone was paid for by the citizens of Minonk as a memorial.

Submitted by Dave Uphoffa

Probably the most lasting tragedy in Minonk was that of the murder of little Ella Martin. The murder case had all the elements for a sensational story; sex, violence, vigilantism and the compassion of a local citizenry swept up by the emotions of the murder. Equally interesting is the convoluted and wordy prose used by the newspapers in reporting the story.

Ella Martin was the seventeen-year-old daughter of John Martin who had five children and lived on a farm one mile south of Minonk.

On October 10, 1879 Ella was walking home from church when she was encountered by a local blacksmith apprentice by the name of Johannes DeBoer, a recent immigrant from Germany. When Ella rejected the advances of DeBoer he became enraged and attacked her. Below is a description of the attack as described in an account of the murder in a book written by a firm from Dwight, IL. It reveals the unusual prose of the time. For the full account of her murder, click here.

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