Martha Emma Riley was born on February 23, 1878 in Bloomfield, Indiana, the daughter of George W. Riley and Mary A. Lehman of Indiana. She liked to dress like a boy and ride horses. Martha was a real rebel in fact. In December 1897 she married William Elijah O'Neall in Chicago, Illinois. They had three sons, but by 1910, Martha was all alone and she and her three sons travelled to Oregon where she built her own cabin in the woods, near Halfway, Oregon. Her three sons helped her to build the cabin, where she buried her son, George Benton O'Neall, when he was just 17.
By the 1920's she had remarried, David Graham and after he died she married Charles Primm. Her gravestone has all her surnames listed.
Martha holding my father c 1924, before Martha caused the break up of my grandparents family.
Martha was a very bossy woman who felt no woman was good enough for her sons and indeed she managed to break up both of her sons early marriages.
It has been said by someone who knew her well that "you would NOT want to come between Martha and one of her sons." She was "difficult" and made alot of trouble, according to people who knew her.
She even left her church because she could not convince the Pastor to do things her way. She carried around her Bible all the time, and told people what to do, her sons listened to lies she told, and they lost their families as a result of her manipulations. One of her grandson's who knew her could never be swayed by Martha however, he knew her too well, and did not trust her. She tried to make people think she had alot of money, but she didn't. I wish I knew why she was like that, so I could understand her better.
She lived til I was ten years old but neither I or my first cousins ever met her, my grandmother would not associate with Martha because of all the problems she created. Martha missed seeing many of her grandchildren grow up, that's so sad. I wonder if she was ever really happy, or ever thought about all of her descendants, who she never even met.