MARTIN, TEXAS. Martin was a frontier settlement on Todos Santos Creek at Todos Santos Lake near the Leona River, fifteen miles northwest of Dilley in southwestern Frio County. Early accounts place the lake on the old road from Pearsall. The settlement was probably named for the Martins, who were among the earliest settlers of the community. The area was probably settled in the mid-1860s and attracted cattlemen and horse traders. Mustangsqv roamed the area in great numbers at that time. Todos Santos Lake, described as 1½ miles long and sixty feet wide, became a much-used watering hole for thousands of longhorn cattle and mustangs. At one time a saloon operated at the lake site. Sometime in the 1880s a rural school called Todos Santos was established in the community. Early settlers included the Odens, Martins, Franks, Hays, Englishes, Burlesons, and Parks. At one time a cemetery existed in the community above the site of the Frio State Parkqv and near the old Martin Ranch; several of the early settlers were buried there.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Florence Fenley, Old Timers of Southwest Texas (Uvalde, Texas: Hornby, 1957). Mrs. W. A. Roberts, "Frio County Has a Colorful History," Frontier Times, June 1936. Vertical Files, Pearsall Public Library, Pearsall, Texas (Frio County).
Ruben E. Ochoa
