Alvin Martinis

NJGenWeb ~ Morris County, New Jersey

Alvin Martinis

Source: History Morris County New Jersey, Volume II, Lewis Publishing Co., 1914

Progressiveness is one of the main attributes in the character of Alvin MARTINIS, who is strictly a self-made man and who has been a resident of Chester, New Jersey, since 1898. He is thoroughly familiar with the milling business and has been engaged in that line of enterprise in different sections of this state for many years. For several years he has conducted a store dealing in grain, flour, feed, meal and bran at Chester, where he is well know as an enterprising and reliable business man. A native of Warren county, New Jersey, his birth occurred February 27, 1869. His father, George F. MARTINIS, was a farmer by occupation and he was summoned to the life eternal in 1911. The mother, whose maiden name was Mary Ann TUNISON, survives her honored husband and now resides at Danville, New Jersey. There were seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. MARTINIS as follows: Adelina, wife of Daniel S. KENNEDY; William and Anna, both deceased; Jacob; Alvin, the immediate subject of this review; John; and Louis, a farmer in Morris county.

To the age of fifteen years Alvin MARTINIS attended the common schools of Warren county, and during the ensuing six years he assisted his father in caring for the old homestead farm. At the age of twenty-one years he went to Flanders, New Jersey, and there learned the milling business. Two years later he located at Milldale, where he conducted a flour mill for a period of twelve years, at the expiration of which, in 1898, he came to Chester, where he has since maintained his home and where he was won considerable success as proprietor of a store dealing in grain, flour, feed, meal and bran. Although not an active participant in public affairs, Mr. MARTINIS supports the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and in a fraternal way he is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men.

Mr. MARTINIS was united in marriage to Miss Lucy SKELLENGER, a native of Morris county, and a daughter of Elias H. and Margaret (HOEY) SKELLENGER, the former of whom is deceased. There were four children in the SKELLENGER family: Phineas; Charles; Laura (wife of Frank MILLER); and Lucy. Mr. and Mrs. MARTINIS became the parents of three children: Clarence, died at the age of nine months; and Clara and Blanche, both at the paternal home in Chester. In religious matters the MARTINIS family attend the Congregational church. They occupy a beautiful residence in Chester and are liberal but unostentatious in their hospitality.

Transcribed by John Cresseveur (1949-2003)