Martha was Sarah's younger sister and John's third wife. They married in Marshfield, Webster County, when Martha was 18 and John was 50. This was Martha's second marriage, when she was 15 she married then divorced a man named Theodore Clark.

Martha and John had 7 kids. Dr. O. C. Benage delivered all of Martha's children (except Wilma) in Conway, Missouri. Wilma was born in Conway but at home a couples weeks after John died. Martha could read and write (may have had an 8th grade education). She would read the Bible to John in the evening by lamp light. They were married until John died in 1945.

Tom Whittaker, Martha's mothers last husband before she died, told Charlie if he could talk Martha into marrying him he would get him a car. Martha and Tom did get married but it was less than a year that they divorced. We don't know if Charlie ever got his car.

Next Martha married Nathan Rector. Nathan was not an intelligent man. He was poor and used a wagon to haul wood.  Hershel, Norma and Wilma were still living with Martha when Nathan decided to move the family to Clarinda, Iowa. They left Hershel behind and hitchhiked there.  Nathan was not a good husband to Martha or a good father to the girls.

Norma says Martha had been working in someone's yard when she said she wasn't feeling well. They told her to go inside and lay down for a bit ... next thing the hearse came and picked her up. When Martha died on July 4, 1952, Norma and Wilma were still living with her. None of the siblings were able to take Norma and Wilma in to live with them, so the state stepped in and put them in an orphanage. They were both soon adopted by a family and moved to Illinois.

Martha is buried in the Clarinda Cemetery in Clarinda, Iowa. Her obituary says she died from a stroke of paralysis. (It also says she was born in Buffalo, MO, this is an error.) In September 2005 family members donated money to put a headstone on her grave, Headstone Project info.

Documents: Marriage License to Theodore Clark, Obituary for Martha

Martha Ellen White (b-6/22/1902 - d-7/4/1952) (50)

1. Theodore Clark, m-6/9/1918, Buffalo, Dallas Co, MO.
2. John Manuel Haney, m-~1922, (b-7/15/1873 - d-6/1945)

1. Ruby Mae Haney (b-2/23/1924 - d-3/15/1995) (71)
2. John Henry Haney (b-4/16/1925)
3. Charles Edward Haney (b-7/21/1927 - d-6/1972) (45)
4. Virgil Lee Haney (b-5/11/1932 - d-1/21/1999) (67)
5. Hershel Matthew Haney (b-2/26/1934 - d-3/3/1983) (49)
6. Norma Lou Haney (b-4/5/1940)
7. Wilma Marie Haney (b-6/25/1945 - d-6/2/2004) (58)

3. Tom Whittaker (b-6/12/1880 - d-3/8/1949 )
4. Nathan Oliver Rector (b-7/31/1893, Camden Co, MO - d-1/15/1971, Bolivar, Poke Co, MO.)

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