John Martin was a pioneer of Clark County, Kentucky, where he lived on Lower Howard's Creek. John had been a blacksmith in Goochland County, Virginia, where he married Rachel Pace. He owned a small farm there before moving to Ballenger Creek in what is now Fluvanna County. John and Rachel were the parents of thirteen children. In the late 1780s, the parents and children moved to Kentucky. John settled on a hillside farm in an area then known as the Bush Settlement. John now has descendants too numerous to count, some still in Clark County, the others spread all over. Our John Martin has been confused with a number of other men of the same name, and their deeds have been conflated to create a mythical man. One goal of this work is to provide a fully documented history of the life of John Martin of Lower Howard's Creek. Illustrated, indexed.