Background
Martindale was born in Laurens County, South Carolina. He moved with his family to Warren County, Ohio in about 1801 and there they established a farm just outside Waynesville, Ohio. There the family lived, largely self-sufficiently, making their own clothes and raising their own food.
In about 1811, Martindale’s father determined to move again.
He resettled the family to Whitewater Valley, in Indiana Territory, on a brook still called Martindale Creek. The family raised a cabin in October and cleared eight or 10 acres (40,000 m2) by the following spring.
During the aftermath of the Battle of Tippecanoe and during the conflict with Great Britain later called the War of 1812, the neighboring settlers decided to erect a small fort around the Martindale cabin and several moved in. Uncomfortable with the rough lifestyle, Martindale’s parents decided to move back to Ohio and waited out the war there before returning to Indiana.
In October, 1815, Martindale married a Wayne County, Indiana pioneer named Elizabeth Boyd.
In the spring of 1832 Martindale moved with his wife to Flat Rock, near New Castle, Indiana, in Henry County, Indiana.
In 1865 they moved to New Castle.
