William Douglas Martin was born in Buffalo, North Dakota, June 22, 1889. He received his schooling in the Valley City Public Schools, graduating and was sent to the Mexican Border Campaign in 1916-1917. In 1917 he went with Co. G 164th Inf. AEF to France. While there he was advanced to 1st Sgt. He returned home with the 164th in the spring of 1919.
On June 24, 1919, he was married to Esther E. Emery (daughter of W. S. Emery, Sr.). To this union were born six children, all but two of which died in infancy. The two remaining were: Roy Charles (December 13, 1924) and Viola Marie (July 2, 1930).
Newly married, his first home was in Powers Lake, North Dakota where he worked as a farmhand for his uncle, Ross Martin. In 1920, he returned and farmed the W. S. Emery, Sr. farm with Walter Emery, Jr. until 1928. He sold his interest in this farm and tried another, but times were hard and in 1930 he sold out and moved to Valley City, taking a job with the Valley City Grocery Co. He worked there as a warehouseman and truck driver until 1936, when he was employed by the Barnes County Highway Dept. as a tractor operator (Catskinner). He enjoyed this work but it was seasonal and the winters, at times, could be desperate. In the slack seasons he worked for WPA.
In 1939, the chance to drive a used car to the West Coast in a car caravan was offered. So, driving one and trailing another, he went to the Coast. But work was scarce there too and in the spring he returned to North Dakota.
December 7, 1941 marked the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the entry of the United States into World War II. Within a few days Doug was employed by the Northern Pacific Railway as a bridge guard for the Hi-Line Bridge in Valley City. He worked at this job only until April in 1942, when the death of Ernie Swanson, then Police Chief of Valley City, caused an opening in the Police Dept. His application for Patrolman was accepted. Harold, "Shorty", Stensheol was advanced to Police Chief. Under Chief Stensheol he learned Police work, staying with the department until June, 1945. At that time the relatively new North Dakota State Highway Patrol was enlarging its force and he accepted a position as State Highway Patrolman for the Valley City District. Highway Patrolmen were few in number and he patrolled a district roughly the width of Barnes County from the northern border of the county to the South Dakota State line. In 1947 he was transferred from the Valley City District to Rugby, North Dakota, where he remained as Patrolman until he resigned in 1962.
Doug's wife, Esther E. (Emery) Martin died June 17, 1953, in Rochester, Minnesota, where she was hospitalized.
On May 21, 1954 he was married to Margaret Meyers. There were no children of this union and they lived happily in Rugby until his retirement from the Patrol in 1962, at which time they moved to Phoenix, AZ where they made their home until Doug's death August 12, 1968. He was buried in Woodbine Cemetery in Valley City, beside his first wife, Esther. Margaret, at the present time, lives in Alemeda, California near two of her daughters by her first marriage.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 151