Martha Jane Malicote b ca 1830 Grainger County, TN
Married : William Baxter, Apr 18, 1847 Polk County, MO, died Greene County ca 1853-1854

• Some Children

Martha Jane Malicote-Baxter
Married : Samuel Austin, Oct 19, 1854

• James H. Baxter b ca 1854 (about 6 years in Aug 1860)
• William Austin (Baxter) b Apr 24, 1855
• George W. Austin (Baxter) b. Aug 20, 1857
• Nancy Jane Austin (Baxter) b ca 1857 (about 3 years in Aug 1860)
• William Mason Austin (Baxter) b ca 1859-1860 (about 7 months in Aug 1860)
• [John M. Baxter (a brother of Aaron A. Baxter) ]
• [Married : Mary Deskins (died a few months after James was born) ]
• [ James A. Baxter b Oct 1858 ]

Martha Jane Malicote-Baxter-Austin
Marrried : John M. Baxter, ca 1859-1860

Martha Jane Malicote-Baxter-Austin-Baxter
Married : Henry H. Paxton, July 26, 1866, Lawrence County, MO, died Oct 15, 1866 in Illinois.

Martha Jane Malicote-Baxter-Austin-Baxter-Paxton
Married : Ezekial G. Brimmage, Mar 28, 1868, Greene County, MO

Martha Jane Malicote-Baxter-Austin-Baxter-Paxton-Brimmage
Married : Jessee King, Sept 1879, Barry County, MO

Martha Ann BAXTER DOTY

According to our family's oral history, my grandmother, Martha Ann DOTY, was a midwife in Barry County, near Jenkins, Missouri. The family helped her gather herbs that were taken into Aurora. From there the herbs were sent to St. Louis to be made into medicine. After the herbs were made into medicine, my cousin Jewel (Jewel Anna Truhitte Collins) says, "Our grandmother (Martha Ann DOTY) went to a druggist in Aurora to pick up the medicine." I have not yet documented who the druggist was or who did the processing in St. Louis.

Circuit Court records show the State vs. Martha DOTY for practicing medicine without a license. The charges were first filed 8 December 1911, continued 8 March 1912, and dismissed 15 July 1912. I have not yet docwnented why they were filed or why they were dropped. The oral tradition concerning this is that "She went away to school and came back a full-fledged M.D." My cousin Jewel remembers, "Some nurses in Aurora gave Grandmother a dinner when she returned with her license to practice medicine."

In my research I have learned that it was not necessary to attend medical school for four years as it is today. During this period of history, it was possible to study under another doctor then take an exam. I have also come across several references to "reading medicine." I have a copy of what my mother always referred .to as our grandma's doctor book," but the first few pages are missing, so I do not know the name of the book or how she obtained it. I recall my mother once told me that a doctor gave it to her.

Martha Ann BAXTER DOTY, according to oral history, learned midwifery from her mother, Martha Jane. When Martha Ann was young, she went with Martha Jane on most of her calls. When Martha Ann was ten years old (1872), she began helping Martha Jane (b 1830, 42 years). The oral tradition is that Martha Jane helped a doctor in Springfield during the Civil War. This doctor is the one who helped Martha Ann when the "other doctors said she was practicing medicine without a license." I have found no documentation as to who the doctor was that Martha Jane helped.

There is also oral history indicating that Martha Jane's family came from France when there was a war there and that several members of the family were trained in medicine in France--one brother, a doctor, stayed there. The rest of the family left France. I believe that it is very possible that the fcanizy were Huguenot, as Martha Jane's branch of the family were always staunch Baptists. I hope in my research to determine if this was the MALICOTE (Sic) line, as I had always believed, or the MARTIN line. The oral tradition of other MALICOATS is that they are Scotch-Irish or English.

When I began my search, the information that I had from oral history was that Martha DOTY'S father was named "Jim" and that he was killed in the Civil War. I now have documentation that her father was John M. BAXTER and that an older half-brother, James H. BAXTER, was at one time her guardian. Martha Jane MALICOTE was married several times. I have copies of the various documents verifying these marriages, along with copies of the report from Dorothy Deck, C.G.R.S.

Summary of an affidavit sworn in Greene County, 8 February 1867: Martha Ann BAXTER, the only child of Martha Jane & John M.BAXTER, was born 16 April 1862. It appears that she was only 14 when she married Davis DOTY in January 1877.

James A. BAXTER, b. October 1858, was the son of John M. BAXTER by a previous marriage to Mary DESKINS who died a few months after he was born. Apparently Martha Jane took responsibility for his care until he designated his uncle Aaron A. BAXTER as his guardian. According to this affidavit, Martha Jane had two children under age 16 by her first marriage to William BAXTER: George W. BAXTER, b. 20 August 1857 and William BAXTER, b. 24 April 1855,

and she had other children by this marriage over the age of 16 at the time of the affidavit. It also states that she married Henry PAXTON, 10 August 1866, in Lawrence Co., Missouri, and that he died 15 October 1866, while visiting relatives in Illinois.

This affidavit also contains a sworn statement by James H. BAXTER that Martha PAXTON is his mother and that she is the same person who filed claim for a pension as Martha J. BAXTER, widow of John M. BAXTER. Other records show that a William BAXTER died in Greene County in 1853 or 1854. A Martha J. BAXTER married a Samuel AUSTIN, 19 October 1854.

GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI, PROBATE

FILE #379 - WILLIAM BAXTER

15 Nov. 1854 - Receipt of Martha Austin, to Elisha Headleel, Public Adm r . of Greene County for estate of Wm. Baxter, dec d. - $75.00

21 Nov. 1859 - Receipt of Martha Austin to Elisha Headlee, Public Adm r of Greene County for estate of Wm. Baxter, dec d. - $50.00

Allowed by Court 21 August 1860 - The estate of William Baxter deceased - to Samuel Austin to the Care Clothing and reporting of three children, namely :

James Baxter - aged about 6 years

Nancy Jane Baxter - aged about 3 years

William Mason Baxter - aged about 7 months

orphin heirs to the Estate of William Baxter deceased, late of Greene County, Mo. for the term of two years and some over the time being from about the 23 of October 1854 until about the 15 of December 1856. In all = $100.00

Final settlement of estate of Wm. Baxter, Dec d. to be made 3rd Monday in February 1861 by Elisha Headlee, Public Administrator. (No real estate shown - personal property sold at sale 19 Sept. 1857)

17 November 1863 - Receipt of Martha Baxter to Elisha Headlee public administrator of estate of Wm. Baxter, dec d. $187.95 'being full amount belonging to James H. Baxter, Nancy Jane Baxter and William A. Baxter miner heirs of estate of said deceased f or the support of said miners".

I believe that when Martha Jane made the 8 February 1867 affidavit, she did not mention this marriage and said that the children from the AUSTIN marriage were by her first husband, William BAXTER. It would have been very difficult to explain the BAXTER-AUSTIN-BAXTER-PAXTON marriages. Explaining three deceased husbands must have been a traumatic experience. Explaining the other marriage was probably more than she could cope with emotionally. This omission could have been done with the assistance of the county clerk because the affidavit was already complicated enough without mentioning the AUSTIN marriage, and as only the children of John M. BAXTER were receiving money from the government, it was less complicated if the AUSTIN marriage was omitted. Any information or interpretations will be appreciated.

Martha Ethel PRICE GARRETT
134 Royal Place
Santa Maria, California 93454

MISSOURI CENSUS 1880 - BARRY COUNTY