NTE2cg338.xml Guide to the F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company Records 1894-1959 F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company Records Finding aid prepared by Stephen E. Balzarini Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections © 2025 Finding aid encoded by Suzanne James-Bacon. 2025 Finding aid written in English. English. Finding aid based on DACS 2nd Edition ( Describing Archives: A Content Standard). Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections Cage 338 F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company Records 1894-1959 7 Linear feet of shelf space 11 Boxes Business and financial records of a flour-milling company in Cheney, Washington, with interests in real estate, farm land, rents, stocks and bonds. Collection materials are in English

The F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company was founded in August, 1907, by Francis M. Martin (1858-1925) and J. F. Smith, with the assistance of Clarence D. Martin (1886-1955). The company was capitalized at $50,000 with 200 shares of common stock. F. M. Martin retained the controlling interest with 174 shares, Smith had twenty, C. D. Martin had one and two other investors held five shares. The founders were careful not to limit the company to operating a general grain and milling business. According to the Articles of Incorporation, the company's purpose included the ability "to buy, acquire, lease, own, control, operate, improve, sell, mortgage and convey any and all kinds of grain, mills, water power, electrical power, stocks, bonds, personal property and real estate, to borrow and loan money; and to do and perform any and all things deemed by the officers of said company as necessary in carrying out the general purposes" [of the company].

F. M. Martin was elected president and general manager and retained that position until his death in August of 1925. During the first decade of operation, the company was extremely successful. Profits were such that the company directors declared substantial dividends in the years from 1910 to 1916. In 1916 alone the dividend was $100 per share. The exception to this succession of prosperous years came in 1912 when a fire at the mill, causing over $20,000 in damage, forced the directors to defer issuing the customary dividend. The company expanded its operation in 1918 with the construction of a new and larger mill which was fortuitously completed just after the destruction by fire of the old mill.

Clarence D. Martin, son of principal founder F. M. Martin, succeeded his father as president and general manager in August, 1925. In November, 1932, C. D. Martin was elected governor of the state of Washington and, therefore, took up residence in the Governor's Mansion in Olympia. Until January, 1941, when he returned to Cheney, he left the operation of the business to his business secretary, Elizabeth Goerling, and his eldest son, William F. Martin. Early in 1943, after months of negotiation, Martin sold the mill to the National Biscuit Company for $1,000,000 cash. This was not, however, the end of the F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company. The company, which retained its headquarters in Cheney, had acquired substantial real estate, business and financial interests throughout the state of Washington as well as numerous stocks and bonds. In August, 1955, C. D. Martin died and the firm passed to his three sons. The company continued in business with Elizabeth Goerling as business secretary. The last entry contained among these records of the company is for December, 1959.

The records of the F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company contain financial and business records for the period 1907 to 1959. There are two series: unbound material and bound volumes. The unbound material contains daily reports of wheat prices and mill inventory for the decade of the 1920s. Income tax returns for the years 1927, 1929 and 1932 are especially interesting since they give a picture of the milling business in both the prosperous pre-Depression period and also when the Depression was at its height. A complete run of cancelled checks or check registers from December of 1941 to December of 1959 serve to document the financial dealings of the company in the 1940s and 1950s. There is no business correspondence series among the mill records. Some of that correspondence does exist, however, from the early 1930s to about 1954, included in the personal, business and political correspondence series of Clarence D. Martin Papers, 1896-1954, in the Washington State University Library. Other material in the unbound series, such as property assessments for 1920-1921 and 1925-1931, savings passbooks for January, 1943 through November, 1953, grain orders and prices, insurance forms and sample contracts, serve to enrich the financial picture of the mill.

The bound volumes include general ledgers, cash books, expense ledgers, receipt books and shipping records. The General Ledgers are the most complete financial picture of the company. They include entries dealing with apartment rents, farm rental property, accounts receivable, stocks, bonds, capital and undivided profits, capital gain and losses, insurance, expenses, taxes, dividends and interest. The General Ledger series includes volumes for the period 1923-1943 and 1949-1951, Included in the bound volume series is a ledger of dairy farm accounts and farm inventory for the years 1894 to 1901. This appears to be records of F. M. Martin's business interests prior to founding the mill. Also included in this series is a federal tax register of grain purchases of a Cheney brewery run by A. Schmid and later by J. Seible during the period January 3, 1910 to September 2, 1910.

The records of the F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company are arranged in two major series: unbound material and bound volumes. The unbound material has been arranged in two sub-series: A) financial and wheat records; B) cancelled checks and registers. There was little discernable order to the original acquisition and therefore the processor grouped like material in chronological order, i.e., material on wheat prices and mill inventory records are placed together and then arranged chronologically within the sub-series. All dated material within the sub-series was arranged chronologically and undated material was arranged alphabetically and placed at the end of the sub-series. Cancelled checks and check registers were arranged chronologically within their own sub-series.

The bound volumes were arranged chronologically according to the earliest entry in each particular volume. Consecutive and related volumes were grouped together and then arranged according to the earliest entry within the group, i.e., cash books for April 1943- May 1945 and June 1945-August 1950 were arranged consecutively within their respective sub-series.

This collection is open and available for research use.

Copyright restrictions may apply.

[Item description]

F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company Records, 1894-1959 (Cage 338)

Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

The records of the F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company of Cheney, Washington, were donated to the Washington State University Library in September, 1976 by Frank M. Martin of Spokane and by Mrs. Charlotte Y. Martin of Los Angeles, along with the papers of C. D. Martin.

Clarence Daniel Martin Papers, 1896-1954 (Cage 336)

Clarence Daniel Martin, Jr. Papers, 1916-1976 (Cage 449)

Martin Family Papers, 1926-1986 (Cage 868)

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Goerling, Elizabeth (Business Secretary) Martin, Clarence D. (Clarence Daniel), 1886-1955 Martin, Clarence Daniel, 1916-1976 F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company -- Records and correspondence Flour mills -- Washington (State) -- Cheney Businesses and Corporations Agriculture Washington (State) Series 1: Unbound Material 1 1 Weekly Time Book November 1918-January 1919 1 item. 1 2 Assets 1919 2 items. Wheat Prices and Mill Inventory 1 3 December 1920-October 1921 46 items. 1 4 January 1922-January 1923 56 items. 1 5 June 1923-January 1925 49 items. 1 6 March 1925-June 1926 13 items. 1 7 May 1925-January 1926 32 items. 1 8 December 1925-April 1926 19 items. 1 9 January 1926-December 1926 52 items. 1 10 1926 19 items. 1 11 January 1927-July 1927 36 items. 1 12 August 1927-May 1928 53 items. 1 13 December 1928-December 1929 94 items. 1 14 April 1930-December 1930 79 items. Current Wheat Prices 1 15 August 20, 1919-October 9, 1923 146 items. 1 16 October 10, 1923-January 31, 1925 167 items. 2 17 Wheat Inventory September 3, 1921 2 items. 2 18 Wheat Inventory undated 37 items. 2 19 Property Assessments 1920-1921 1925-1931 98 items. 2 20 Corporation Income Taxes 1927 1929 1932 3 items. 2 21 Specification and Guaranteed Analysis, Flour Bid, Sperry Flour Co. Spring 1935 1 item. 2 22 Savings Passbooks January 1943-November 1953 2 items. 2 23 Notebook of Grain Orders and Prices August 9-October 19 (n.y.) 1 item. 2 24 Insurance forms 27 items. 2 25 Specifications for Fire Protection 1 item. 2 26 Standard Working Agreement for Mill (Grain contract) 23 items. 3 27 Cancelled Checks April 1, 1914-April 30, 1914 110 items. Check Registers 3 28 December 1, 1941-April 16, 1942 1 item. 3 29 April 16, 1942-September 3, 1942 1 item. 3 30 September 3, 1942-January 13, 1943 1 item. 3 31 January 13, 1943-June 14, 1943 1 item. 3 32 June 14, 1943-May 7, 1945 1 item. 3 33 May 7, 1945-January 9, 1948 1 item. 3 34 January 9, 1948-February 28, 1951 1 item. 3 35 March 1, 1951-November 6, 1953 1 item. 3 36 November 6, 1953-December 31, 1956 1 item. Cancelled Checks 3 37 January 1957-April 1957 121 items. 3 38 May 1957-August 1957 120 items. 4 39 September 1957-December 1957 122 items. 4 40 January 1958-April 1958 114 items. 4 41 May 1958-August 1958 122 items. 4 42 September 1958-December 1958 104 items. 4 43 January 1959-April 1959 102 items. 4 44 May 1959-August 1959 107 items. 4 45 September 1959-December 1959 104 items. 4 46 December 1942-February 1950 173 items. 4 47 March 1950-February 1956 Series 2: Bound Volumes 5 Ledger 5 Accounts (dairy) 1894 5 Accounts 1898 5 Inventory (farm equipment and livestock) 1901 6 Journal. Articles of Incorporation for F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company; Constitution and By-Laws Stockholders and Officers; Minutes of Board of Directors Meetings August 15, 1907-August 1, 1916 7 Account of all materials purchased for the purpose of producing fermented liquors January 3, 1910-September 2, 1910 Account Book 8 List of Insurance Policies and Companies 1911 8 Grain shipping records July 11, 1910- May 16, 1911 May 8, 1912-July 11, 1913 8 Sales Account Book November 1, 1932-January 29, 1938 9 Daily shipping and receiving records July 11, 1918-July 30, 1920 10 Account book August 1, 1912-July 31, 1913 11 Ledger. Apartment rents, rents of farm land, stocks, bonds, insurance, wheat tickets, inventory, processing tax, general mill business 1923-1936 12 Ledger. Apartment rents, rents of farm land, buildings, accounts receivable, bank stock, bonds, flour sacks, interest and dividends, insurance, misc. income, purchases and sales expenses, wheat tickets, notes receivable, reserve for taxes, accounts payable 1937-1942 13 Ledger. Mill business accounts with bakeries 1942 14 Ledger. Mill business accounts with bakeries; accounts with individuals 1943 15 Ledger. Accounts receivable, apartment rents, rental property (farms and houses), stocks, bonds, capital and undivided provit, capital gain and loss, insurance, misc. income, expense control, notes receivable, taxes, accounts payable, wheat hedge, notes payable, dividends and interests 1949-1951 16 Apartment Rent Book. Philena Apartments, list of tenants January 1939-December 1943 17 Expense Ledger. Daily, itemized entries September 1, 1941-December 31, 1947 18 Wheat Prices. Daily entries March 2,1942-January 31, 1948 19 Ledger. Loans outstanding by F. M. Martin Grain and Milling Company (terms of loan, interest, schedule of payments); Notes Receivable 1943 20 Cash Book. Daily list of income and expenses April 1, 1943-May 30, 1945 21 Cash Book. Daily list of income and expenses June 1, 1945-August 12, 1950 22 Receipt Book. Primarily rent receipts August 1, 1947-October 13, 1955