It seems like Almost Yesterday that Dr. Sam Martin was delivering babies and providing medical care for the residents of East Prairie, Mo.. "Dr. Sam," as he was known, was born in East Prairie in 1877, the son of Samuel and Mary Martin. Except for the years in which he was away at college, Dr. Sam lived his entire life in the community of East Prairie.
He attended college in Kentucky and Tennessee, spent two years at the Cape Girardeau Normal School, and graduated from Washington University School of Medicine in 1905.
Late in 1905, Dr. Sam came home to East Prairie where he practiced medicine for 51 years, until his death in 1957.
During his five-decade career, Dr. Sam estimated that he delivered more than 5,000 babies.
On one occasion, he said he delivered a baby which weighed in at a whopping 18 and a half pounds. In 1913, in the midst of the great flood of that year, he traveled by boat to the house of an expectant mother who was trapped in an attic bedroom of a house encircled by flood water. To reach her, Dr. Sam had to crawl out of the boat and through an attic window. The young mother was trapped and frightened. But Dr. Sam put her at ease and helped her deliver a set of twins, who together weighed in at 22 and a half pounds - the heaviest delivery of his long medical career.
Remarkably, Dr. Sam's father was a medical doctor; his brother Albert was a doctor; and, Dr. Sam had two sons who became doctors.
The three East Prairie Dr. Martins: Dr. Sam; his brother Albert; and his father, also Dr. Sam. They provided East Prairie with 139 years of medical service.
Dr. Sam was, indeed, a legendary figure - who never turned a deaf ear to anyone in need - and who never turned anyone away who could not pay for his services. For the people of Mississippi County, the memory of Dr. Sam making his rounds seems like Almost Yesterday.