Martha J. Martin-Kounse
The Lawrence Register
I was raised in Lawrence County, Ohio, attended Burlington and Sybene Schools, then graduated from South Point High School. I am currently married to John W. Kounse and have three grown children with my late husband, Vernon Ray Bice 1952-1984.
I was blessed that my dear grandmother lived next to me while growing up. My children and I loved listening to her talk about her childhood and the stories she heard from her grandparents and other ancestors. My favorite story was when she would tell us about her grandfather and Civil War Veteran, Ben Cooley, who my grandmother fondly remembered.
Around 1978, my brother introduced me to genealogy as a hobby. Years later, that hobby led me to be the Newsletter Editor with KYOWVA Genealogy Society and Vice-President of Lawrence County, Ohio, Genealogy Society.
After being hired at Briggs Library in 1995, I became the Manager of The Hamner Room in 1998. In 2001, I was appointed county Chairwoman by The Ohioana Library. I also served on the Special Collection Division of the Ohio Library Council. Being the coordinator for Lawrence County, Ohio, Veterans for the Veterans History Project, sponsored by The Library of Congress.
Then, when the opportunity came up, I became the Assistant Manager at the Chesapeake Branch of Briggs Library until my retirement. Since my retirement, I have devoted my time to traveling, gardening, and writing books about Lawrence County, Ohio. You can find those at https://lawrencecountyohio.com/books-for-sale/.
Imagine our surprise when my brother and I discovered that our old homeplace (and where he currently resides), was once the “Fry Lands,” which are part of the Burlington 37 story!!
What is The Lawrence Register?
We are a genealogy and historical website covering Lawrence County, Ohio. The Lawrence Register’s ‘roots’ began in 1996 while I worked in the Hamner Room at Briggs Library in Ironton, Ohio. The library was getting a lot of phone calls and letters from people living out of the area. These patrons were trying to do their family research, some of whom would never have the chance to visit our county.
In the meantime, I watched this new technology called “the world wide web” with intense excitement and discussed it with our patrons. One day, Lisa Boyer, a Hamner Room at Briggs Library patron, overheard me talking about making my website. She offered to help me with the technology if I would get the material typed in a format we could put online.
We did this for about a year, but then I decided it was time to learn to put items online without anyone’s help. So I began the task of learning how to code HTML and the process of putting material on the ‘internet.’
Hamner Room Manager
After my promotion to the Hamner Room Manager in 1998, I got so many requests for volunteers to help type material that I could hardly keep up with the demand. One of these volunteers was Sharon Kouns, who started helping me with the HTML coding. I would work from home in the evenings and well past midnight. Then Sharon would log into our site and take over until mid-morning.
“The victim of my success,” my old supervisor told me with a grin! I never dreamed The Lawrence Register would become such a success as it was. In November of 1998, I was honored when The Ohio Library Council asked me to teach other libraries in the state of Ohio how to set up genealogy websites for their libraries. Our website has also been featured in best-selling books, and many authors, websites, and even the Ohio Historical Society have used our site as their reference.
I have kept The Lawrence Register online since 1996, except for a few years. I am proud to announce that my daughter, Sara Strohmeyer, has decided to help me ‘bring our website up into the 21st Century requirements.’ She has encouraged me to continue my dream, which has always been to help others with their research in Lawrence County, Ohio.