Sabra Nye Martin was a pioneering practical nurse and midwife who not only served the growing communities of Bemidji and Nymore during the early settlement period of northern Minnesota but also helped establish one of those communities. Her life exemplified the entrepreneurial spirit and community dedication of frontier women who provided essential services while building new towns from the ground up.
Born Sabra Willard, she married Porter Nye in Cleveland, Ohio on April 29, 1856, beginning a partnership that would span nearly five decades. The couple arrived in Bemidji in 1893 with their established family, spending their first winter with the George Carson family. In the spring of 1894, Porter and Sabra took up a homestead on a quarter section of land abutting the south shore of Lake Bemidji, located where the Crookston Lumber Mill later stood.
The Nyes were not merely settlers but visionary town founders. They subsequently platted the townsite of Nymore, named after the Nye family and their partner L. A. Moore. Porter served as the first county superintendent and the first school teacher in the settlement, while Sabra, drawing on her years of experience as a practical nurse, provided essential medical care to the growing community, delivering “any number of babies” for families in the area.
Sabra managed a remarkably busy household that reflected her central role in the community. By 1900, she was overseeing not only her husband and granddaughter Nona, but also five boarders and a young servant girl, suggesting she operated an important boarding establishment in addition to her nursing duties. The couple had three children together: two daughters who died as young children, and a son, Fritz Willis Nye, who remained in Nymore.
In 1890, Sabra had been baptized as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, adding a spiritual dimension to her community leadership. On August 16, 1900, she hosted the Ladies’ Aid Society of the nearby Methodist Episcopal church. When she died in 1913, her funeral was held at the Presbyterian church.
The Nyes sold their land to the Crookston Lumber Company about 1898 and moved to their new residence at 802 Beltrami Avenue in Bemidji, later known as the Francis Arnold house. Porter won the election for Court Commissioner in 1900 handily over his opponent John Aaberg.
During Porter’s declining health, Sabra likely had to balance her nursing duties with caring for her ailing husband, as was common for women of her generation who juggled community responsibilities with family caregiving. Following Porter’s death in 1905, Sabra remained in the Beltrami Avenue home for about two years. In September 1907, she married Thomas J. Martin, another Civil War veteran, and the newlyweds sold the Bemidji house and returned to Nymore, the community she had helped establish years earlier.
Back in Nymore, Sabra resumed her essential work as a midwife under her new name, notably delivering the Carter twins on February 23, 1908. Her return to the smaller community allowed her to fully re-engage with serving the families she had known for years in the town she had helped create.
Beyond her medical work, Sabra became a respected community leader and earned the affectionate title “Mother of Nymore” – a fitting designation for someone who had literally helped birth both babies and the town itself. She played prominent roles in local celebrations, including reading the Declaration of Independence at the town’s Fourth of July festivities in 1912. Both she and her husband were active in the Grand Army of the Republic organization, serving as chaplains for their respective circles.
Sabra was also engaged in the moral and civic debates of her time, advocating for the closure of theaters on Sundays to promote better moral standards for young people. After heated debate, the council voted unanimously against closing the theaters on Sunday, but her voice carried weight in community discussions, reflecting her status as a respected leader in the community.
Thomas and Sabra enjoyed their brief but fulfilling marriage, sharing just six years together from 1907 until her death in 1913. They traveled extensively during these senior years, spending winters in Montana and making trips to California. Not all their journeys were for pleasure, however; in March 1912, they made the sorrowful trip to Detroit, Minnesota for the burial of Thomas’s 38-year-old son Judson, who had died from injuries sustained in a mining blast near Troy, Montana. Such experiences deepened their bond as they supported each other through both joyful adventures and heartbreaking family tragedies. Sabra’s health began to decline after their return from a western sojourn in 1913. She died on June 30, 1913, at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Bemidji after suffering from heart and stomach ailments. She was seventy-two years old.