Red Barn Murder

Mariah Martin was born July 24th, 1801, to Thomas and Grace Martin.

As mentioned just a moment ago, Thomas was a professional mole catcher.

He kept those animals out of crops in the area.

Mariah was smart, and to get an education that would have been inaccessible to her otherwise, her parents sent her to live with a minister and his family in Lamb.

She helped out around the minister's house, and in return she got lessons, but that arrangement was cut short when Mariah was only nine because her mother, Grace, died, and Mariah had to return home to take care of her younger siblings.

But she continued her education herself, reading and memorizing as much as she could.

Sometime later, Thomas Martin remarried to a woman named Anne, who was just a few years Mariah's senior, but Mariah remained at home and helped with the family.

She had several more half-siblings through Anne, and Anne and Mariah had a good relationship.

But though Maria may have been book smart, she was not especially wise when it came to men.

When she was 17, Maria started a relationship with Thomas Corder.

That's the older brother of the William mentioned in the news story at the top of this episode.

Because Thomas and William came from a wealthier family than Maria, there have been a lot of theories over the years that she was hoping that she would marry up into better social and financial standing through these relationships, but that is just speculation.

Thomas insisted that they keep their relationship secret, but that became difficult when Maria got pregnant.

Initially, Thomas continued to court her, a bit more openly than before initially, uh, into her pregnancy, but his interest and then the frequency of his visits at the Martin home started to diminish in the months she was expecting.

After she gave birth to the baby, Thomas did not, as he had promised, marry her.

She actually went to a magistrate to get an order of affiliation.

That's basically a legal document that would have established him as the father of the child so he would have had a financial duty for its wellbeing.

But that didn't really matter for long because the child died in infancy, and Thomas Corder exited Maria's life.

At this point, in the standards of the time, Maria had a tarnished reputation, but she did find another suitor in Peter Matthews.

Peter was not from Polstead, but he had relatives there, so presumably the two of them met while he was visiting his family.

By all accounts, Maria was transparent and upfront with him about her previous relationship and pregnancy.

Soon, Maria was pregnant again.

Peter and Maria had a son, Thomas Henry, and Peter did provide financial support for the boy, but he did not have any intention of marrying Maria.

According to an 1828 book detailing the particulars of the case, Thomas Henry was, quote, "liberally supported as he has ever been by his natural father, who intends, when at a proper age, to have him properly educated and make a future provision for him." In the time since Maria had been left by Thomas Corder, Thomas had died.

He apparently fell through ice on a pond that he was trying to cross, and drowned.