Paul Elliott Martin

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Paul Elliott Martin (December 31, 1897 – 1975) was an American bishop of the Methodist Church and later the United Methodist Church, elected in 1944. He was born in Blossom, Texas, the son of Dr. Charles Elliott and Annie Willie (Black) Martin. He married Mildred Helen Fryar on June 29, 1920. Martin earned an A.B. degree from Southern Methodist University in 1919 and studied theology there. He served as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War I and later spent three years as Superintendent of Schools in Blossom.

In 1922 he joined the North Texas Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, serving as a pastor in Cedar Hill, the Maple Avenue Church in Dallas, Henrietta, Iowa Park, and Greenville (Kavanaugh). He was then Superintendent of the Wichita Falls District, with his last appointment before becoming a bishop being First Methodist in Wichita Falls (1938–1944). He took part in important church leadership roles, serving as a delegate to major conferences (1938 General Conference, 1939 Uniting Conference, and later conferences in 1940 and 1944), and as president of the Board of Education for the North Texas Annual Conference. He was also a trustee of Southern Methodist University and Centenary College.

Martin was elected and consecrated as a bishop by the 1944 South Central Jurisdictional Conference and served in the Arkansas–Louisiana Episcopal Area, with offices in Little Rock, Arkansas. He received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Southwestern University in 1938 and was a member of the Masons and the Knife and Fork Club.