He and his wife Lydia moved to Seattle, and she died January 14, 1911, the same year his work for the cartoonists' club was published.
Benjamin continued living in Seattle, with an aunt, Pleiades Martin, and raising his daughters; they were together in January 1920 for the Census.
After Ellen's death, Martin's family life "fell apart" and he and a fellow artist, Jack Bechdolt, hit the road as "Soldiers of Fortune".
[5] Ben and his friend Jack, hit the road again, leaving his daughter June in the care of his father.
The state eventually decided to "take June [his remaining daughter] out of circumstances and sent her to the Hope Farm school" Verbank, New York, about 1927.