Andrew Martin, lumber merchant, and the agent of the Green Bay Lumber Company, of Des Moines, Iowa, is one of the reliable business men of Walnut. He was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, July 11, 1858. His father, Captain Andrew Martin, is a naval officer of Germany, and is now on the retired list. He was the father of two children, Andrew and Almo.

Andrew Martin, the subject of this sketch, received a high school education in Germany. At the age of twenty-three, in 1889, he came to America, and having learned the English language in Germany, he soon acquired the correct speech. Mr. Martin came directly to Davenport, Iowa, and the same year to Walnut, and purchased a farm of 130 acres of land in Monroe Township, Shelby County, and farmed for two years, and then he engaged in his present business, owning an interest.

In 1884 he married Margaretta Kleingarn, a native of Germany, and they are the parents of three children: Bertha, Waldmar and Otto. In religious belief Mr. and Mrs. Martin are Lutherans. In political opinion Mr. Martin is a Democrat, and socially a member of the Odd Fellows and United Workmen. He is a man well known as a straight forward business man of integrity and ability, and has the confidence of the business men of the county.