Untitled From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, publ. 1901- page 896

HENRY MARTINS, a well-known furniture dealer of Platteville, Grant county, was born in Hanover, Germany, Dec. 9, 1847, and is the eldest of the seven children that constituted the family of Henry and Helena MARTENS, who came to this country in 1854.

Henry MARTENS, the father, was a carpenter, landed in the city of New Orleans, came up the Mississippi river to Galena, Ill., and thence across the prairie by wagon to Platteville, then a small village, and the ground on which the house of Henry MARTENS, the younger, now stands, was then heavily timbered with hard wood; it was situated near the site of the present high school building. Although his property was slightly improved when he bought it, Mr. MARTENS erected a new dwelling and other buildings, and on this property he and his wife passed the remainder of their days, devout in the faith of the Lutheran Church, of which they were the first members in Platteville. Of their seven children, Ida and Frederick died young; Catherine was born and educated in Germany, and after coming to Wisconsin was married to John SHAMBO, a wagon-maker in Platteville, and is the mother of two children, Henry and Frank; William, born in Germany, is a cabinet-maker, is married, and has an adopted child, Lillie (they reside in Platteville); John, born in Platteville, married a Miss PETERSON, and has four children, Clarence, Sophia, Laura and Lillie (he works in the store of his brother Henry); August, also born in Platteville, and working at cabinet-making for his brother Henry, is married to a Miss SHEPHERD, and has five children.

Henry MARTENS received a good German education, and after coming to America acquired the English language, making a specialty of its study, though he did not attend school, as his father required his services as a manufacturer of furniture in his shop. In 1870 Henry went into business on his own account, adding the manufacture of organs and other musical instruments to that of furniture, and now has the largest establishment in this line in the city.

In 1873 Henry MARTENS married Miss Bertha HILLMAN, a highly educated lady who came from Germany to American in 1870, and was for many years her husband's bookkeeper. After the death of her parents Mr. MARTENS purchased the old family residence, in which Mrs. MARTENS died, in January, 1887, leaving her husband with one daughter, Helena, born in 1879, who graduated from the Platteville high school, and was well educated in music. Mrs. MARTENS was a sincere Christian, a devoted wife and loving mother, and was greatly missed in the community in which she had lived. On Sept. 12, 1900, Mr. MARTENS was married to Miss Charlotte WILKE, of Platteville, daughter of Gottlieb WILKE.

Mr. MARTENS continued to reside in the old homestead until 1898, when he sold his dwelling and purchased a very fine residence on Virgin avenue, where he and his family are surrounded with every comfort in life. They are all members of the Lutheran Church, in which Mr. MARTENS has been an officer for thirteen years, and a member of the choir for over twenty years, and to the support of which he has ever been a most liberal contributor. In politics Mr. MARTENS has been an ardent Republican ever since he was entitled to a vote, has been a member of the city council, and has been largely instrumental in adding to the improvement and general progress of the city. Although but a poor boy when he began life in Platteville, he has risen to a place of distinction and financial prosperity, and has won the unfeigned esteem of his fellow citizens in all stations of life. As a business man his name is beyond reproach, and his musical instruments, in the contraction of which he exercises the most conscientious care, have secured him an enviable celebrity, and are in general use throughout the West.



This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck