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[[stamped]] FROM THE FLYING PIONEERS BIOGRAPHIES OF HAROLD E. MOREHOUSE [[/stamped]]

GLENN L. MARTIN
Pioneer West Coast Aviator - Plane Manufacturer

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Glenn L. Martin was born at Macksburg, Iowa January 17th, 1886, son of a hardware dealer. At age 2 his parents moved to Liberal, Kansas. His mother had been a school teacher and she tutored him before he was of school age. He displayed an early business instinct when he began building and selling kites to his neighborhood playmates.

In 1894 the family moved to Salina, Kansas where his father became a traveling salesman for a hardware and implement manufacturer.

Martin attended grade and high school there and developed and increasing interest in mechanical things. During his second year in High School he had a spare time job in a bicycle shop, then later worked for an automobile agency where he soon became an expert driver and the best trouble shooter in town. After graduating from high school in 1903 he enrolled for a two year business course at Kansas Wesleyan University.

In 1905 the family moved to California an settled in Santa Ana where Martin got a job in a garage. He saved his money and later opened a garage of is own, the obtained the agency for Ford and Maxwell automobiles. His father became and automobile salesman, and a mechanic, Roy Beall, was hired to help in the garage. The business prospered and Martin was soon making money.
 
 At that time he was also becoming very interested in aviation and was care-