sentences:  In 1855 he was standard-bearer and leader on horseback of the ceremonial opening of the Hennepin Avenue Bridge the first major, permanent bridge across the Mississippi River
  
  He was also President of the First National Bank, owner of the largest lumber mill in the area until it burned in 1887 (by then recently under new owners) and founding officer of Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway and Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste.Marie Railroad
  
  Later in life he provided primary funding and major impetus (along with his daughter Jean) for the founding of the Children's Home Society of Minnesota, then called the Jean Martin Brown Receiving Home.Martin was married to Miss Jane B. Gilfillan sister of Representative John Bachop Gilfillan of Minnesota.