Merton Martensen was an American politician from Arizona. He served a single term in the Arizona State Senate during the 9th Arizona State Legislature, holding one of the two seats from Pima County.

Biography

Martensen was born in 1894 in Barron County, Wisconsin. Martensen moved to Arizona in 1909. After moving to Arizona he worked in various occupations, as waiter, milkman, bellhop, and publicity agent for the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

. During the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

, Martensen served as the driver for Pancho Villa. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Martensen went to Canada and joined the Canadian Army. He transferred to the British Army in order to see action earlier, and was gassed twice before transferring to the British Flying Corps, where he was involved in a plane crash, and was eventually made a blimp pilot. After the ware he returned to his native Wisconsin in 1919. In 1922 he was elected sheriff of Barron County, serving for two years, and then the following two years as deputy sheriff, due to state laws prohibiting sheriff's from being re-elected. In 1926 he returned to Arizona, where he became a journalist for the ''

Arizona Daily Star The ''Arizona Daily Star'' is the major morning daily newspaper that serves Tucson and surrounding districts of southern Arizona in the United States. History L. C. Hughes was the Arizona Territory governor and founder of the ''Arizona Star'', ...

''. In 1928, he won the Republican primary for the State Senate from Pinal County in a write-in vote campaign. Then he followed that up with a narrow general election victory over Democrat D. M. Perry by 16 votes. The results were challenged by Perry, but the courts finally adjudicated Martensen as the winner. While a senator, he was instrumental in getting the state's fingerprinting law passed. In October 1929, Martensen was appointed by Governor

John C. Phillips John Calhoun Phillips (November 13, 1870 – June 25, 1943) was an American politician who served as the List of governors of Arizona, third governor of the state of Arizona from January 7, 1929 to January 5, 1931. Born in 1870 in Vermont, Illin ...

as Secretary of the Board of Directors of State Institutions, accepting the position necessitated his resignation from the Arizona State Senate. Martensen was killed at age 54 in a car accident on December 5, 1948, while visiting San Bernardino County, California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martensen, Merton Republican Party Arizona state senators 20th-century American legislators 1948 deaths 1890s births Road incident deaths in California People from Barron County, Wisconsin 20th-century Arizona politicians