Born in Davie County on January 1, 1898 to Dr. W.C. and Frances Eaton Martin, Martin graduated from Mocksville High School in 1914, received a B.S. degree from Wake Forest University in 1918, and his degree in medicine from Jefferson Medical College in 1920. Martin began practicing medicine with his father in Mocksville in 1923. He served as Davie County quarantine officer from 1925 to 1939, county coroner from 1938 to 1942, and on the county welfare board from 1923 to 1936.