At a young age, John Martin (1823-1904) prided himself on his accomplishments as an inventor, a gardener/farmer, and a worker.

In a journal he began writing in 1864, Martin described a cart he invented in about 1833 -- and provided a detailed illustration.

On page 73 of the journal, he wrote, "During this summer I became a quite a mechanic I made me a cart with hub and spoke wheels and the idea started from an instance of a crooked limb which I found while gunning in the woods that I invented a cart tongue such as are in general use for boy and baby carriages now I made a perfect cart with stake rings side boards Snibells to lip up and all the acoutrements for both a tight body and a sloven hay racks were knot known then but came in use soon after."