Stephen Martindale IV was born in La Crosse in 1859, son to Stephen Martindale III and Katharine Howard. The Martindales, as many Yankee families, left Vermont and moved to Wisconsin in the mid 19th century. Stephen IV attended Beloit College and studied law at UW Madison. After a very brief stint in law in La Crosse, he joined his father's insurance business and later became an agent for Northwestern Mutual Life in La Crosse. Stephen IV married Sophie Rosenblatt from Beloit, and together they started their own family of three children: Henrietta, Katharine, and Stephen V. Stephen's letters reveal a devoted, kind, generous and loving father, always ready to do whatever he could for his family. He died suddenly from a heart attack in October 1923, leaving behind a devastated and broken family, heavily in debt.