Born in Palos around 1441, it appears that at quite a young age Pinzón shipped out on a locally based caravel as a "grumete" (cabin boy). His home, now the Casa Museo de Martín Alonso Pinzón, was on the old royal road to the Monastery of La Rábida. Martín's family contracted a marriage with a resident of the locality named María Álvarez. They had five children: two boys—Arias Pérez and Juan, who participated in several expeditions to the Americas—and three girls—Mayor, Catalina, and Leonor. Leonor, the youngest, suffered frequent attacks of what was then called ""gota coral"" and would now be called epilepsy.