MARTIN, Joshua Lanier, governor of Alabama, born in Blount county, Tennessee, 5 December, 1799; died in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 2 November, 1856. He was educated under the instructions of Reverend Isaac Anderson at Maryville, Tennessee, removed to Alabama, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and within a short time took high rank in his profession. He was a member of the Alabama legislature in 1822, and for some time solictor, and subsequently a cir-cult judge and chancellor of the middle division of the state. He was elected to congress in 1835, and re-elected for the following term. In 1845 he took issue with the other Democratic leaders in Alabama on the question of the state credit, announced himself as an independent candidate for governor, and was elected ; and the financial standing of the state was preserved unimpaired.--His son, John Mason, member of congress, born in Athens, Limestone County, Alabama, 20 January, 1837, was graduated at Centre college, Danville, Kentucky, in 1856, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1858, and established himself in practice at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He served four years in the Confederate army, was elected a state senator in 1871 to fill a vacancy, reelected for a full term the following year, and chosen president pro tempore. In 1875 he became professor of equity jurisprudence in the University of Alabama. He was elected to the National house of representatives as a Democrat, and served from 7 December, 1885, till 3 March, 1887.