CRAWFORD, Martin Jenkins, lawyer, born in Jasper County, Georgia, 17 March 1820; died in Columbus, Georgia, 22 July 1883. He was educated at Mercer University, and, after studying law, was admitted to the bar in 1839. For a while he followed his profession, but the death of his father caused him to give his attention to planting. From 1845 till 1847 he was a member of the state legislature, and in 1850 was a delegate to the southern convention held in Nashville during May. In 1853 he was made judge of the superior courts of the Chattahoochee circuit, and held that office until his election to congress as a democrat, where he served from 3 December 1855, until his withdrawal on 23 January 1861. He was then elected by the convention of Georgia a delegate to the Confederate provisional congress, serving from January 1861, till February 1862, and subsequently was appointed one of the three commissioners sent to treat with the authorities in Washington for a peaceful separation of the states. During 1862 he raised the 3d Georgia cavalry, and after a year's service was transferred to the staff of General Howell Cobb, with whom he continued until the close of the war. He then resumed the practice of his profession, and in 1875 was appointed judge of the superior courts of the Chattahooehee circuit, to which office in 1877 he was reappointed for a term of eight years. In 1880 he was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, to fill the unexpired term of Logan E. Bleckley, on the completion of which he became his own successor by appointment from the state legislature.