MARTIN, William Dobbin, jurist, born in Martintown, Edgefield district, South Carolina, 20 October, 1789; died in Charleston, South Carolina, 16 November, 1833. He received a classical education, studied law with Edmund Bacon in Edgefield and at the Litchfield law-school, was admitted to the bar in 1811, and practised in Edgefield till 1813, when he removed to Coosa-whatchie, he and his friend James L. Pettigru divided all the leading cases in lower Carolina, except in Charleston, and were accustomed to examine their cases together out of court, and reduce the argument to the actual point in dispute. He was elected to the state house of representatives in 1816, and was chosen chairman of the judiciary committee in 1818. The same year he was elected clerk of the senate, and held that office till 1826, when he was chosen a representative in congress as a state rights Democrat, and took his seat on 3 December, 1827. He was re-elected without opposition, and on its expiration was chosen a circuit judge, and removed to Columbia.