John Gayle, governor of Alabama, was born in Sumter district, S.C., Sept. 11, 1792. He was graduated from South Carolina college, Columbia, and was afterward admitted to the bar. In 1813 he removed to Mobile, Ala., where he practised law. He was a member of the territorial legislature of Alabama in 1817, solicitor for the first judicial district in 1819, judge of the supreme court in 1823, a member of the lower house of the state legislature and speaker of that body in 1829. He was governor of Alabama, 1831-35; a presidential elector, 1836 and 1840; a Whig representative in the 30th congress, 1847-49, and judge of the U.S. district court of Alabama, 1849-59. He died in Mobile, Ala., in July, 1859.

The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans 1904

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