Joshua Lanier Martin, governor of Alabama, was born in Blount county, Tenn., Dec. 5, 1799. He was a descendant from Louis Montaigne, who fled from France in 1724 and settled [p.276] in South Carolina, changing his name to Martin; and was of Huguenot, Scotch and German ancestry. He studied under the Rev. Isaac Anderson of Maryville, Tenn., removed to Alabama, and practised law at Athens. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1822; state solicitor, and later a circuit judge and chancellor of the middle division of the state. He was a Democratic representative in the 24th and 25th congresses, 1835-39, and governor of the state, 1845-47. His son, John M. Martin, was a lawyer, member of the state legislature 15 years, speaker of the senate, a representative in the 49th congress 1885-89, married Lucy C., daughter of Judge E. W. Peck, and their son, Wolsey Randal Martin, practised law with his father at Tuscaloosa and removed to Fort Smith, Ark., in 1885. Governor Martin died in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Nov. 2, 1856.

The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans 1904

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