Daniel Martin (December 1780 – July 11, 1831) served as the

20th 20 (twenty; Roman numeral XX) is the natural number following 19 and preceding 21. A group of twenty units may also be referred to as a score. In mathematics *20 is a pronic number. *20 is a tetrahedral number as 1, 4, 10, 20. *20 is the ba ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the state of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in the

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from January 15, 1829 to January 15, 1830, and from January 13, 1831 until his death. He also served in the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...

in 1813, 1815, 1817, 1819 and 1820. He was the second

governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

to die in office.

Early life

Daniel Martin was born at " The Wilderness", near Easton in

Talbot County, Maryland Talbot County is located in the heart of the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 37,526. Its county seat is Easton, Maryland, Easton. The county was named ...

in December 1780.A portion of the inscription on Martin's gravestone:
''...Daniel Martin, who departed this life on the 11th day of July 1831, aged 50 years and 7 months...'' This would place his birth sometime in December 1780. He was the son of Nicholas and Hannah (Oldham) Martin, believed to have been a prominent merchant in Talbot County. Daniel entered St. John’s College in Annapolis in 1791, along with his brother Edward, but neither received his degree. Nicholas Martin died in 1807, and by his will, he left "The Wilderness" to Daniel.

Personal life

Martin married Mary Clare Maccubbin in Annapolis on February 6, 1816, and they had five children.

Career

In 1819, Talbot County elected him as one of its representatives to the

. He remained in the Legislature until 1821, following which he retired temporarily from politics. He was elected governor in January 1829, defeating Colonel George E. Martin by a margin of 52 to 38 votes. His term as Governor expired in January 1830 and was replaced by

Thomas King Carroll Thomas King Carroll (April 29, 1793 – October 3, 1873) served as the 21st Governor of the state of Maryland in the United States from 1830 to 1831. He also served as a judge, and in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1816 to 1817. Biogra ...

. When the latter’s term expired in January 1831, the Anti-Jacksonians had a majority so it once more chose Martin for governor. Martin received 51 votes, with an additional 32 blanks being recorded. His second term lasted from January to July 1831.

Death

Shortly after he had taken office for the second time, his health began to fail. In the summer of that year, he returned to his Talbot County home to look after his farm. He fell from his horse dead, at noon on July 11, 1831, and was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Easton. The legend that Martin fell dead from his horse exactly at noon after having a premonition for the previous three nights that his deceased mother had appeared to him in a dream telling him that on the third day following her first appearance to him, he would be "called home" at noon is recounted in Tilghman's History of Talbot Co. Md. (vol. one p. 230). An article in the Easton Star Democrat for April 9, 1927 gives a more prosaic account of his death stating that Thomas was taken ill on Friday, July 8, 1831 with "gout of the stomach" and died on Monday, July 11 at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

Legacy

His home, " The Wilderness," was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1974. Like Thomas Sim Lee and John Henry, Daniel Martin left no portrait.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Daniel 1780 births 1831 deaths People from Talbot County, Maryland Deaths by horse-riding accident in the United States Members of the Maryland House of Delegates Governors of Maryland Maryland National Republicans National Republican Party state governors of the United States 19th-century American politicians