Elbert Sevier Martin (ca. 1829 – September 3, 1876) was a nineteenth-century Congressman and newspaper publisher from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. He was the brother of

John Preston Martin John Preston Martin (October 11, 1811 – December 23, 1862) was a political figure in Kentucky in the early 19th century. He was born on October 11, 1811, near Jonesville, Lee County, Virginia. He moved to Prestonsburg, Floyd County, Kentucky ...

Biography

Born near

Jonesville, Virginia Jonesville is a town in and the county seat of Lee County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,034 at the 2010 census. History Jonesville was a small but thriving center of local commerce in the late nineteenth and early twentieth c ...

, Martin attended the public schools as a child and went on to attend

Emory and Henry College Emory & Henry College (E&H or Emory) is a private liberal arts college in Emory, Virginia. The campus comprises of Washington County, which is part of the Appalachian highlands of Southwest Virginia. Founded in 1836, Emory & Henry College is ...

from 1845 to 1848. He engaged in

mercantile Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exchan ...

pursuits in Jonesville before being elected an

Independent Democrat In U.S. politics, an independent Democrat is an individual who loosely identifies with the ideals of the Democratic Party but chooses not to be a formal member of the party (chooses to be an independent) or is denied the Democratic nomination i ...

to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

in 1858, serving from 1859 to 1861, being unsuccessful for reelection in 1860. Martin served in the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of a company of volunteers which was formed in his hometown of Jonesville. After the war, Martin moved to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

in 1870 and became interested in the newspaper publishing business. He died in Dallas on September 3, 1876.

References

Retrieved on 2008-10-10 1826 births 1876 deaths Members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia Emory and Henry College alumni Confederate States Army officers 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Date of birth missing People from Jonesville, Virginia Virginia Democrats People of Virginia in the American Civil War Virginia Independents Independent Democrat members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century American journalists American male journalists 19th-century male writers 19th-century American politicians Journalists from Virginia {{AmericanCivilWar-bio-stub