Daniel Martin (politician)

Martin was born at "The Wilderness", near Easton in Talbot County, Maryland in December 1780.[1] 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. He married Mary Clare Maccubbin in Annapolis on February 6, 1816, and they had five children.[2]

In 1819, Talbot County elected him as one of its representatives to the Maryland House of Delegates. 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. 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.

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.

Like Thomas Sim Lee and John Henry, Daniel Martin left no portrait.[2]

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.

His home, "The Wilderness," was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.[3]

• Daniel Martin at Find a Grave