John Martin (politician, 1833)

John Martin

John Martin (born November 12, 1833 in Hartsville , Trousdale County , Tennessee , †  September 3, 1913 in Topeka , Kansas ) was an American politician ( Democratic Party ) who represented the state of Kansas in the US Senate .

Life

John Martin attended the public schools in his hometown and then worked as a clerk in shops and in the post office. In 1855 he moved to Tecumseh in the Kansas Territory , where he was elected Deputy Secretary ( Assistant clerk ) of the Territorial House of Representatives. From 1855 to 1857 he worked in the administration and land registry of Shawnee County . After studying law , Martin was admitted to the bar in 1856 and began to practice as a lawyer in Tecumseh; the following year he became a justice of the peace there.

In the following years, John Martin took on numerous other offices at the local and territorial level. He was a District Attorney for Shawnee County (1858-1860), Postmaster of Tecumseh (1858-1859), Assistant Attorney General for Kansas (1859-1861), and Clerk at the Supreme Court of Kansas (1860). In 1861 he moved to Topeka, where he again worked as a lawyer.

politics

John Martin's political career began with membership in the Kansas House of Representatives between 1871 and 1875. In 1876 he ran unsuccessfully for the office of governor ; also in the election to the US Senator for Kansas he was initially defeated in 1877 by the Republican Preston B. Plumb . After serving as district judge between 1883 and 1885, another defeat followed in his candidacy for the US House of Representatives . In 1888 he finally lost the gubernatorial election for the second time.

After Senator Plumb's death on December 20, 1891, Martin ran for a by-election for his mandate the following year; Bishop W. Perkins was acting as the successor. This time he was victorious and entered Congress on March 4, 1893 . During his two-year term he was, among other things, Chairman of the Railway Committee . After serving in the Senate, Martin served as a clerk at the Kansas Supreme Court from 1897 to 1899 . He died in Topeka in 1913.

Web links

• John Martin in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• John Martin in the database of Find a Grave (English)