MARTIN, Alexander, senator, born in New Jersey about 1740 ; died in Danbury, North Carolina, in November, 1807. He was graduated at Princeton in 1756, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and, after a brief sojourn in Virginia, settled in Guilford county, North Carolina, in 1772. Soon afterward he was Chosen a member of the colonial assembly, took part in the conventions of 1774-'5 that were called to vindicate the rights of the people, and in 1776 was appointed colonel of the 2d North Carolina regiment, with which he served at Germantown and the Brandywine. He was a member of the state senate from 1779 till 1782, from 1785 till 1787, and again in 1788, and for some time served as its president. He was acting governor of the state in 1781, and the following year was chosen governor, being re-elected in 1789. In the interval he served as a member of the convention that framed the constitution of the United States. At the close of his second term as governor he was elected to the United States senate, and served from 2 December, 1793, till 3 March. 1799. He received the degree of LL.D. from Princeton in 1793, and at the time of his death was a trustee of the University of North Carolina. He published in the "North Carolina University Magazine" poetical tributes to General Francis Nash and Governor Richard Caswell.--His brother, James, removed to North Carolina from New Jersey in 1774, and being appointed colonel-commandant of the Guilford regiment of militia the same year, served at different times for about sixteen months during the Revolutionary war. He was subsequently elected to the legislature.