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hatred of Thomas Jefferson was well known at
the time. He was counsel for the defense in the
impeachment trial of Samuel Chase (1741-1811)
in the U.S. Senate, 1804, and was one of five
counsels for the defense at the famous trial of
Aaron Burr in Richmond, 1807. WEALTH DURING
LIFETIME. PERSONAL PROPERTY: mortgaged his law
books (130 titles) to his friend Samuel Wilson (1735-
1790) for £246.8.8, 1775; assessed value £380.0.0,
including 5 slaves, 1783; 6 slaves, 1790; £492.3.8
specie from the estate of his wife's father, 1790.
ANNUAL INCOME: claimed to have an income of
£12,000.0.0. from his law practice in 1800. LAND
AT FIRST ELECTION: no evidence of land owner-
ship. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN
FIRST ELECTION AND DEATH: Martin purchased 2
lots of confiscated British property in Baltimore
Town in 1781; in 1784 he leased out 2 adjacent
lots on Market Street, possibly the same 2 lots;
in 1787 and 1789 he sold both lots which he had
been leasing out. In the 1780s and 1790s he
purchsed well over 3,000 acres in Baltimore and
Anne Arundel counties and in what is now How-
ard County. Some of this was land owned pre-
viously by Charles Carroll and Company (the Bal-
timore Company) under the tract name "Orange,"
but which had been sold off in numbered lots.
During this same time period he purchased lots
in Baltimore Town on Charles Street in partner-
ship with Samuel Chase (1741-1811), Jeremiah
Townley Chase (1748-1828), and Charles Ridgely
(1733-1790); he also bought lots on Whetstone
Point (now called Locust Point and the site of
Fort McHenry), which had been part of the ex-
tensive holdings of the Principio Company. Much
of this land was mortgaged to Chase in the late
1780s. Chase had become security for Martin in
a bond given to the Baltimore Company for ca.
£4,150.0.0 in 1785, and then became the mort-
gage holder of Martin's land as an indemnity against
loss. In 1802 at least 1,800 acres of this land was
remortgaged to the Bank of Maryland for
$20,000.00. In 1791 Martin's wife and her two
sisters inherited from their father all of his real
property in Allegany County and Hampshire
County, Virginia, a total of probably ca. 1,350
acres, plus 10 town lots in Skipton (Old Town),
Allegany County. In 1792 Martin sold 500 acres,
and between 1799 and 1824 he sold an additional
525 acres and 6 lots of his Allegany County land.
In 17% he sold a lot and house on Charles Street
in Baltimore Town and 100 acres outside of town,
land which formerly belonged to the Baltimore
Company. In 1797 the land office issued Martin
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a warrant of resurvey on a tract in Allegany County.
A certificate of survey was issued for 10,423 acres,
but a patent was never taken up. In 1816 and
1817 Martin patented 56 acres in Allegany County
along with Robert Martin, possibly a nephew.
WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED: on July 8, 1826. Martin
was said to be improvident by nature, with his
greatest fault being an excessive indulgence in
alcohol. He suffered a stroke in 1820. Paralyzed,
infirm, and allegedly poor, Aaron Burr took him
in when no one else would. In his last years each
lawyer in Baltimore City was taxed $5.00 for his
support as evidence of the esteem with which he
was still held; and in 1822, the General Assembly
resolved that Martin be paid $300.00 a year for
the rest of his life since he was "labouring under
providential affliction." He died in New York
City. PERSONAL PROPERTY: size of estate un-
known.
MARTIN, NICHOLAS (ca. 1749-1783). BORN:
ca. 1749 in Talbot County; third son. NATIVE: at
least fourth generation. RESIDED: in Talbot County.
FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: Philip Martin (?-
1758) of Talbot County, a planter, son of William
Martin (?-1722). STEPFATHER: by 1762, Stephen
Bowdle (?-1791). MOTHER. Phebe (1721-?),
daughter of Henry Bowdle and wife Mary Gould.
BROTHERS: Henry (ca. 1741-?); William (1745-
?); and Robert (ca. 1753-?). HALF SISTER: Mary
Bowdle, who married (first name unknown) Tur-
butt. MARRIED probably never. CHILDREN, prob-
ably none; if so, none survived their father. PRI-
VATE CAREER. EDUCATION: literate. SOCIAL STATUS
AND ACTIVITIES: Mr., by 1780. OCCUPATIONAL
PROFILE: senior captain for Stephen Steward &
Son, of West River, Anne Arundel County, ship-
builders, shipowners, and merchants; master of
the sloop Morris and Wallace with letters of mar-
que and reprisal dated October 19, 1777; com-
mander of the sloop Porpus with letters of mar-
que and reprisal granted April 23, 1779; captain
of the brig Nesbitt by March 8, 1781, to at least
January 1782 (a voyage of the Nesbitt prior to
January 1782 brought 5,000 Mexican dollars to
Maryland for the use of the State in recruiting);
captain of the Dauphin for Stephen Steward &
Son by 1782. Martin's last voyage was as captain
of the Dauphin carrying cargo for the mercantile
firm of Wallace, Johnson, & Muir from Nantes,
France, to America. On November 23, 1782, ten
days out of Nantes, the Dauphin was captured
by a Guernsey privateer after a six-hour chase.
Martin was transported to a prison on Jersey,
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