author
John Alexander Martin
1839–1889
A printer by trade, Civil War officer, newspaper editor, and Kansas governor, he lived at the center of the state’s turbulent early years. His story links the rough-and-ready world of frontier journalism with the rise of Kansas politics after the war.
3 Audiobooks
Addresses: by John A. Martin. Delivered in Kansas.
by John Alexander Martin
Address delivered at the quarter-centennial celebration of the admission of Kansas as a state
by John Alexander Martin
The Wyandotte Convention: an address
by John Alexander Martin
About the author
Born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in 1839, John Alexander Martin learned the printer’s trade as a teenager and moved to Kansas while the territory was still being shaped by fierce political conflict. In Atchison he took over a newspaper and built a career as an editor and publisher, becoming a strong voice in public life.
During the Civil War, he served in the Union Army with the 8th Kansas Infantry and rose to the rank of colonel. After the war he remained active in Kansas politics, serving in the state senate and later becoming the state’s tenth governor, holding office from 1885 to 1889.
Martin died in Atchison, Kansas, in 1889. Remembered as both a journalist and public servant, he stands out as one of the figures who helped shape Kansas in its early decades as a state.