Martin Grover

Martin Grover (October 20, 1811, Hartwick, Otsego County, New York – August 23, 1875, Angelica, Allegany County, New York) was an American lawyer, jurist, and Democratic politician from New York. Over the course of his public life he served one term in the United States House of Representatives from 1845 to 1847 and later as a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1857 to 1867, participating in the governance and legal development of New York during a period of significant national change.

Grover was born in the rural community of Hartwick in central New York at a time when the region was still being settled and developed. Growing up in Otsego County, he came of age in the early decades of the nineteenth century, when New York was rapidly expanding in population, commerce, and political influence. The environment of small-town upstate New York, with its emerging legal and political institutions, provided the backdrop for his early life and shaped his interest in the law and public affairs.

Educated in the common schools of his native region, Grover pursued legal studies in New York, following the customary path of reading law under established practitioners rather than attending a formal law school, which was still uncommon in his youth. After completing his legal training and meeting the requirements for admission to the bar, he commenced the practice of law in New York State. His legal career developed in the context of a growing and increasingly complex state, and his work as an attorney helped establish his reputation and connections within the Democratic Party.

By the mid-1840s, Grover had become sufficiently prominent in legal and political circles to be elected to the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to represent New York in the Twenty-ninth Congress and served one term from 1845 to 1847. His tenure in Congress coincided with a significant period in American history marked by debates over territorial expansion, economic policy, and the balance of power between free and slave states. As a Democratic representative, he contributed to the legislative process and participated in the democratic governance of the nation, representing the interests and concerns of his New York constituents in the federal legislature.

After leaving Congress, Grover returned to his legal profession in New York, continuing to build his standing as an attorney and public figure. His experience in national politics, combined with his established legal practice, positioned him for higher judicial responsibilities. In the 1850s, as New York’s judiciary was being shaped to meet the demands of a growing state, his legal acumen and party affiliation made him a suitable candidate for the bench.

In 1857, Grover was elevated to the New York Supreme Court, one of the state’s principal trial and appellate courts, where he served as a justice until 1867. His decade on the Supreme Court bench spanned the years leading up to, during, and immediately after the Civil War, a time when courts were frequently called upon to interpret laws affecting property, contracts, civil liberties, and the evolving relationship between state and federal authority. As a justice, he played a role in adjudicating significant legal questions arising from New York’s economic development and the broader national upheavals of the era, contributing to the body of state jurisprudence that guided New York’s legal system.

In his later years, Grover remained closely associated with the legal and civic life of western New York. He resided in Angelica, Allegany County, a regional center of law and local government, where he continued to be regarded as a figure of judicial and political experience. Martin Grover died in Angelica on August 23, 1875. His career, encompassing service in the United States House of Representatives and a decade on the New York Supreme Court, reflected the trajectory of a nineteenth-century New York lawyer who moved from local practice to national office and then to high judicial responsibility during a formative period in American history.