John Gayle (Alabama)

John Gayle (September 11, 1792 – July 21, 1859) was the seventh Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1831 to 1835, and was later a United States district court judge for that state.

Born in 1792 in Sumter, South Carolina, Gayle graduated from South Carolina College in 1813, and then read law to enter the bar in 1818, opening a private practice. He was a member of the Legislative Council for the Alabama Territory from 1818–19, then became the Solicitor of the First Judicial Circuit of the State of Alabama, from 1819-21. From 1822-1823 and again from 1829-30 he was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives. In the interim, he was a state court judge for the Alabama Third Judicial Circuit from 1823–25, then in private practice in Greene County, Alabama until 1828, and then on the Alabama Supreme Court from 1828-29. After serving as Governor of Alabama from 1831–35, he returned to private practice in Mobile, Alabama until 1846. Gayle served in the United States House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849.

He was nominated by President Zachary Taylor to serve as a judge for the United States district courts for Northern, Southern, and Middle Districts of Alabama on March 12, 1849, all three seats having been vacated by William Crawford. Gayle was confirmed by the Senate on March 13, 1849, and received his commission on March 13, 1849, thereafter serving until his death.

Gayle was married to Sarah Gayle from June 11, 1819 until his death. Gayle died of ill health and natural causes on July 21, 1859 aged 66. Sarah died in 1864. During his time on Alabama Supreme Court (1828–29) John Gayle constructed his family home in Greensboro, AL then apart of Greene County, Alabama now Hale County, Alabama. There he and Sarah gave birth to Amelia Gayle Gorgas. She was the wife of Gen. Josiah Gorgas, Chief of Ordnance of the Confederate States of America, mother of William Crawford Gorgas, 22nd US Surgeon General who freed the Panama Canal Zone of yellow fever.¹

Sources

• John Gayle (Alabama) at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress; Gayle, John, 1792-1859
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