Noah Martin was born in Epsom, NH on July 26, 1801, the son of Samuel and Sally (Cochrane) Martin. He graduated from Dartmouth Medical College in 1824.
In 1825 he married Mary Jane Woodbury the daughter of Dr. Robert Woodbury of Barrington and started practicing medicine in Somersworth. In 1834 Dr. Martin moved to Dover and lived at 16 Nelson Street.
Dr. Martin served in the Legislature in 1830, 1832 and 1837 and in the N.H. Senate in 1835 & 36. He was elected Governor of New Hampshire in 1852, on the Democratic ticket, and served for only one two year term. He was president of the Strafford Medical Society in 1841 & 42 and was president of the New Hampshire Medical Society in 1858.
He was Vice Pres. for New Hampshire of the New England Genealogical Society in 1855 and Vice Pres. of the state Agricultural Society in 1851. Dr. Martin was president of the Strafford Savings Bank from 1844 to 1852 and a director of the Strafford National Bank from July 1860 until his death on May 28, 1863. His wife Mary died June 30, 1880.
Noah and Mary Jane Martin had two daughters, Elizabeth A. and Caroline M. Neither of the daughters married and they both lived in the house at 16 Nelson Street until their death. Elizabeth A. Martin died Sept. 1, 1889 and her sister Caroline M. Martin died Aug. 21, 1910. When Caroline died she left an oil painting of her father to the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston.
Photograph from Dover Public Library archives, text from Marston, Robert, Dover, NH: People, Businesses and Organizations: 1850 to 1950. Dover, NH, 2004.