County. Congressional service Gayle was elected as a Whig from Alabama's 1st congressional district to the United States House of Representatives of the 30th United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1847, to March 3, 1849. He was Chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims for the 30th United States Congress. Federal judicial service Gayle was nominated by President Zachary Taylor on March 12, 1849, to a joint seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama vacated by Judge William Crawford. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 13, 1849, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on July 21, 1859, due to his death in Jacksonville, Alabama. He was interred in Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile. Family Gayle was married to Sarah Ann Haynsworth, formerly a resident of South Carolina, from June 11, 1819, until she died in 1835, due to lockjaw (tetanus). They had six children. In 1837, Gayle married Clarissa Stedman Peck at Gaston, Alabama. They had four children. Gayle died of ill health and natural causes on July 21, 1859, aged 66. During his time on Alabama Supreme Court (1828–29), John Gayle constructed his family home in Greensboro, Alabama, then a part of Greene County, now part of Hale County. There 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 United States Surgeon General who freed the Panama Canal Zone of yellow fever. References Sources 1792 births 1859 deaths 19th-century American judges 19th-century American politicians Alabama state court judges Democratic Party governors of Alabama Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama Judges of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama Democratic Party members of the Alabama House of Representatives Members of the Alabama Territorial Legislature Politicians from Mobile, Alabama People from Sumter, South Carolina Speakers of the Alabama House of Representatives Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law United States federal judges appointed by Zachary