Dale County AlArchives Biographies.....Henry B. Steagall May 19 1873 - November 22 1943 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 May 3, 2004, 7:26 pm Author: Southern Star Henry B. Steagall Served In Congress 36 Years Henry Bascom Steagall, of Ozark, was born at Clopton, May 19, 1873, the son of William Collinsworth and Mary Jane (Peacock) Steagall, the grandson of Ivey Finch and Sidney (Purifoy) Steagall, and A1ex and Harriet Peacock. Mr.Steagall's father was a physician, had been a State senator, and enlisted in the cavalry branch of the Confederate service under W. T. McCall in 1861, but did not serve. His grandfather, Ivey F. Steagall, was a Methodist minister in the Georgia conference, coming to that State from Virginia and originally from Great Britain One of his paternal ancestor's was fatally wounded during the Revolutionary War at Charleston Henry Steagall's education was obtained in the common schools of this county and at the Southeast Alabama Agricultural School at Abbeville, where he graduated in June, 1892. He was also an alumiuis of the law school of the University of Alabama having graduated there June, 1893. He was admitted to the bar in Union Springs in the summer of the same year and then entered practice in Ozark. In 1898 he was appointed county solicitor. He was always an active Democrat, serving his party both on county and State committees. He was a Methodist, a member of the Masonic order and of the Sigma Nu fraternity. On December 27, 1900, he married Sallie Mae, daughter of William Philip and Mary (Jordan) Thompson of Tuskegee. Mr. Thompson was a Confederate soldier. As a young lawyer he became interested in politics. He was elected as Representative from Dale County to the State Legislature in 1907. He was elected to the 64th Congress in 1941 and won re-election consecutively for 15 terms, a record exceeded by only six other living congressmen at that time. He was chairman of the powerful House Banking and Currency Committee. He introduced legislation creating the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Office of Price Adminis- tration. He sponsored and piloted to passage the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation act, which guaranteed bank deposits. This was enacted soon after the bank holiday when the nation's banks were closed temporarily. When he died November 22, 1943, he was serving his thirtieth year representing the state's third district. Political friends and foes took the House floor to pay tribute to "the farmers' best friend' and "The man who stabilized America's banking system." On Sunday, April 4, 1965, Ozark's new National Guard Armory was dedicated as Fort Henry B. Steadall. He is buried in the Westview cemetery in Ozark. From the Oct. 15, 1970 Southern Star Newspaper This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/alfiles/ File size: 3.2 Kb