Elmore County AlArchives Biographies.....Lancaster, John A. December 5 1840 - living in 1893 ************************************************ 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: Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 20, 2004, 10:54 pm Author: Brant & Fuller (1893) EX-JUDGE JOHN A. LANCASTER, of the firm of Lancaster & Co., general merchants, and one of the most extensive planters of Elmore county, was born in Troup county, Ga., December 5, 1840, son of William and Martha A. (Goss) Lancaster, the father being a native of South Carolina and the mother of Georgia. In 1845 William L. came to what is now Elmore county, where he spent the rest of his life, and died in 1864 a wealthy farmer. He was justice of the peace, a Mason and a Methodist. He was in the army for a while in 1864, and during that short service he contracted disease which caused his death. His wife died in 1886. Judge Lancaster is the eldest of eight children, three of whom served in the late war-Jesse, died at Memphis, Tenn., in the service in 1862; William, enlisted when a boy of fifteen and served three years; Judge Lancaster was brought up on a farm and educated in Troup county, Ga., finishing his studies at La Grange, Ga. Later he taught school two years, and in the summer of 1861 joined company I, Seventeenth Alabama infantry, as a private, but rose rapidly to the rank of lieutenant, and took part in the bombardment at Pensacola. In the spring of 1862 he joined the army of the Tennessee, and fought gallantly at Shiloh, the Tupelo, Rome, Mission Ridge, Georgia campaigns, and back with Hood to Franklin, Tenn., where he was severely wounded. After the war he taught school for two years and engaged in farming till 1871, when he was elected sheriff, and in 1874 was elected probate judge and served fifteen years, at the expiration of which time he resigned. Since that time Judge Lancaster has given all his time to his large agricultural and mercantile interests, owning over 7,000 acres of land in Elmore, as well as large tracts in other counties. He was married in 1866 to Miss F. A. Lett, a daughter of R. Pinckney Lett, of Elmore county, also a native of Georgia, and they are the parents of six children-William E., Eulala, Jessie, John A., Minnie and Effie. Judge Lancaster is a Mason and a Knight of Honor, and his wife is a Methodist. Additional Comments: from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 940-941 Published by Brant & Fuller (1893) Madison, WI This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 2.7 Kb