Madison County AlArchives Biographies.....Erskine, Albert Russel 1827 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 September 20, 2011, 5:09 am

Source: See below
Author: Smith & De Land, publishers

  ALBERT RUSSEL ERSKINE, M.D., was born January 17, 1827, in Huntsville, and was
the second son of Dr. Alexander and Susan Catharine (Russel) Erskine, natives,
respectively, of Monroe and Loudon Counties, Va.

  Dr. Alexander Erskine, who received an academic education, taught school for
awhile, before entering the medical department of the University of
Pennsylvania, from which institution he was graduated in 1810. In January, 1817,
he located at Huntsville, where he became one of the most successful physicians,
and where he remained until his death, July 5, 1857. lie took a great interest
in church and State affairs, as well as in the improvement of his town. He was
for many years President of the Board of Medical Examiners of the State Medical
Association, of which he was a conspicuous member, lie was the first prominent
Mason in Huntsville, and was one of the charter members of the Masonic lodge at
this place. He became a wealthy citizen, and wielded much influence for good in
that community. Eleven children were born to him, of whom nine grew to maturity.

  The subject of this sketch received his education at Huntsville, and was a
student for a time at Georgetown College, District of Columbia. While at the
latter place, he received an appointment to West Point Military Academy, and
attended that school two years. Finding that he had no taste for military life,
be resigned, and began the study of medicine with his father, in 1849. He took
his first course of lectures at the University of Virginia, and was graduated in
medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in the spring of 1851.

  The same year he located at Huntsville, in which place he successfully
practiced medicine until the war. In December, 1862, he joined the Confederate
Army, and was assigned to the Fifth Tennessee Regiment as Surgeon. Eight months
later he became Gen. Pat Claiborne's Medical Inspector, and was in this capacity
for four or five months, after which he was assigned to the Forty-fifth Alabama
Regiment as its Surgeon. After the battle of Jonesboro, having received
intelligence of the illness of his wife, at his request he was assigned to
Convalescent-Camp Wright, which he established, and finally to Marion, Ala.,
Hospital, where his family was then located.

  He is a member of the Madison County Medical Society, and was for three years
its president; was for several years a member of the American Board of Health
Association and of the State Association, and is a member of the County Board of
Health, and has been secretary of the County Board of Censors for some years. He
is a member of the Masonic fraternity.

  Dr. Erskine was married October 5, 1854, to Maria D. Matthews, a daughter of
Luke and Judith (Peete) Matthews, of Huntsville. Her father was one of the
wealthiest and most successful planters in Northern Alabama. He came from
Campbell County, Virginia, at a very early date.

  Dr. Erskine has three children: Alexander, Luke Matthews and Janet. The Doctor
and his wife are Presbyterians, and he is an elder in that Church.

  The family of Alexander Erskine, as far as known, sprang from the Rev.
Ebenezer Erskine, of Scotland, who was the founder of the Secession Church, and
who was born in 1080. Henry Erskine, our subject's great-grandfather, married
Jean Thompson, of Stirling, moved to America and settled in Cecil County. Md.,
where he died.

  Subsequently his wife and son Michael moved to Monroe City, Va. Michael
married Margaret Panlee, «eeHanley, of Monroe City, Va. They had five children,
Dr. Alexander Erskine being the fourth. His mother, with her first husband, John
Paulee, was captured by the Shawnee Indians while en route from Virginia to
Kentucky, whither they were going for settlement. The savages promptly slew Mr.
Paulee after a desperate struggle, in which other associates were engaged; and
the chief of the tribe adopted her as his daughter. His savage highness
subsequently decided upon her death, but was dissuaded by other members of the
tribe, with whom it appears she had grown to be a great favorite.

  The son born to her soon after her capture, grew to manhood and was slain in
battle with the Indians. After the chief's death, her friends ransomed her by
the payment of $200, and she lived to the age of ninety-one years.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical
Birmingham, Ala.: Smith and De Land
1888

PART IV.
MONOGRAPHS OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS IN NORTHERN AND CENTRAL ALABAMA,
TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY OF THEIR REPRESENTATIVE PEOPLE.


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