Biography of Jefferson Manly Falkner, Randolph, Alabama http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/randolph/newspapers/jmfalkbio.txt ============================================= USGENWEB PROJECT NOTICE: In keeping with the USGenWeb policy of providing free information on the Internet, this data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Project Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file is copyrighted and contributed by: William Fischer, Jr. ============================================= January 2002 HON J M FALKNER ---------------------------- [Note. -- Through the courtesy of Hon Geo W JONES and Editor Jacob PEPPERMAN, of Montgomery, upon our request, The Leader is able to present its readers this week with a good likeness of Hon J M FALKNER. We also publish an interesting historical sketch of Col FALKNER, written by Mr JONES. -- Editor] Jefferson Manly FALKNER, Lawyer, was born in Randolph county, Alabama, July 14th, 1843. He was a son of Jefferson and Samantha (BREED) FALKNER. His paternal line is of Welsh extraction, the earliest representatives in America having imigrated [sic] from Wales to Maryland in the eighteenth century. His maternal stock is of English origin, his ancestors on his mother’s side having imigrated [sic] to Massachusetts prior to the revolution and having given the name to the famous “Breed’s Hill.” His father was born in Jasper county, Georgia, in 1810; settling in Randolph county, Alabama, in 1832[?], he shortly entered public life as clerk of the county court and was afterwards, elected judge of said court. He afterwards represented Randolph and Tallapoosa counties, and later Elmore and Coosa counties in the State senate and was a member of the senate when the capital was moved from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery, being a leader in the advocacy of the removal of the capital [from Tuscaloosa]. He was a lawyer of distinction and practiced his profession until the last ten or fifteen years of his life, which latter time he devoted exclusively to preaching the gospel, doing so almost entirely without remuneration. At the outbreak of the Civil War he resided in LaFayette, Chamber county, and there raised a cavalry company known as the “Chambers Cavalry,” and went to the front as its captain in July, 1861. His command was subsequently merged into the Eighth Confederate Cavalry of which he became Lieutenant-Colonel, serving in all the engagements from Columbus, Kentucky, to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He resigned from the service on account of failing health and his resignation was accepted just before the battle of Murfreesboro, but he remained with his command until this battle was over, taking a conspicuous part therein. Upon his death in April, 1895, there was universal mourning throughout Alabama. Jefferson Manly FALKNER entered Mercer University at Pennfield, Georgia, at the age of sixteen, but left there two years later to enlist in his father’s cavalry company. During the four years’ service he was gradually promoted until he attained a captaincy in the famous WHEELER Calyary [sic] and was repeatedly commended for conspicuous gallantry. After the surrender of General Joseph E. JOHNSTON he was for two years engaged in farming, and then taking up the study of law, was admitted to the bar in Montgomery, Ala, in 1868. He immediately formed a partnership with his father and they practiced law together until the latter retired. In 1887 he was married to Lizzie, daughter of Andrew CAMERON, a well known merchant of Montgomery, and of Scotch-Irish decent [sic]. In 1890 Jefferson Manly FALKNER was appointed district attorney for Alabama of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, a position which he has ever since filled with conspicuous ability. He has always been prominent in politics, although never an office seeker, and has, at all times, diligently worked for principles rather than parties. For four years he was an alderman of the City of Montgomery and was for two terms city attorney for the City of Montgomery. He was National Committeeman and member of the National Executive Committee of the National Democratic Party during the campaign of 1896. He is at present the Alabama member of the Executive Committee of the “Indianapolis Monetary Conference.” Colonel FALKNER is one of the best agriculturists in Alabama, and on his splendid plantation near Montgomery raises the best breeds of blooded stock, as well as choice grains and grasses. He has been characterized as the “Father of Good Roads” in Alabama, having inaugurated the movement which has resulted in the building of magnificent macadamized roads through a great portion of the State. He is now Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Alabama Good Roads Association. As a tribute to the valor displayed by Col FALKNER during the “War between the States,” and his magnanimous actions toward his comrades of the Confederate Cause since the war, when a camp of Confederate Veterans was organized at Montgomery, Alabama, in 1901, by unanimous vote of the Camp it was named “Camp Jeff FALKNER.” This camp has gone energetically to work to provide a Confederate Veterans’ Home for indigent, worthy Confederate veterans, at Mountain Creek, Alabama. Liberal donations have been made to the Home from all portions of Alabama; contracts have been let, and the work of constructing the buildings is now in progress. Colonel FALKNER donated the land on which this home is being erected, and is, himself, Chairman of the Building committee. [From The Roanoke Leader (Randolph County, Alabama), 6 May 1903, p.2] ------- The bracketed information at the beginning of the article is part of the original publication, added by Leader Editor O. H. STEVENSON. Breed’s Hill is the actual location where the Battle of Bunker’s Hill was fought early in the American Revolution. “Colonel” was a commonly used term of respect for lawyers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and had nothing to do with military rank.