LAND, Alfred Dillingham,  Holmes City, MS., then Caddo Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
Date: 1999-2000



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Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and
Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 241-242.  Edited by Alcée
Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.

Land, Alfred Dillingham, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana,
was born in Holmes county, Mass., Jan. 15, 1842.  His parents were Thomas
Thompson and Mary Eliza (Dillingham) Land.  His father was born in Tennessee
in 1815, reared in Holmes county, Miss., educated in part at the University of
Virginia; and licensed to practice law in Mississippi in the legislature of
which state he served 1 term.  He removed to Caddo parish, La., in 1846, and
in 1847 commenced practicing law in the town of Shreveport.  He was twice
elected judge of his district; twice elected associate justice of the Supreme
Court of Louisiana; was a member of the constitutional convention of 1879, and
served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the convention.  He died in
July, 1893.  Mary Eliza (Dillingham) Land was born in Mississippi in 1822 and
died in Shreveport in 1902.  She was a granddaughter of Maj. Alfred David
Smith, officer in the Revolutionary war and the War of 1812, and a friend of
Andrew Jackson, as well as a prominent character of his day.  Mrs. Land was
related to the Runnels, Humphries and other prominent families of Mississippi. 
On the Land side the family descended from Capt. John Land of Land's Ford on
the Catawba river, S. C., who was killed by the Tories during the
Revolutionary war.  Alfred Dillingham Land, after attending local schools in
Shreveport, spent 2 terms at Centennary college, and 2 terms at the University
of Virginia.  He received his diploma from the law school of the University of
Louisiana, now Tulane university, in May, 1861.  A short time thereafter he
enlisted in Company H, 7th La. volunteer infantry, C. S. A., and served with
his command at the first battle of Manassas, July 21, 1861, and in minor
engagements during the same year.  In 1862 he enlisted in Company A, 28th
Miss. cavalry, and in 1863 was assigned to Harvey's Scouts, in which he served
until badly wounded and honorably discharged in Jan., 1864.  Judge Land was
admitted to the bar in Nov., 1865, and after practicing his profession in the
city of New Orleans about a year and a half, returned to Shreveport where he
continually and successfully practiced law until his elevation to the bench. 
In 1893 and 1894 he served as a member of the committee on constitutional
amendments, whose recommendations as to suffrage and several other provisions
were incorporated in whole or in part in the constitution of 1898.  In Sept.,
1894, Judge Land was elected as additional judge of the First Judicial
District in and for the Parish of Caddo.  In 1896 and again in 1900 he was
elected sole judge of his district, without opposition.  In Oct., 1903, Judge
Land was appointed by Gov. W. W. Heard as associate justice of the supreme
court from the Second Supreme Court District, vice Justice N. C. Blanchard,
resigned.  In 1910, Justice Land was defeated for the Democratic nomination
for justice by Judge Luther E. Hall, who was elected to succeed Justice Land
at the expiration of his term in June, 1912.  Judge Hall resigned to become a
candidate for governor, and in Nov., 1912, Justice Land was elected to succeed
himself for a term of 12 years.  In November, 1869, Alfred D. Land and Miss
Sarah Virginia Lister were united in marriage.  Mrs. Land was a native of
Harrison county, Tex., and died in Feb., 1884, leaving 5 children, namely: 
Mrs. Florence L. May, Boston, Mass.;  Mrs. Tilly H. Scovall, Shreveport, La.; 
Mrs. James Ashton Blanchard, Shreveport, La.;  Alfred D. Land, Jr., lawyer, of
Shreveport, La.; and  Vivian L. Land, New Orleans, La.