Mr. Ball's early life was spent in Montgomery, and he obtained his education in the private schools in that city. But the war coming on he entered the Confederate service, under the lamented Colonel J. H. Clanton, as sergeant major of his regiment of cavalry. After the battle of Shiloh he was transferred to the Eighth Arkansas Regiment, and was a member of the staff of General John H. Kelley, who was the youngest brigadier general in the Confederate service, and was also an Alabamian.

Young Ball was at the battle of Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Perryville, Chickamauga, and took part in all the fights from Dalton to Atlanta, and in other hard-fought battles, up to the close of the war. He was not wounded during the whole time, and came out of the war as major.

He returned home in April, 1865, was ticket agent, and, at one time, auditor of the Alabama & Florida Railroad, now the Mobile & Montgomery division of the Louisville & Nashville system. He held this position, at Montgomery, for twelve years. From 1877 to 1881 he was mostly in the lumber business. In 1881 he went to Eufaula, Ala., and organized and built an oil mill there, and, in 1882, the oil mills at Albany, Ga. He was general manager of both, with office at Eufaula, and sustained this relation to them five years.

In the latter part of July, 1886, he came to Birmingham, and purchased a considerable interest in the Wharton Flouring Mills, and, on November 20th, 1886, was made president of the milling company. Since assuming control of these mills their sales have increased in a tremendous ratio, and they are, under his management, one of the most thoroughly enterprising and progressive manufacturing concerns of Birmingham.

Mr. Ball was married May, 1872, to Miss Hattie G. Mays, who was living at the time at Augusta, Ga., but who is a native of Montgomery, being a daughter of the late Judge Thomas Sumter Mays, and to them three children have been born.

Mr. Ball belongs to the Andrew Jackson Lodge of Masons, Montgomery, Ala.

Both he and Mrs. Ball are members of the Episcopal Church.

There were three sons and one daughter born to them, and all of them are living in the Sixth Congressional District of Alabama, of which he is to be the representative in the Fiftieth Congress.

Young Bankhead spent all his life prior to the war on his father's farm, and worked and went to school alternately. He remembers vividly plowing with the proverbially-contrary mule.

When the war came on he entered Company K, Sixteenth Alabama Regiment of Infantry, commanded by Captain J. B. Powers, and the regiment by Colonel W. B. Wood, now Judge Wood, of Florence. He enlisted as a private. He was in the struggle from beginning to end, and took part in the battles of Fishing Creek, Perryville, Murfreesboro, Shiloh, Chickamauga, Atlanta, Franklin, and all the principal battles of the Western Army. After the battle of Fishing Creek he was promoted to third lieutenant, and captain after the battle of Shiloh. He was wounded three times.

After the war Captain Bankhead engaged in farming on his home place.He represented his county in the lower house of the legislature in the session of 1865-66, which was the first session held after the war. He took an active part in carving out the new county of Lamar, from Marion. He was in the State Senate from the Twelfth Senatorial District, composed of the counties of Lamar, Franklin, Fayette, and Marion, in the session of the general assembly of 1877.

In 1881 he was appointed warden of the penitentiary and held the office four years. It was in 1882 that Captain Bankhead first became interested in Birmingham, and he has since then greatly increased his possessions in the city.

In 1883 he became associated with Colonel J. F. B. Jackson and others in the manufacture of lime and lumber at Blount Springs, and held his possessions there with the others of the company until February, 1887, and then sold out, with considerable pecuniary advantage.

Captain Bankhead was the originator, and took an important part in organizing the Birmingham Chain Works. He is also a stockholder, and maintains important relations to the Watts Coal and Coke Company; Birmingham Real Estate and Investment Company, and the Sipsey River Coal Company. The last named owns 20,000 acres, among the finest and richest coal lands in the State, and while they are already very valuable, they are destined to grow far more so; in all of these important corporations Captain Bankhead has given evidence of great business tact and capacity, and has grown wealthy with them.

Captain Bankhead was nominated by the Democratic convention of the Sixth Congressional District at Fayette Court House, September 3,1886, to represent the district in the Fiftieth Congress, and was elected in November following. His friends warmly rejoiced in his elevation to the office, and do not doubt that he will make an acceptable and capable member.

Captain Bankhead was married November 13, 1866, to Miss Tallulah, daughter of James Brockman, of Wetumpka. She is also the granddaughter of the distinguished Col. Thomas P. Brockman, of South Carolina. Five children have been born to them— Louise B., Marie S., John H., Jr., Henry M., and Mason.

Captain Bankhead stands high as a Mason, and has served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Alabama.

All the members of his family are Methodists.

The subject of this sketch was the fourth of a family of eleven children, six of whom are now living, all residents of the South. He was reared in Montgomery, where he received his preliminary education, which was supplemented by a course of study at Baltimore, Md., and continued subsequently in Montgomery. In the spring of 1864, when he was eighteen years of age, he entered the army of the Confederate States at Dalton, Georgia, in Hallonquist's Reserve Regiment of Artillery, and served as ordnance sergeant until the close of the war. His regiment was in the active service of the Army of the Tennessee, and participated in the severe battles of Dalton, Resaca, Atlanta, Jonesboro, and the many other severe engagements of the great. retreat of General Joseph E. Johnston. After the close of the war he was appointed. deputy collector of Internal Revenue of the Second District of Alabama, and before-twenty-one years of age had handled over two millions of dollars of Government-funds. He was next appointed cashier for the large cotton commission house of Lehman, Durr & Co., which situation he held for a short period, when he removed to Birmingham, in 1871, as the agent of the South & North Alabama R. R., and after one year's service resigned. For one year he was engaged in farming, and subsequently appointed bookkeeper in the National Bank of Birmingham, which position he ably filled until 1875, when he became cashier of that institution. Upon the death of Charles Linn he was elected president of the bank, and continued until the consolidation with the City Bank, forming the First National Bank, of which he was also elected president. This important position he ably filled until February, 1885, when he resigned and organized the Central Bank of Birmingham, with which he was connected as the master spirit until in February, 1886, when it was reorganized and named in honor of its founder, the Berney National Bank, with William Berney as president, its capital stock being $100,000, which was subsequently increased to $300,000. This institution is a model of its kind, and ranks among the leading monied corporations of the South.

In all of the responsible positions which he has occupied, Mr. Berney has displayed wise and judicious management, and proven himself worthy of any trust. With the reputation of a safe financier, of honest integrity and sterling merit, he is destined to play an important part in the commercial life of Alabama.

Mr. Berney is a stockholder in the Iron and Oak and the Royal Insurance Companies of Birmingham, and in all enterprises tending to promote the healthy growth of Alabama takes great interest. A Christian gentleman, his hand is ever ready to promote the cause of religion; he is also a firm believer in the public schools, and keeps. well abreast with the advancement of the age.

In 1868, April 29, Mr. Berney was united in marriage with Miss Lizzie Taylor, of Montgomery, a daughter of Dr. W. P. Taylor, of that city. This union has been blessed with six children, two of whom are now living, Rebecca D. and Lizzie W. Mr. and Mrs. Berney are consistent members of the First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham.

The business was commenced in 1884 by J. H. Davis and John Herbert, under the firm name of Davis & Herbert, on Avenue G and Eighteenth Street. This firm conducted the business for four months, when Mr. Herbert retired and S. H. Worcester was admitted as a partner, forming the present firm.

Their business prospered, and in November, 1886, they were forced to enlarge the capacity of their works and had their present commodious quarters built for them. The building is especially arranged, is 32x40 feet, and fitted up with the newest and most improved machinery from Boston. Their goods are justly celebrated for their purity and excellence, and their trade is now extending outside of the city to points reached by the railroads. They also have a large city trade, which is increasing daily. Their capacity for business is unlimited, practically, and their specialties are mineral waters, ginger ale, soda, sarsaparilla, and cider.

MR. DAVIS is a native of Ohio, where he was born in 1851, and, when seventeen years of age he went West, and for nine years was engaged in various enterprises in the Rocky Mountains. He came to Birmingham in the fall of 1884, and has since been. in active business, as will be seen from this sketch.

S. H. WORCESTER was born in Newport, Kentucky, March 18, 1864, and is a son of Joseph and Mary (Lock) Worcester, of English nativity. His father is a machinist, and since 1882 a resident of Birmingham. He is now master mechanic at the Birmingham Rolling Mills.

Our subject learned the trade of an engineer machinist at Cincinnati, Ohio, and also attended the Hollingsworth College, where he took a course in engineering and drafting. He was employed in the steel mills of Covington, Kentucky, and in 1882 came to Birmingham and worked in the rolling mills for two years. He went subsequently to Tuscaloosa, where he filled the position of sanitary engineer one year. Returning to Birmingham he was employed at his trade in the Birmingham Iron Works a short time, and then formed his present business association where he has been very successful.

He purchased his first of piece property in Jefferson County, in 1883, at Wood's Station, which he sold within seventeen days at a profit of $1,000, his entire capital being less than one thousand dollars of borrowed money.

He intuitively recognized the magnificent natural beauty of the Southern Highlands for suburban homes, and purchased twenty acres, composing the most desirable locations, and began developing the property, which is now finely improved and dotted with some of the finest suburban residences in the State. He still owns considerable lands in that portion of the city, which is being improved rapidly.

His speculative operations in the business portion of the city have been marvelous, and the execution of them rapid and masterly. A few of them are cited to preserve for posterity some idea of what one man accomplished in the central business portion of Birmingham. His active mind saw at a glance that Morris Avenue would become, by reason of its freight facilities, the center of the wholesale trade, and he accordingly purchased from the Elyton Land Company 975 feet between the railroad and the avenue, paying $30 per front foot. In eight months he had sold all at a profit of over $125,000.

His next venture was on First Avenue, between 21st and 25th streets, purchasing 650 feet from the Elyton Land Company at $75 per front foot, and choice corner lots from different individuals. He then conceived the idea of erecting a magnificent hotel to improve the property, to cost $220,000. After months of planning the desired location was secured by the purchase of the site of Dr. Caldwells handsome private residence at a cost of $20,000, the hotel to bear the latter's name, and the Elyton Land Company to take $50,000 of the stock, and the balance divided between Mr. Boddie and seven other prominent capitalists. This bold stroke of policy cleared for our subject $80,000 on the sale of his lots, and secured the erection of the finest hotel in Alabama, in which he is a large stockholder.

Desiring a permanent investment, he decided upon the southwest corner of First Avenue and 20th street. After several months of negotiations, with an eye single to becoming the sole possessor of this most eligible business lot, he became the owner of the entire lot, 100x100 feet, paying for it $77,500. This lot is now conceded to be worth $125,000. Mr. Boddie intends this lot to be a permanent investment, and will erect upon it a handsome business block, consisting of five stories, with elevators and all of the superior improvements of the age, to live as an enduring monument of his success for many years. These are but fair samples of his many successful operations. He also owns much valuable real estate, and is interested in various enterprises, among which we name: Sloss Steel & Iron Company, North Birmingham Land Company, North Highlands Company, Coalburg Coal & Coke Company, Central Land & Improvement Company, in most of which he is a director. Mr. Boddie has done more to advertise Birmingham and the advantages of Alabama as a safe investment for capital than any other one man. Recognizing the force of placing information abroad, and keeping it before the people, he has been liberal in the extreme sense of that word.

The "New South," one of the finest illustrated monthly magazines in the South, and one that is doing more to attract capital to the South than any other publication in the State, owes to Mr. Boddie the fact that it is on a substantial basis today, and without his timely assistance it would probably have suffered the fate of many other such periodicals.

Since coming to Birmingham he has paid off a large indebtedness contracted prior to coming here, has aided liberally all demands of charity and religious denominations, and has accumulated in a few years a fortune, which is fast increasing, and that in many examples would require a lifetime to secure.

Socially he is most pleasing, and ever ready to extend to the visitor any information and all of the courtesies native to a Southern gentleman. He resides in a finely appointed home, one of the finest and first built on the Highlands, which he is continually beautifying by all the appliances of decoration, furniture, and art.

Mr. Boddie was married in 1879 to Miss Annie Perryman, of Mobile. She died in 1883, leaving one child, John B., Jr. January 21st, 1885, he was united to a second wife, Miss Jennie Cleves, of Memphis, Tenn. One child has been born to them, Mary.

They are both members of the M. E. Church, South.

Richard received the benefit of the public schools of that city, and also the University of Pennsylvania; subsequently became a medical student, and in 1873 graduated from the celebrated Jefferson Medical College. For a short period he practiced that profession, but developing a taste for mechanics he abandoned professional life and entered that other important branch of science, the modern manufacturing business. From 1874 to 1877 he was actively engaged in manufacturing agricultural hardware in Philadelphia. Removing to New Orleans, he was engaged in the same business there until 1881, when he became a resident of Birmingham, and established his present works, now one of the most important of the many industries of the city. A full sketch of the business established by Mr. Boland appears in another portion of this work.

Mr. Boland has established an excellent reputation as an energetic and progressive business man, and also as a citizen of high repute. He is president of the Birmingham Machine and Foundry Company; a director and large stockholder of the East Birmingham Land Company, and one of the organizers and incorporators of the Birmingham Hospital. Mr. Boland was appointed one of the committee to prepare a memorial to Congress, at the convention held at Pensacola, Fla., of the Industrial and Shipping League. He is ever ready to assist in every way in building up the city of his adoption.

The wife of Mr. Boland is a descendant of one of the oldest Quaker families of Philadelphia, where they have been residents for over two hundred years; her maiden name was Miss Sallie H. Davis. They were married in October, 1877, and are members of the Episcopal Church.

Richard was reared in Marion County, where he received an ordinary education. In 1860, when only twenty-one years of age, he was elected clerk of the circuit court of that county. He discharged the duties of the office faithfully, and in 1864 was re-elected. This was one of the most trying periods of the war—the Confederacy in its last struggle for existence, and his section was infested with bands of robbers and stragglers from demoralized armies.

Upon the night of the 9th of April, 1865, an incident occurred which will long be remembered by him. Returning home from a call upon a neighbor, the house in which he boarded was attacked by three robbers. He was the only man about the place except a very old one, and being unarmed he was forced to stand and see them, unresisted, carry off the plunder, and march him along with it to a neighbor's house. They were also in the act of robbing that when Mr. Bradley seized a shot gun lying on a bed by him, and shot the captain of the squad dead. The others took to their heels and escaped, but were subsequently caught and executed by lynch law. Mr. Bradley was not even arrested, but was highly praised for his heroic conduct. He has written a highly interesting and exciting narrative of this event, which will be published.

In January, 1868, Mr. Bradley removed to Elyton, where he resided until December, 1872, and then moved to Oxmoor, where he resided until appointed county clerk, in January, 1880. In August of the same year he was elected by the people for a term of six years. This term of service ended November, 1886, and Mr. Bradley removed to Florida to engage in fruit culture.