E. N. EDMONDS, editor and proprietor of the Labor Union, was born inCayuga County, N. Y., in 1842. He was reared upon a farm, and received a good preliminary education. Upon the outbreak of the civil war he was among the first to enlist, joining the Nineteenth Regiment N. Y. V. Infantry, and served with that regiment, and the Third N. Y. Artillery, until the close of the war. Since that period, and until he started his publication, in the spring of 1886, he devoted his time to railroading, and has long been known as one of the most efficient yardmasters in the country. During this time he devoted his attention to the organization of labor, and has made it a thorough study. Possessing native ability, and quick of perception, it is not remarkable that he should adapt himself so readily to journalism, in which he has achieved a notable success. Captain Edmonds is a ready and forcible writer, and is deeply interested in the work he has espoused.

CHRISTIAN F. ENSLEN, is a native of Germany, and was born in Wurtemburg, in 1830. He obtained his education in the common schools of that country, and at the age of fifteen, or in the year 1845, emigated to America, and landed on American shores at New Orleans. Being well grown for his age he joined the Alabama Rifles, a volunteer regiment, and went as private to the Mexican war in 1846.

In the fall of 1871 he came to Birmingham. After following his trade for awhile he went into the mercantile business, which he successfully followed until January, 1886, and then organized the Jefferson County Savings Bank, of which he was made president. This institution was incorporated by himself and two sons—Eugene, who is cashier, and Charles. These three incorporated the bank with a capital of $50,000. The charter was granted on the 2d of November, 1885, and the building put up in that year, and actual business operations commenced November, 1885. The first year's experience was so satisfactory that, at its close, the capital stock was increased to $150,000.

Mr. Enslen is a Master Mason and a member of the I. O. O. F., and belongs to the Baptist Church.

EUGENE F. ENSLEN, was born in Wetumpka, Alabama, in 1858. He was educated there and came with his father to Birmingham in 1871, and was bookkeeper in his father's store, as well as a member of the firm as long as they continued in the mercantile business.

In 1877 he attended a session of the Poughkeepsie Business College, in New York State. Upon the organization of the Jefferson County Savings Bank he became the cashier, and continues to hold the position with great satisfaction to all who are interested in it.

No young man in Birmingham has served a more honorable career than he, and few have a more successful future lying before them.

He was married in 1878 to Miss Delia W. Evans, of LaGrange, Ga. He is the father of three children—Julia, Eugene F., Jr., and Minnie Gip.

Mr. and Mrs. Enslen are members of the Baptist Church.

FRANK VALLATLON EVANS was born onCape Fear in Cumberland County, North Carolina November 25, 1850. He is the youngest child of John and Frances Evans, both descended from families which, in the early history of the "Old North State," contributed largely to her glory.

When young Evans had scarce passed his fifth year, misfortune overtook him in the death of his father. He was thus left at a tender age to struggle with life as best he may, but the struggle developed a character whose predominant elements are industry, discreetness, and independence. A few years later his widowed mother, with the younger children, moved to Fernandina, Florida. No sooner was she comfortably settled in her new home, and prepared to educate her children, than the opening of the war between the States thwarted her designs, and compelled her and her interesting family to seek safety with relatives in the interior of Georgia. Here, of course, young Evans' educational facilities were meager and subject to serious interruptions. He was entered at the military academy, in Tallahassee, but the heated struggle along the coast soon compelled him to return to his home, where he must satisfy his swelling ambition as the head of the household.

At the close of the war he determined to learn the printing business, and entered the office of the Albany News, then edited by his brother-in-law, Colonel Carey W. Styles. Having mastered the mysteries of typesetting in a short time, he was sent to a school in Carroll County, Georgia. Here he made rapid progress, and at the completion of his course he entered a business college at Macon. Upon his return to Albany he accepted a partnership in the Albany News, and soon became widely known as the "Boy Editor of Georgia." After the consolidation of the Albany News and Advertiser, in 1876, Mr. Evans still remained the controlling spirit of the new organ, and developed it into one of the strongest and most influential papers in the State. He had now an established reputation as a journalist, and hosts of warm and admiring friends, through whose aid he could command positions of honor and trust in the State.

But Mr. Evans was not the man to rest upon the laurels he had already won; he looked abroad for newer and more promising fields for the exercise of his talents, and in July, 1881, he came to Birmingham, where he bought a one-half interest in the Weekly Iron Age. In the following December he and his partner, Mr. W. C. Garrett, established the Daily Age, and in September, 1882, the Iron Age Publishing Company was organized, with Mr. Evans as its president and general manager. He resigned this. position in May, 1883, on account of ill health, but soon after established the Sunday Chronicle, and the following January, with Messrs. Grace and Cruikshank as partners, he established the Evening Chronicle, now one of the leading evening papers in the South.

From the foregoing it will be seen that Mr. Evans, though still a young man, enjoys the enviable distinction of being the father of Birmingham journalism. To his remarkable foresight and sagacity, Birmingham is largely indebted for her present vigorous and progressive dailies, whose columns still bear the impress of their founder.

But Mr. Evans' varied qualifications have not been confined to his journalistic achievements. His rare tact and business ability received recognition at the hands of the people of his adopted city by his election, in 1882, as alderman from the Fourth Ward. In this capacity he served the city for two years, when he was elected city clerk, and in April, 1886, he was promoted to the position of city treasurer. It is but justice to Mr. Evans to state, in this connection, that all, or nearly all, the city ordinances passed since 1882 are the products of his pen, and the admirably arranged city code, recently prepared by him, is but a fair illustration of his painstaking precision in all he undertakes.

Mr. Evans was married in January, 1875, to Miss Callie L. Hill, of Burton County, Georgia, who, together with three interesting children, constitute his household. In the lady of his choice are combined many of the most charming traits of woman; her excellent judgment, quiet domestic habits, energy, and intelligence, make her a most worthy helpmate to her husband.

But few men in any progressive city become potent factors in its history. Mr. Evans has always evinced a deep interest in every movement pertaining to the prosperity of Birmingham, and more, he has been one of the most active agents in its upbuilding since his advent to the city. Modest and even diffident in his demeanor, he is. sought as a cautious and prudent adviser in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the city. Such men are rare, and, if wanting in aggressiveness and self-assertion, are more frequently overlooked than overpraised.

In his social as well as in his business relations, Mr. Evans' character may be described as the embodiment, to a remarkable degree, of the advice given by Polonius ta Laertes:

"Give thy thoughts no tongue,

Nor any improportioned thought his act.

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar,

Those friends thou hast and their adoption tried,

Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;

But do not dull thy palm with entertainment,

Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade.

Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,

Bear 't that the opposer may beware of thee.

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;

Take every man's censure, but reserve thy judgment."