BALDRIDGE M.D., Milton C., son of William F., and Elizabeth Caroline (Mitchell) Baldridge. was born in Cornersville, Marshall
County. Term., May 12, 1832. William F. Baldridge was born in North Carolina in 1809, and brought in his infancy to Giles County. Tenn., wherein due time, he learned the tanners trade, in which business he afterward
engaged quite extensively. In 1836 he removed to Perry County and embarked in merchandising and in 1844 he became a resident of Lauderdale County. In 1855, he established a nursery not
far from Huntsville, which is said to have been the first enterprise of the kind in that section; and in 1807, be removed to Piano, Tex., where he still resides. He had eleven children: Milton C,
James A., Jane C, Virginia C, Mary A., Parmella K.. Elizabeth. William F., John C, Henry B. and Oscar. Mrs. Caroline Baldridge died in March, 1866 and William F. was again married to a Miss McDonald, of Huntsville.
Milton C. Baldridge was reared upon a farm. He received a good education, and in 1850 began the study of medicine at Florence with Dr. J. P. Mitchell. In 1853, he attended lectures at the
Medical College of Ohio, in Cincinnati, and practiced on a license until 1874, when he was graduated from the Medical College, of New York.
In the spring of 1862, he entered the army as assistant surgeon of the Twenty-sixth Alabama and Forty-eighth Tennessee Regiments, and continued there until ill-health forced him to abandon
the field. After returning home, he practiced near Huntsville until 1871, when he located in that city, where he has since remained and established a most successful practice. He is a
member of the State Medical Association, of which he has been Vice-president, Orator, and is now Grand Senior Counselor and President. He has been Health-Officer of Madison County since 1883:
is a member of the County Medical Society; Chairman of the Medical Board of Examiners, and is a frequent contributor to medical journals. The Doctor is a Knight Templar, Scottish Rite, Mason, an Odd Fellow, Knight of Honor and a Knight of Pythias.
He was married January 16, 1855 to Miss N. C. Neely, a daughter of Anderson P. and Eliza M. (Cannon) Neely. Unto them were born seven children: James Alexander, Viola Beatrice, Mollie Bertie, Felix Edgar, Stella Corvin, Percy
and Katie. James Alexander died October 6, 1956, Mollie Bertie died March, 1866, Percy died 1872. Viola Beatrice is the wife of Bently H. Brooks, now of Paris. Texas. Felix Edgar, Stella Corvin, and Katie reside with their father in Huntsville, Ala. The Doctor's first wife died in April, 1878,
and in September, 1880, he married Miss Ella M. Johnson, who has one child, Milton C, Jr. The Doctor and Mrs. Baldridge are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
BASILWOOD, William - President of the Florence Land, Mining & Manufacturing Company, of the W. B. Wood Furnace Company, of the Charcoal & Chemical Company, of the Florence,
Tuscaloosa & Montgomery Railroad Company, of the Florence & Chicago Railroad Company, and Secretary of the Alabama Improvement Company, was born at Nashville, Tenn., October 31,
1820. His parents were Alexander H. and Mary E. (Evans) Wood—his father a native of Virginia, his mother of England.
Wm. B. Wood's paternal grandfather was secretary to Alexander Hamilton, and had commanded troops in the Colonial army; his father was an officer in the War of 1812. Upon his mother's side,
his grandfather Evans was a colonel in the British army, but after the declaration of peace he chose to return to this side of the water and cast his lot with the " Rebels."
The subject of this sketch was educated at La Grange College, Franklin County; read law under Judge Coleman (afterward of the Supreme bench); was admitted to the bar at Florence in 1843; began the practice of law at once, and in 1844, was
elected Judge of Lauderdale County Court. While in the army in 1862, he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, and in 1866 was re-elected, and occupied the bench until 1880, except during the reconstruction period. In August, 1801, he was
elected colonel of the Sixteenth Alabama Infantry; in fact, he raised that regiment and organized it at Courtland, became its colonel and commanded it for nearly two years.
In 1863 he was transferred to the army of Northern Virginia, appointed by Mr. Davis, president judge of the Military Court of the First Army Corps, and was there to the close of the
war. As colonel, he participated in the battle of Fishing Creek, Ky., where Zollicoffer was killed. He was also at Triune, Tenn., Murfreesboro, and his regiment was at Shiloh and all the battles of
the Army of Tennessee. At the close of the war he returned to Florence, and, as we have before seen, presided over the* Circuit Court of his district. Prior to the war Mr. Wood, in addition to
his professional duties, was largely interested in various other enterprises. He was engaged in the manufacture of woolens; was interested in the steamboat business; was principal owner and controlled a line of steamers which plied the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. He was also in
the steamboat business after the war. His company built the "Rapidan" in 1868, and the "Florence Lee" in 1870. He also owned the "James R.," built the "Sallie Wood" and the
" William Dickson," and retired Jully from steamboat business not until 1876. In 1882 he began turning his attention to railroads. He was one of the organizers of the Indiana, Alabama &
Texas Railway, now completed between Clarksville, Tenn., and Princeton, Ky., and was its vice-president. He was also one of the organizers of the Birmingham & Tennessee Railroad, now
known as the Sheffield & Birmingham. He organized the Alabama and Tennessee Railroad, and sold it to the Nashville, Florence & Sheffield Company. This line is now being constructed by
the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company.
November 20, 1856, as one of the organizers of the Florence Land, Mining and Manufacturing Company, he was made president, and re-elected in November, 1888.
Judge Wood is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a Master Mason, R. A. and Knight Templar, and in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was Grand Master of the State two years (1869-70).
He originated the idea, and raised the subscription for. the Florence Wesleyan University (now
the State Normal College): gave liberally to it himself, and was for some years president of its
Board of Trustee*. Its endowment being exhausted at the end of the war, he succeeded in
having it sold to the State, and it was converted into tlie State Normal School, with which Judge
Wood has been since ofticiullv identified.
Away back in 1844. he organized the Methodist Episcopal Sunday-school, to which he has since given particular attention and devoted much time
and money. That he has since its organization been its superintendent, teacher and regular attendant, he says he "regards as the proudest
achievement of his life." He has been steward and trustee in his church since 1840. He organized the Sunday-school two years before he became a member of the church. He was married April 1843, to Sarah B. Leftwich, a daughter of Major Leftwich, of Virginia.
Source: Northern Alabama Historical & Biographical by T.A. DeLand and A. Davis Smith 1888 Birmingham AL
