SHERROD, William C. is a native of Lawrence County, this State; son of Col. Benjamin and Talitha (Goode) Sherrod. and was born August 17. 1831. The Sherrods came originally from England and settled in North Carolina, and the Goodes,
also English, went from the Bermuda Islands to Richmond, Va., as early us 1760. The subject of this sketch was prepared for college at Edgefield, S. C, and received his supplementary education at the University of North
Carolina. In early life he engaged in cotton planting in Lawrence County, Ala., extending his planting interests into Arkansas, where in DeShay County, on the Arkansas River, he is the owner
of an immense plantation which annually yields him many bales of the fibrous fabric. He also owns and manages the old homestead in Lawrence County, one of the finest plantations in the Tennessee Valley. As was his father, in his lifetime,
Colonel Sherrod before the war was one of the most extensive planters and slave-owners in Northern Alabama. He represented Lawrence County
in the Legislature, sessions of 1850 and 1860, and was a delegate to the Charleston Convention of the latter year. In the Legislature lie was a Union man, and distinguished as one of the three
members that refused to sign the ordinance of secession. In the Charleston Convention he supported Stephen A. Douglas, as he did at Baltimore, where he was also a delegate. Notwithstanding
his opposition to secession, after his State withdrew from the Federal Union, he, as did every other true man, espoused the cause of the South, and at once volunteered his services in her
defense. He was appointed Captain of Commissary for Pattersons Brigade of Cavalry, and was connected with the service from the first to the
in Alabama and other Gulf States. At the close of the war, he returned to Lawrence County and to cotton planting, and spent his time thereat until 1880. He was a member of the Fortv-first
United States Congress, and had charge of the Southern Pacific Railway Bill, and conducted it to its final passage. During his term in Congress, the records show that he devoted his time and his
talents to the advancement of internal improvements, to the exclusion of political discussion; and the history of legislation during that period attests the fact that he was one of the most useful members of that bodv.
In 1879 he represented the Second Senatorial District in the upper house of the State Legislature, and as a member of the Finance Committee
assisted in framing the revenue bill that piloted the State out of its indebtedness. He came to Florence in June, 1883, for the purpose of schooling his children, and in June, 1886, in connection with the Hon. W. 15. Wood, formulated the idea
of the Florence " boom." He was one of the originators of the Florence Land, Mining, etc.
Co.; of the W. It. Wood Furnace Co., of which lie is vice-president; also of the Florence
Coal, Coke and Iron Co.; of the Florence, Tuscaloosa & Montgomery Railroad Co.: of the
Tennessee & Alabama Railway: the Alabama. Florence & Cincinnati Railway; the Florence & St. Louis Railway, in all of which he is of the
several boards of directors. To recur to his Congressional record, we find
that the Southern Pacific Railway bill was turned
over to him after it had been abandoned by all
others, and that it was placed in his hands at the
special request of General Fremont. Colonel Sherrod knew almost intimatelv everv
leading man in the Forty-first Congress, and was
upon terms of amity with them without regard to
politics. To his credit, it may be said that he had
at all times labored to promote and rebuild the
country and that he participated not in political
dissensions.
He was married at Nashville, Tenn., October
81, I860, to Miss Amanda Morgan, the accomplished daughter of Samuel D. Morgan, whose
body lies in the Capitol by order of the Legislature. Colonel Sherrod's five sons are: Charles
Morgan, a lawyer: William C, a planter; St. Clair
M., in the iron business; Benjamin and Eugene,
students: and his two daughters are named Lilian
and Lucille.
Northern Alabama Historical & Biographical
by T.A. DeLand and A. Davis Smith 1888 Birmingham AL
SMITH, Alexander H.(M.D) - was born August 17, 1841, in Lauderdale County, Ala., and is the oldest of a family of seven children born to John A. and Margaret C. (Wood) Smith, of which our subject, one brother and two sisters are the only surviving members. The father was born in Wake County, N. C., came to Nashville when young and here remained several years. He then went to Florence, Ala., about 1839, and from 1840 to 1850 was interested in the stage and mail line from Nashville to Florence, via Boliver, Jackson, etc. At Florence he met and married the mother of our subject. She was of English and Welsh extraction. The parents of our subject were citizens of Florence and there died in 1864 and 1865 respectively. The father was engaged in the mercantile trade there for several years, and at the breaking out of the war was postmaster of the town.
Our subject remained with his parents till the beginning of hostilities between the North and South, when he enlisted in the Sixteenth Alabama Confederate Infantry, with which he served throughout the war. He then engaged in the drug trade at Florence till 1868. He attended session 1868-69 of the medical department of the University of Louisville, and located at Patriot Landing, Perry County, where he followed his chosen profession till 1875, at which date he located at his present residence in Benton County, near Sugartree Postoffice, Decatur County, and has since enjoyed a lucrative practice. March 2, 1870, he married Isabel Vise, a native of Perry County, by which union three sons and four daughters have been born, all but one son still living. Mrs. Smith is a member of the Methodist Church and Mr. Smith of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and also of the F. & A. M. Politically he is identified with the Democratic party.
Source: Goodspeed Biographies Benton County TN
SMITH, Henry - of Lauderdale, came from North Carolina, and, when quite young, was elected to the House in 1839,
and was reflected at various times until 1859- 60. He was an intelligent planter, and frequently shared in the debates. His
manner was somewhat dictatorial and petulant, as if he desired to have things exactly after his own model. He was by no means
popular among his fellow-members, though he had good sense, and was attentive to the business of the House. Few could please
him, and he was never backward in finding fault, and impugning the motives of others. He succeeded in acquiring a large property, and was a delegate to the Charleston and Baltimore Conventions in 1860, and followed the extreme course of Mr. Yancey. Mr. Smith died in 1869.
Reminiscences of Public Men in Alabama 1872
