Atticus Dickson Kirby (1868-1960)

Portrait from the Jackson County Chronicles, Vol 31, No. 1, 2019.

  While the name "Atticus" may be familiar to most as the first name of the beloved character Atticus Finch in Harper Lee's  To Kill A Mockingbird, that curious first name is seldom to be found amongst the annals of American politics. Three-term Alabama state representative Atticus Dickson Kirby is an exception to that rule, as he is the first "Atticus" to found by this author who served in some political capacity. Kirby had the honor of representing two different counties in the legislature (his first and second terms being spaced 24 years apart) and in the late 1930s briefly served as probate judge for Jackson County. 

   A native of Chattanooga County, Georgia, Atticus Dickson Kirby was born in the town of Summerville on June 16, 1868, the son of Francis Andrew Kirby and the former Harriet Ann Shropshire. Prominent in politics in his own right, Francis A. Kirby (1824-1885) represented Summerville in the Georgia State Assembly for fourteen years (1854-68) and for two years held the post of state superior court judge. 

  Atticus Kirby's formative years were spent in the town of his birth, where he attended local schools. From 1889-90 he was a student at Emory University in Atlanta and for a four year period in the late 1880s was employed by an uncle, J.W. Bale, in the city of Rome. This was followed by an eight-year stint as a traveling salesman from 1893-1901, and in April of the latter year married in Scottsboro, Alabama to Zaida Brown (1873-1967). The couple's near six-decade marriage would be childless.

   Kirby and his wife settled in Huntsville following their marriage, where he operated a mercantile store, and two years after his resettlement he was elected as secretary of the Retail Grocer's Association of Huntsville.

A Kirby-Brown wedding notice from the Birmingham Age-Herald, April 4, 1901.

   Having first entered politics in 1901 with a brief stint as a town councilman in his native Summerville, Kirby made his first entrance onto the Alabama political stage in November 1906 when he was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives, polling 1,219 votes. One of two Madison County legislators elected for the 1907-11 term, Kirby was named to the committees on Commerce and Common Carriers, Education, Labor and Immigration, and Municipal Organization. In 1934, twenty-three years after the conclusion of his first term, Kirby made his second run for the legislature, this time from Jackson County. After winning the May Democratic primary, Kirby went on to win the November general election, polling 2,726 votes. The 1935-39 session saw Kirby named to four new committees, those being the Military, Manufacturing, Public Buildings and Institutions, and Public Roads and Highways.

  Midway through his second term Kirby was appointed by then-Governor Bibb Graves as Probate Judge of Jackson County, succeeding Judge Ray McAnelly, who had resigned. Kirby sat on the bench until November 1938, and in November 1942 won a third term in the statehouse. During the 1943-47 session, Kirby again served on the Committee on Commerce and Common Carriers and was also named to the committees on Public Health, Public Welfare and Corrective Institutions, and Revision of Laws.
   Following his final term in the legislature, Kirby and his wife Zaida removed back to Scottsboro, where they resided at Brownwood, Zaida Brown Kirby's ancestral family home. He celebrated his 90th birthday in 1958 and died aged 91 in January 1960. Kirby's wife Zaida survived him by several years and following her death at 94 in 1967 was interred alongside him at the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Scottsboro.

Cunningham Wilson Hickman (1860-1930)

Portrait from the Birmingham News, June 9, 1930.

   Lifelong Alabaman Cunningham Wilson Hickman was a Birmingham based attorney who, following his serving one term in his state's legislature, advanced to the post of judge of the court of common pleas of Birmingham. The son of former Jefferson County treasurer William Peyton (1827-1926) and Elizabeth (Hamilton) Hickman (1831-1900), Cunningham W. Hickman was born in Trussville, Jefferson County in 1860. His early education was obtained in the county of his birth and from 1883-84 was a student at the University of Alabama.

  Although he did not complete the university's academic course, Hickman continued studies at the university's law school and in 1886 graduated with his bachelor of laws degree. He soon relocated to Birmingham to begin practice. He married in 1902 to Flora Buell (1873-1960), who survived him upon his death in 1930. The couple would have six children, William Peyton (died in infancy in 1903), Cunningham Jr. (died in infancy in 1906), Paul (1906-1919), Frances (1908-1989), and Flora (1911-2008).

   Hickman entered politics in November 1902 with his election to the Alabama House of Representatives, and during his one term (1903-07) sat on the following committees: Agriculture, Banking and Insurance, the Judiciary, and Municipal Organizations. Hickman would also have some strange name company amongst his fellow legislators, serving alongside Genubath Coke Williams, Littleberry James Haley, Cleophas Rhett McCrary, and Boswell DeGraffenreid Waddell, who was profiled here in November 2017.

  Several years after leaving the legislature Hickman returned to political life with his election in July 1914 as judge of the Birmingham Court of Common Pleas, 1st division. Succeeding outgoing judge Isaac Benners, Hickman served on the bench until his death on June 9, 1930, at his family home in Trussville. He was survived by his wife and two daughters and was interred at the Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham.

From the Dothan Eagle, June 10, 1930.

Hobdy Greer Rains (1912-1988)

Portrait from the Gadsden Times, April 2, 1966.

  Gadsden, Alabama resident Hobdy Greer Rains distinguished himself in a number of civic and political endeavors in his native city, being an attorney, bank director, and Democratic Executive Committee chairman. He earns a place here on the site due to his service as a delegate to the 1952 Democratic National Convention, as well as for his tenure as Judge of the Etowah County Circuit Court.

  Born in DeKalb County, Alabama on March 29, 1912, Hobdy Greer Rains was the son of Will Green and Ola Hamrick Rains. The Rains family resettled in Gadsden in 1916 and Rains' early education occurred in the schools of that county. He briefly studied at Stamford University in Birmingham before enrolling at the University of Alabama, where he earned his bachelor of laws degree. Shortly afterward he would join his uncle Albert McKinley Rains (later to be a ten-term U.S. Representative from Alabama) in the law firm of Rains and Rains.

   Hobdy G. Rains married in 1945 to Constance Novetta Goldman (1924-2005). The couple were wed for over forty years and would remain childless. Long active in Democratic Party proceedings in Alabama, Rains served as part of the Alabama delegation to the 1952 Democratic National Convention in Illinois that nominated Adlai E. Stevenson for the Presidency.

   In addition to his service as a delegate, Rains was a longtime member of the Alabama State Democratic Executive Committee and was its secretary for twenty-eight years. In 1960 he advanced to the State Democratic Steering Committee and prior to his appointment had been selected as one of three attorneys to conduct voter fraud hearings in Phenix City, Alabama in connection with the assassination of Albert Patterson (1894-1954), the Democratic nominee for Alabama Attorney General.  Rains would also hold the directorship of the First City National Bank in Gadsden upon its admission to the Federal Reserve System in 1966.

   Rains continued service on the Democratic Executive Committee into the mid-1970s and in August 1976 was appointed as judge of the Etowah County Circuit Court. He entered into his duties on August 22nd of that year and served until his retirement in 1983, whereafter he held the position of supernumerary judge for the Etowah County Circuit for a short period. Hobdy Greer Rains died in Gadsden on April 18, 1988 at age 76. He was survived by his wife Constance, who, following her death in 2005, was interred alongside her husband at the Forrest Cemetery in Gadsden.

From the Gadsden Times, April 19, 1988.

Verdo Wilson Elmore (1899-1969)

Verdo W. Elmore, from the April 25, 1954, Tuscaloosa News.

   The name would be Verdo Wilson Elmore--lawyer, soldier, collegiate and major league baseball player, state senator, judge...barbecue master? This oddly named man from Pickens County, Alabama is one of the most multifaceted folks you're ever going to read about and is certainly a man most deserving of an online biography. This lifelong resident of Pickens County served overseas during the First World War and in the 1920s played professional baseball with the St. Louis Browns. He would later turn his attention to law and served several months in the Alabama State Senate before being appointed as a Circuit Court Judge for Alabama's 24th district. And if  that weren't enough, Mr. Elmore gained local distinction as a true "master of the grill", garnering the moniker "the Barbecue King of Pickens County."

    Born near Gordo (located in Pickens County) on December 10, 1899, Verdo Wilson Elmore was the son of William Austin and Mary Ann Eads Elmore. A student in the Gordo public school system, Elmore enlisted for service in the First World War in February 1918 and served as a private with the 56th Coast Artillery. He would also serve with the American Expeditionary Forces and in July 1918 was transferred to the Western Front, serving in that area until the sign of the Armistice in November.

   At the conclusion of his service, Elmore returned to Alabama and turned his attention to law studies in the early 1920s. He enrolled at the University of Alabama and during his time there gained a reputation as a standout baseball player, accumulating a batting average of ".439 his freshman year." After graduating from the University of Alabama with his law degree in 1924 Elmore made his move into the big leagues, joining the St. Louis Browns as an outfielder. His time with the Browns would span nearly two weeks in September 1924 and following his time there returned to the minor leagues, playing with "Atlanta in the Southern Association" and dabbled in managing when he managed teams from Texarkana, Texas, and Anniston, Alabama.

                                                                                 Verdo Elmore takes a swing.

  Verdo W. Elmore married in June 1927 to Winnie Lois Davis (1902-1979) and the couple would become parents to three children: Verdo Jr. (1929-2004), Margaret Anne (birth-date unknown), and William Walter (1945-1997). Two years following his marriage Elmore suffered a broken leg which in turn caused him to "quit organized baseball." He had earlier begun a law practice in Gordo after leaving the University of Alabama and following his injury returned to that practice. Elmore first entered political life in February 1938 when he announced his candidacy for the Alabama State Senate's 14th district, winning election to that body in November of that year

   Elmore's tenure in the Senate proved to be short-lived. Just 10 months after his election he was appointed by Governor Frank Dixon as Judge for the 24th judicial circuit of Alabama. He would serve on the bench until 1953 and early in his tenure on the court presided over the trial of R. Murray Pate, a former Tuscaloosa deputy sheriff who was charged in the murder of Macon Oswalt in July 1939.

  In addition to his athletic and judicial activities, Verdo Elmore was an ardent hunter and a veritable "Barbecue King of Pickens County". The Tuscaloosa News reported on his mastery of the barbecue in its April  25, 1954 edition, noting that:

"As much as 250 pounds of barbecue has been served at one time and as many as 300 have attended feasts at the Elmore barbecue grounds at one time......He supervises the barbecuing for church organizations, civic clubs, fox hunting associations and other clubs."

  After many years of public service to Pickens County Verdo Wilson Elmore died at age 69 on August 5, 1969. He was survived by his wife and three children and was later buried at the Gordo City Cemetery in Gordo, Alabama. In an interesting addendum to this write-up, Elmore is the second oddly named baseball player-politician to be profiled here, the other being U.S. Representative from New York Pius Louis Schwert (1892-1941), who played with the New York Highlanders from 1914-1916.