Alexander Pope Humphrey Explained

Alexander Pope Humphrey
Birth Date:26 January 1848
Birth Place:Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Death Date:[1]
Death Place:Glenview, Kentucky, U.S.

Alexander Pope Humphrey (1848 – 1928), was an American lawyer and judge.[2] He attended Centre College in Danville, Kentucky and the University of Virginia law school.

Career

Humphrey was a chancellor of the Louisville, Kentucky chancery court (a court of equity), having been appointed at age 32 to fill the unexpired term of Judge Horatio Washington Bruce, who had resigned on March 10, 1880, to accept a position as attorney for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. A journal, The Virginia Law Review, published Humphrey's record in the Virginia Law Register on the impeachment of Samuel Chase.[3]

Humphrey was a member of the law firm Humphrey, Crawford, and Middleton, and was counsel to the Southern Railway Company and other corporations. He was also a member of the law firm Barr, Goodloe & Humphrey.[4] After retiring from the bench, he was a member of the law firm Brown, Humphrey & Davie. Following the death of his law partner Colonel John Mason Brown, he continued to practice with George M. Davie. He was the half-brother of Judge Edward William Cornelius Humphrey (1844–1917),[5] whose son Edward Porter Humphrey (1873–1955) he invited as the third partner to the newly named firm of Humphrey, Davie, and Humphrey.[5]

Humphrey delivered the annual address before the Virginia State Bar Association at Hot Springs, Virginia on August 3, 1899. This was an address which was later printed in the Virginia Law Register and Virginia Law Review.[3]

Family

Humphrey was the only son of Kentuckians Rev. Dr. Edward Porter Humphrey and his second wife, Martha Ann Fontaine Pope Humphrey.[6] [4]

The wedding of Alexander and Mrs. Humphrey's daughter Ethel to Mr. Edward Mellon of Paris, France, grandson of Thomas Mellon, patriarch of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, was held at her parents' spacious home, "Fincastle", in Glenview, Kentucky.[7] The wedding is described in detail in the Leavenworth Times, a Kansas newspaper.[8]

Filson Club

Humphrey was one of the organizers of the Filson Club, Louisville's privately operated history society, historical museum, and archive, in the Ferguson Mansion in Old Louisville,[9] now known as the Filson Historical Society.[10]

Notes and References

  1. News: Judge Alex P. Humphrey Dies. Lexington Herald-Leader . Lexington, Kentucky. 12 . Newspapers.com . August 20, 1928.
  2. Humphrey. Alexander Pope. The Trial of Samuel Chase. 1098896. Virginia Law Review.
  3. Humphrey. Alexander Pope. The Impeachment of Samuel Chase. 1098896. The Virginia Law Register. 281–302. 10.2307/1098896. September 1899. 5. 5.
  4. Web site: Humphrey, Alexander Pope. usbiographies.org. August 27, 2015.
  5. Book: Levin. H.. Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky. 1897. Lewis Publishing Company. Chicago. 209. Southern Historical Press. April 13, 2015.
  6. Book: Jennings . Kathleen . Louisville's First Families - A SERIES OF GENEALOGICAL SKETCHES . 1920 . The Standard Printing Co. . Louisville, Kentucky. 40 . April 24, 2015.
  7. News: Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey. The Courier-Journal . Louisville, Kentucky . 8. Newspapers.com . March 14, 1909.
  8. Web site: 4 Jul 1913, Page 5 . The Leavenworth Times . Leavenworth, Kansas . 5 . Newspapers.com. August 27, 2015.
  9. "A History of The Filson Club", The Filson Club and Its Activities, 1884–1922, by Otto A Rothert, John P. Morton & Company, 1922, pages 5–6.
  10. Web site: Origins · Why Filson? · The Filson Historical Society . filsonhistorical.omeka.net . May 22, 2020.