Judge Henry Minor (1783-1839)

From Brock Jones Brock.Jones@jcbradford.com

Henry Minor was born on January 4, 1783 in Dinwiddie (other reports say Spottsylvania) County, VA to Thomas Carr Minor and Ann Redd Minor. He died on January 11, 1839 in Greene County, AL.

He was married to Francis Throckmorton Barbour on September 14, 1809 in Petersburg, VA. She was the aunt of Senator Barbour from Virginia whom Barboursville (now Camden), Alabama was named after. She was also the sister of the Hon. John S. Barbour of Virginia.

He read law under his uncle Judge Minor of Fredericksburg, VA, and located in Huntsville in 1816, He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1819, and was elected by the legislature of the State as reporter of the Supreme Court and in this relation compiled Minor’s Reports.

In 1823 he was elected to the Supreme Court Bench of Alabama and served two years. Upon being defeated for re-election he was made clerk of the Court whose ermine he had so recently worn. He served as Clerk until his death. His ability as a judge was generally recognized, but being of a retiring nature he was not suited for a pioneer campaign and therefore lost the judgeship to his opponent. He settled down to his new duties, the fees supporting the office being more than a judge’s salary, and retained the position until his death.

Judge Minor was one of the first members of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees. He was elected to the Board from the Fifth Judicial Circuit by both houses of the Legislature in 1821. He resigned when he moved to Greene County which was not in the Fifth Circuit. He was replaced on December 17, 1823.

He moved from Huntsville, to Greene County in 1826, in order that he might be nearer the capitol at Tuscaloosa. He was an Episcopalian, in fact, initiated the organization of Christ Episcopal Church in Tuscaloosa in 1828. Judge Minor was small of stature, and of diffident demeanor. He was a man of marked probity, and of very fair ability.

Children:

  1. Henry Minor- 7/13/1812-1839 at sea, studied at University of Alabama in 1831 and graduated at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N. Y.
  2. Mordicai Barbour Minor- 7/13/12-6/10/21
  3. Ann Virginia Minor- 8/23/1814-3/4/84, married John Friend- Boligee, Mobile
  4. Betsy Minor- 12/12/1816-1842
  5. Maria Tillinghast Minor- 7/23/20-1864 m. Dr. Ezra F. Bouchelle (1816-1874), son of Dr. Jessie C. Bouchelle and Frances Cunningham Bouchelle, practiced medicine in Boligee and later Pickens County.
    1. Fannie Minor Bouchelle (1815-1872)
    2. Philip Minor Bochelle (1853-1876)
    3. Benjamin Rush Bouchelle (1855-1856)
    4. Maria Barbour Bouchelle (1847)
    5. Ezra Fisk Bouchelle (3/20/1851-10/7/07), m. Sarah Gould (3/14/1859) on 3/14/1859. She was the daughter of John McKee Gould and Delia F. Gould. Their grandfathers (Judge Henry Minor and William Procter Gould) served on the first vestry at Christ Church, Tuscaloosa together in 1828. Had Delia Thornton Bouchelle who married her second cousin below.
    6. John Friend Bouchelle (1859-1866)
    7. Henry Tutwiler Bouchelle (1866)
    8. Lucy Amanda Bouchelle (1859-1874
  1. Louisa Minor- 9/22/1822-7/26/1826
  2. La Fayette "Pet" Minor- 4/22/1824-2/14/1865 died in prison as a Confederate soldier at Elmyra, NY, was in the 6th AL, was a University of Alabama graduate in 1841.
  3. Dr. John Lancelont Minor- 6/3/1826-1855, 1842 UA graduate, resided in Mobile
  4. Dr. Philip Pendleton Barbour Minor- 1/23/1828-1884 m. Eliza Williams Perry (5/19/1842-6/19/17), daughter of Guston Perry and Mary Boddie Perry. Lived and died in Forkland, AL, 1846 UA graduate, graduated Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa, surgeon C. S. A. Army
    1. Lucy Barbour Perry (1861-1861)
    2. Daughter (1863)
    3. Fannie Friend Minor Riggs (1864), m. Dr. E. P. Riggs
    1. Elise Riggs McElroy, had Mary Francis Hood, had Alec Hood
    2. Francis Wright Riggs
    1. Mary Perry Minor (1870)
    2. Caroline Boddie Minor Penn (1872) m. Rev. Jules Victor Penn, Brookhaven, MS.
    3. Philip Barbour Minor (1874)
    4. Philip Barbour Minor (1875-9/14/22) m. Delia "Dee" Thornton Bouchelle on 4/6/1899.
    5. Elise Minor Mason () m. W H. Mason of Marion, AL

10.Francis Cosby Minor- 1/1829-3/4/1846

11.Lucy Landon Minor- 6/3/1831-1860, m. Dr. Joseph C. Hamilton of Mobile in 1851.