My Genealogy Hound

HON. A. R. BOONE, Graves County, was born April 4, 1831, in Davidson County, Tenn., and is a son of Bryant and Martha (Phipps) Boone. The father was born in North Carolina, emigrated to Tennessee and in 1833 came to Graves County, Ky., where he purchased and improved a farm, and where he died March, 1837. He was a plain farmer, mingled but little in politics, and neither sought nor held office, beyond that of a justice of the peace. The mother was a native of Tennessee, and was born in 1800; she died in this county in 1865. Judge Boone was brought up on his father’s farm with but limited advantages for obtaining an education, being confined to an attendance at the district schools of the neighborhood. In 1850 he entered the law office of Judge Williams, and after two years’ study under that gentleman, he was in 1852 admitted to the bar, and from that period rose rapidly in his chosen profession. In 1854 he was elected county judge and re-elected in 1858 without opposition, but resigned in 1861, and the same year was elected to the State legislature. This was the stormy period, at the commencement of the civil war, and after serving in the assembly one month, being threatened with arrest on account of his southern views and sympathy, Judge Boone resigned his seat and returned home. He was a candidate in 1865 for commonwealth’s attorney, but was prevented from making the canvass through the interference of the military authorities. He was elected circuit judge of the judicial district, composed of the counties of Hickman, Fulton, Ballard, Graves, Calloway, Marshall and McCracken— an office whose duties he honorably discharged for six years; in 1874 he was elected to Congress on the Democratic ticket, was reelected in 1876 and declined a nomination in 1878. Judge Boone is a zealous and prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and was in 1881 elected a delegate from the Memphis Conference to the Ecumenical Council at London, England. During his sojourn abroad, he extended his travels through Europe, and returned to his native land with a mind well stored with information of other countries and peoples and governments. Upon his return to Mayfield he resumed the practice of the law, which he has since continued successfully. He has recently been appointed, by Gov. Knott, one of the railroad commissoners of the State, a position of great trust and importance. Judge Boone was married in January, 1852, to Miss Sallie A., daughter of Dr. F. R. Dallam, a physician of prominence and of high standing in the State. They have had thirteen children, seven of whom are living, viz.: Mary, Martha (the wife of C. S. Whittemore), James L. (now engaged in the tobacco business), Robert, Clarence, Cameron and Jewell. Judge Boone, his wife and children are all devoted members of the Methodist Church. Judge Boone is a self-made man, and is indebted principally to his own energy and exertions for what he is. Commencing life in humble circumstances at the very bottom of the scale, he has by commendable industry and perseverance reached the highest position among his fellow-men, as evinced by his honorable walk, his political influence and his social and moral worth.