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Judge Joseph W. Alford
Judge Joseph W. Alford, a representative of the Hot Springs bar, who since
1914 has engaged in practice in this city, was born on a plantation near
Murfreesboro, Pike county, Arkansas, May 14, 1857, and is a son of Madison
Alford, who was a native of Alabama and who was a veteran of the Mexican
war. He became a Methodist minister and for many years resided in Texas,
from which state he removed to Arkansas in pioneer times, settling in Pike
county. He and four of his sons were in the Confederate army during the
Civil war and following the close of hostilities he returned to the
plantation, devoting his attention to the management thereof and in the
active work of the ministry. He was a slave owner prior to the war and one
of his slaves remained with him throughout the entire war period and
continued with the family to the time of his death. Madison Alford died at
the age of seventy years.
Judge Alford, of this review, was a lad of but fourteen years at the time of
the outbreak of the Civil war and he worked in the fields while his older
brothers were in the service, having the entire management of the
plantation. He was educated in the public schools and he remained on the
farm until 1881, when at the age of twenty-four years he came to Hot
Springs. Here he assisted in laying the first water and gas mains of the
city. Soon afterward he was elected to the office of constable and while
serving in that capacity he devoted his leisure hours to the study of law,
being admitted to the bar in 1914. He at once entered upon the active
practice of his profession and has since served as justice of the peace and
notary public. He is a lawyer of ability, carefully and systematically
preparing his cases and presenting his cause with clearness and force in the
courts.
When but eighteen years of age Judge Alford was married to Miss Nancy
Higgins, who was born and reared in his home neighborhood, their
acquaintance dating from early childhood. They have become parents of five
children, three daughters and two sons. Judge Alford is a Mason and has
attained the Knights Templar degree of the York Rite, exemplifying at all
times in his life the beneficent spirit and high principles of the order.
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Centennial History of Arkansas, 1933, Dallas T. Herndon, Volume 3, page 433.
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