Augustus Emmett Maxwell

Background

Augustus Emmett Maxwell was born on September 21, 1820 at Elberton, Georgia. He was the son of Simeon and Elizabeth (Fortson) Maxwell. His parents were natives of Georgia, but the family came from Virginia.

Education

In 1822 the Maxwells removed to Greene County, Ala. , and there the boy received his elementary education. He attended the University of Virginia from 1837 to 1840.

Career

Returning to Alabama he was admitted to the bar in 1843 and began the practice of law at Eutaw, but in 1845 he removed to Tallahassee, Fla. Aided by the influence of his brother-in-law, William H. Brockenbrough, he entered into the political life of the new state and began a public career that lasted almost until the time of his death. He was a member of the state legislature in 1847, was attorney-general in 1846 and 1847, secretary of state from April 1848 to July 1849, and state senator from 1849 to 1850. In the latter capacity it is evident that he exerted considerable influence, holding the chairmanship of both the judiciary and the federal relations committees as well as being a member of the committees on schools and colleges and on amendments and revisions of the constitution. His election to the federal House of Representatives seemed to promise him a national career, but his two terms, from 1853 to 1857, evidently did not add much to his reputation. He seems to have taken little part in legislation except to forward the passing of local bills. He retired from Congress at the end of his second term and took up the practice of law at Pensacola. Appointed navy agent at Pensacola in 1857 he held the position until Florida seceded in 1861. He was elected to the Confederate Senate and served throughout the war. Although he had been educated in law and had a reputation as a lawyer of ability, his public career had been chiefly in legislative positions, but after the war he devoted himself more closely to the law and made a second career for himself as a jurist.

Immediately after the war he was appointed associate justice of the Florida supreme court, but, finding it impossible to go on with his work under the Carpet-bag rule, he resigned in 1866 and resumed the practice of law at Pensacola in partnership with Stephen R. Mallory, the former secretary of the navy in the Confederacy. When the Democrats regained control of Florida in 1877 he was appointed judge of the 16t judicial circuit. He held this position until his resignation in 1885. In 1887 he was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of Florida. The new constitution of 1885 provided that the chief justiceship should be filled by lot from the justices, and as a result of this arrangement, in 1889, he became associate justice and served until 1891. Retiring to Pensacola he practised law in partnership with his son until the latter was appointed circuit judge in 1896. At this time he gave up his law practice and retired from active life after a public career of over half a century. In 1896 he was a candidate for elector on the Palmer and Buckner ticket but was defeated. In 1902 he removed to Chipley, where he died. He was buried from the Christ Episcopal Church of Pensacola of which he had long been a member.

Achievements

• Maxwell served as US congressman, US senator. Elected to represent Florida's 1st District and At-Large in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1853 to 1857. Also served as a United States Senator from Florida in the Confederate Congress from 1862 to 1865, Florida State Attorney General from 1846 to 1847, Member of the Florida State House of Representatives in 1847, Secretary of the State of Florida from 1848 to 1849, Member of the Florida State Senate from 1849 to 1850, Justice of Florida State Supreme Court from 1865 to 1866, and 1887 to 1890, Circuit Judge from 1877 to 1885, and Delegate to the Florida State Constitutional Convention in 1885.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The President's message--Party-unity--The South on the defensive

    (This reproduction was printed from a digital file created...)

Membership

member of the U. S. House of Representatives, member of the Florida Senate, member of the Florida House of Representatives

Connections

Maxwell was married twice. His first wife was Sarah Roane Brockenbrough, whom he married at Charlottesville, Va. , in 1843. After her death he married, in 1853, Julia Hawks Anderson of Pensacola, the daughter of Walker Anderson, the chief justice of the state supreme court. He was survived by two of the three children of his first marriage and three of the five children of the second.

Father:

Col Simeon Maxwell

24 June 1793 - 10 February 1865

Mother:

Elizabeth Fortson Maxwell

19 March 1801 - 22 November 1866

Grandson:

Emmett Wilson

December 8, 1882 – July 27, 1918 Was a United States Representative from Florida.

Sister:

Josephine I. Maxwell

1840 - 5 October 1857

Sister:

Elvira Hepzibah Maxwell Burns

1827 - 1851

Wife:

Julia H Anderson Maxwell

10 October 1828 - 14 August 1886

Son:

Judge Evelyn Croom Maxwell

27 July 1863 - 17 November 1954

Son:

Walker Anderson Maxwell

11 October 1860 - 20 May 1909