John William ABERCROMBIE, Congress, AL (1866-1940)

ABERCROMBIE, John William, a Representative from Alabama; born near Kellys Creek Post Office, St. Clair County, Ala., May 17, 1866; attended the rural schools; was graduated from Oxford (Ala.) College in 1886 and from the law department of the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in 1888; was admitted to the bar in 1888 and practiced in Cleburne County, Ala., in 1889 and 1890; high school principal, city school superintendent, and college president 1888-1898; member of the State senate 1896-1898; State superintendent of education 1898-1902; president of the University of Alabama 1902-1911; president of the Southern Educational Association in 1906 and 1907; organizer and president of the Alabama Association of Colleges 1908-1912; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1913-March 3, 1917); was not a candidate for reelection in 1916; served as Solicitor and Acting Secretary in the United States Department of Labor 1918-1920; appointed and subsequently elected State superintendent of education for the term 1920-1927; died in Montgomery, Ala., July 2, 1940; interment in Greenwood Cemetery.

Bibliography

Richardson, Jesse Monroe. The Contributions of John William Abercrombie to Public Education. Nashville, Tenn.: Bureau of Publication, George Peabody College for Teachers, 1949.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present