Alexander Pope Humphrey

Judge Alexander Pope Humphrey (1848 - 1928), also known as A. P. Humphrey or Alex P. Humphrey, was born in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky and was a noted lawyer and judge.^[1] He attended Centre College in Danville, Kentucky and the University of Virginia law school..

Judge of chancery court

A. P. Humphrey was a chancellor of the Louisville, Kentucky chancery court (a court of equity), having been appointed at age thirty-two to fill the unexpired term of Judge Horatio Washington Bruce who had resigned on March 10, 1880 to accept a position as attorney for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.

Law firms

He was a member of the law firm Humphrey, Crawford, and Middleton, and was counsel to the Southern Railway Company and other corporations.^[2] He was a member of the law firm of Barr, Goodloe & Humphrey.^[3][4] The law partners of Barr, Goodloe & Humphrey in addition to Alexander Pope Humphrey were John Watson Barr and John Kemp Goodloe. After retiring from the bench, he was a member of the law firm of Brown, Humphrey & Davie. Following the death of his law partner Colonel John Mason Brown, of the 45th Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Mounted Infantry, he continued to practice with George M. Davie. He was the half-brother of Judge Edward William Cornelius Humphrey (1844 - 1917),^[5] whose son Edward Porter Humphrey (1873 – 1955) he invited as the third partner in the newly named firm of Humphrey, Davie, and Humphrey.^[5]

Judge Alexander Pope Humphrey delivered the annual address before the Virginia State Bar Association at Hot Springs, Virginia on August 3, 1899.^[1]

Correspondence with the Olmsted Brothers

Judge Alexander Pope Humphrey corresponded with the landscape architects, the Olmsted Brothers, to work on estate plan #03272 in Louisville, Kentucky. Correspondence dates for these plans were 1901-1902, and 1907. This correspondence is included at the Library of Congress archives, and is also listed by the Filson Historical Society and the Olmstead Research Guide.^[6]

Family

He was the only son^[7] of Kentuckians Rev. Dr. Edward Porter Humphrey and his second wife Martha Ann Fontaine Pope Humphrey, and the family is listed in an American biography index.^[3] After his father's first wife, Catherine Cornelia Prather Humphrey, died in childbirth along with her newborn infant, their only surviving child was a son, Edward William Cornelius Humphrey. His father then married Martha, who was the widow of Charles Pope, her cousin and son of William and Cynthia Pope.^[8] Hence, Alexander Pope Humphrey was the half-brother of Edward William Cornelius Humphrey. Alexander Pope Humphrey married Mary Moss Churchill, daughter of Alexander Pope Churchill, of Louisville, and they had five children, Alexander Pope Humphrey, Jr., Ethel Churchill Humphrey, Samuel E. Humphrey, Churchill Humphrey, Nannie Humphrey, and Myrtice Humphrey.

The wedding of Judge and Mrs. Humphrey's daughter Ethel to Mr. Edward Mellon of Paris, France, grandson of Thomas Mellon, patriarch of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh was held at her parents' spacious home "Fincastle" in Glenview, Kentucky.^[9] The wedding is described in detail in the Leavenworth Times, a Kansas newspaper.^[10] The major attendants at the wedding were the bride's sister-in-law Mrs. Churchill Humphrey, matron-of-honor, and Thomas Alexander Mellon, his brother's best-man. The only other attendants were the bride's brothers, Alexander Pope Humphrey, Jr. and Churchill Humphrey, who served as ushers at the wedding.

Edward Mellon and his older brother Thomas Alexander Mellon, Jr. (1873-1948) partnered in business enterprises, but Edward eventually found his true calling as an architect. He and Ethel moved from Paris back to New York, where he bought a home for them on 65th Street and a different building on New York's upper east side as an office for himself, from which he practiced architecture for the next 24 years. It is said that his architectural endeavors are deserving of more attention than they received at the time.^[11][12]

The Fincastle Club

In the late 1880s the Fincastle Club was built as a recreational party and social retreat in Glenview for wealthy visitors from the city of Louisville. The club is said to have been named for Fincastle County, Virginia, a former county in Virginia created in 1772 from Botetourt County which in 1772 extended as far as the Mississippi River. The Fincastle Club consisted of summer lodging in cottages for five Louisville families, including Alexander Pope Humphrey's family.^[9] An article by Phyllis Hurd in the Louisville Courier-Journal reported that a 1936 article in the Louisville Herald-Post had recorded a description of life at the old club site: "Judge Alex Humphrey, dean of Louisville lawyers, had bought the Fincastle clubhouse and remodeled it for a dwelling. Some of the cottages and cottagers still gathered round. Summer sojourners of those days have pleasant reminiscences. A picture that endures is that of the judge, sitting on his front porch, by his side a megaphone -- a handy thing for howdy-do's and what-not to the neighbors."^[9]

The Filson Club

Alexander Pope Humphrey was one of the organizers of the Filson Club, Louisville's privately operated history society, historical museum, and archive in the Ferguson Mansion in Old Louisville.,^[13] now known as the Filson Historical Society. On May 15, 1884, Humphrey met with Reuben T. Durrett, Richard H. Collins, William Chenault, John Mason Brown, Basil W. Duke, George M. Davie, James S. Pirtle, Thomas W. Bullitt, and Thomas Speed to form this association for collecting and preserving Kentucky history.

The Pendennis Club

He was president of the Pendennis Club in 1917.^[14]

Visit to Turin and other activities of note

He visited Turin, Italy, and there is photo documentation of his signature in the consulate record.^[15] In their honor, a visiting Churchill Humphrey and Alex P. Humphrey Professorship in Feminist Philosophy has been established at the University of Waterloo.

References