Reuben Saffold

Reuben Saffold
Reuben Saffold
	Chief Judge Reuben Saffold
Circuit judge
	In office; 1819–1820
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama
	In office; 1820–1834
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama
	In office; 1834–1836
Personal details
Born	September 4, 1788
Died	February 15, 1847
Resting place	Belvoir
Citizenship	American
Spouse	Mary Evelyn Phillips
Children	12, including Benjamin Franklin Saffold
Occupation	Lawyer; Planter
Military service
Years of service	1813-1814
Battles/wars	Creek War

Reuben Saffold (September 4, 1788 – February 15, 1847) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 1820 to 1834, and then Chief Justice until 1836.[1]

Born in Wilkes County, Georgia, he was educated there and began a law practice in Watkinsville, Georgia. He married Mary Evelyn Phillips of Morgan County in 1811. The couple had 12 children including Benjamin Franklin Saffold. They moved to Clarke County, Mississippi Territory, in 1813, where he participated in the Creek War from 1813 to 1814.

Saffold served in the legislature of the Alabama Territory in 1818. He participated in the Constitutional Convention and became an Alabama circuit judge in 1819.

In 1825, he established a large slave-labor cotton plantation, which he named Belvoir, in rural Dallas County, Alabama. Belvoir translates roughly from French to English as "beautiful to see". Saffold remained a circuit judge until 1820, when he was appointed to the Alabama Supreme Court.[2] He served as Chief Justice from 1834 until 1836.[3]

Saffold returned to private practice in Mobile, Alabama, thereafter moving to Dallas County, Alabama. In 1843, Governor Benjamin Fitzpatrick proposed to return Saffold to the state supreme court, but Saffold chose to remain in private practice.[2] Saffold died in Mississippi at the age of 58, and was buried at Belvoir.[4]

References

Court, Alabama Supreme (October 4, 1907). "Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Alabama". Brown Printing Company – via Google Books.
"Alabama's Supreme Court Chief Justices: Reuben Saffold". Alabama Judicial System. Alabama Department of Archives and History. 7 May 2010. Archived from the original on 4 December 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
Hale, Jennifer (2009). Historic Plantations of Alabama's Black Belt. Charleston, SC: History Press. pp. 15–25. ISBN 978-1-59629-669-5.
Herbert James Lewis, Alabama Founders: Fourteen Political and Military Leaders Who Shaped the State (2018), p. 123.

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[1] Court, Alabama Supreme (October 4, 1907). "Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Alabama". Brown Printing Company – via Google Books.

[adah-2] "Alabama's Supreme Court Chief Justices: Reuben Saffold". Alabama Judicial System. Alabama Department of Archives and History. 7 May 2010. Archived from the original on 4 December 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2010.

[hisplam-3] Hale, Jennifer (2009). Historic Plantations of Alabama's Black Belt. Charleston, SC: History Press. pp. 15–25. ISBN 978-1-59629-669-5.

[4] Herbert James Lewis, Alabama Founders: Fourteen Political and Military Leaders Who Shaped the State (2018), p. 123.