History of Princess Anne, (Somerset County) Maryland United States of America

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Biographies:

The Biography of Alexander Hamilton Handy

Alexander Hamilton Handy, jurist, was born in Princess Anne, Md., Dec. 25, 1809; son of Capt. George and Elizabeth (Wilson) Handy: grandson of Benjamin and Elizabeth Handy, and of James and Martha (Glasgow) Wilson; and a descendant in the fifth generation from Samuel and Mary (Sewell) Handy, who came from London in 1664. His father, Capt. George Handy, served on the staff of "Light-Horse" Harry Lee during the Revolution, distinguishing himself in several battles including the storming of Augusta, Ga, Alexander was educated at Jefferson college; studied law, was admitted to the bar and removed to Mississippi in 1836, where he practised his profession. He was a judge of the high court of errors of the state, 1853-67. He was a secession commissioner sent by the governor of Mississippi in 1860 to the state of Maryland, but failed to obtain a hearing before the legislature. He made a speech in Baltimore, Dec. 19, 1860, in which he claimed secession to be a temporary expedient "not intended to break up the present government but to perpetuate it." In 1867 he located in Baltimore, where he practised law and was professor in the University of Maryland, 1867-71. He returned to Mississippi in 1871. He published Secession Considered as a Right (1862); and A Parallel between the Reign of James the Second of England and that of Abraham Lincoln. He died in Canton, Miss., Sept. 12, 1883.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor