Memory Of The Week: The Man Who Founded The University Of Alabama Law School

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TUSCALOOSA, AL — This installment of our Memory of the Week takes us back to just before the American Civil War to the founding of what would become the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa.

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Tracing its roots back to 1846 as the University of Alabama School of Law, the institution was originally founded by Judge Henderson Middleton Somerville, but closed down shortly after opening due to a lack of funding and student enrollment, according to Historic Tuscaloosa's Event & Digital Media Coordinator Sarah-Katherine Helms.

Somerville was a graduate of the University of Alabama in 1856 and returned to Tuscaloosa during the war in 1862 to teach mathematics at the university before it was forced to close in 1865.

Somerville then lived at 709 Queen City Avenue for approximately 40 years in a large mansion that would eventually become the University Club.

As Patch previously reported, The University Club was built in 1834 by Captain James Dearing, who piloted the first steamboat from Mobile to Tuscaloosa and, before Somerville took up residence, had been the home to Arthur P. Bagby — Alabama’s governor from 1837 to 1841. Somerville's former home now functions as a working laboratory, intending to foster growth for students seeking to gain hands-on event, hospitality and operational experience.

Helms said after the initial run for the school failed, Somerville established the Alabama School of Law permanently in 1872 at the height of reconstruction and after much of the campus had been burned to the ground during the war.

After being appointed to the state supreme court bench, Somerville was also praised for authoring the opinion in the case of Parsons v. State — ultimately establishing the modern doctrine of insanity as a disease of the brain.

Still, while attending the Supreme Court in December 1872, Somerville was requested to go to board of regents of the university to formulate a plan of organization for the law school. According to an 1899 article in the Tuscaloosa News, this was contingent on Somerville accepting the position of dean of the school.

Somerville subsequently drew up the ordinance, which was passed by the regents at the meeting, leaving the name of the sole professor of law to be filled by the board.

At this time, the newspaper article said all faculty members of the university were receiving salaries of $2,500 each, and the regents offered Judge Somerville the same amount to take sole management of the school.

In February of that year, the school saw an initial enrollment of four students, with two more admitted in October: Wm. C. Jemison (future mayor of Tuscaloosa); Shepherd Prince; Thomas H. Watts (18th governor of Alabama); Frank S. Moody; and Isaac Hamilton Prince.

The school's one professor? None other than Judge Somerville, who delivered the first lecture in what was known as the chemical laboratory — located in the northwest corner of the old law school building.

Law school classes were held at Woods, Manly, Barnard, and Morgan halls during these early years and, in 2020, Manly Hall was renamed Presidents Hall, while Morgan Hall was renamed the English Building, according to Robert H. McKenzie's "Farrah's Future: The First One Hundred Years of the University of Alabama Law School, 1872-1972."

Helms went on to note the steady growth of the school, with the number of students increasing almost every year, with Judge Somerville continuing in his role until he was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison in July 1890 to a position on the National Board of Customs in New York.

Somerville died on Sept. 15, 1915 in Edgemere, New York, at the age of 78.

Even during its early years, the University of Alabama Law School, under Somerville's leadership, produced several notable alumni:

Captain John M. Martin: U.S. representative, 1885-87

Burwell B. Lewis: U.S. representative, 1875-77

General Sterling A. M. Wood: Confederate general who fought at Perryville and Chickamauga, before becoming a state legislator and lawyer

General Henry D. Clayton: Congressman (1897–1914), U.S. District Court Judge (1914-1929) and the author of The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914.

Andrew C. Hargrove: Confederate Civil War veteran and lawyer.

General Richard C. Jones: The second UA alumnus to serve as president of the university.

Adrain T. Van de Graff: Lawyer and former Alabama football player who was the middle brother between the Crimson Tide's first-ever All-American, William, and the inventor of the Van de Graaff generator, Robert.

Judge Wm. L. Thorington: A lawyer who briefly served as an associate justice on the Alabama Supreme Court and later as the dean of the Alabama School of Law.

Ormond Somerville: The son of Somerville, Ormond was one of the co-publishers of the Tuskaloosa Gazette, one of the area's first newspapers, and later would teach at the UA School of Law before being elected to the Alabama Supreme Court.

Other notable alumni beyond those early years include, among others: U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Hugo Black; legendary New York Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen; author Harper Lee; former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions; Alabama segregationist governor and presidential candidate George Wallace; and current U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama.

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