Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
from "Memorial Record of Alabama"

JUDGE A. H. ALSTON is a native of Bibb county, Ga., and was born November
17, 1844. His parents, Willis and Elizabeth Alston, were natives of Georgia and
South Carolina, respectively, and of English descent. Willis Alston was born in
Hancock county, Ga., in 1806; married at Georgetown, S. C., in 1823, to
Elizabeth Howard, and died in Texas, in the year 1846. Mrs. Alston was the
daughter of Rev. John Howard of North Carolina, for many years a distinguished
minister of the Methodist church, and her death occurred near Decatur, Ga., in
January, 1866. Judge Alston's paternal grandfather was Robert Alston, who moved
in an early day from Halifax, N. C., to Hancock county, Ga., thence later to
Florida, but subsequently returned to Georgia, and died at Thomasville, that
state. Judge Alston was preparing to enter college when the Civil war broke out
and thwarted his plans. Like other patriotic sons of the south, he tendered his
services to the Confederacy, and in May, 1862, enlisted in company C, Ninth
Tennessee cavalry, which formed a part of the division commanded by Gen. John
Morgan, under which noted leader, with the exception of a short interval, Judge
Alston served throughout the war. He took part in a number of that general's
dashing raids, which form such an interesting chapter in the war period, and was
captured at Mt. Sterling, Ky., and sent to Rock Island, where he remained a
prisoner until exchanged in March, 1865. Rejoining his command, the judge was
actively engaged in the service until the surrender at Charlotte, N. C., the
same spring, after which he returned to his home 4n Georgia, and in August,
1865, came to Alabama, locating at Eufaula, where he began the study of law in
the office of Cato & Baker - leading attorneys of the place. The following year,
he pursued his legal studies assiduously, and in 1867 was admitted to the bar
and at once began the practice of his profession in Eufaula, in the courts of
which, and other places, his talents soon won for him a lucrative business.
After practicing in Eufaula until 1870, Judge Alston removed to the vicinity of
Fort Browder, Barbour county, where for some years he was engaged in
agriculture; but in 1882, he was appointed, by Gov. Cobb, judge of probate, to
fill an unexpired term. So efficiently did he discharge the duties of the
position that, in 1886, he was elected to succeed himself by the largest
majority ever received by any candidate for the office, and that, too, when
there were three popular competitors in the field against him. The judge's
official record is without a blemish, and the able manner in which he has
conducted the office has won for him friends among all classes, irrespective of
party affiliations. His success was long since assured, and as a careful and
painstaking attorney and safe counselor he occupies a prominent place among his
legal brethren of the Barbour county bar. In personal appearance, the judge is
tall and straight, and has a decidedly military bearing. He is popular with the
people and his reputation as a citizen is second to that of no other man of the
city in which he resides. He is a Mason, and also belongs to the K. of H., and
A. O. U. W., and is a steward in the Methodist church. Judge Alston was married
December 17, 1867, in Barbour county, to Anne M. Ott, daughter of Col. E. S.
Ott, and is the father of nine children : Augusta, wife of Laurence H. Lee;
Edward O., graduate of state university in the class of '90; at present a clerk
in the general freight office of Richmond & Danville railroad, at Richmond, Va.;
Robert C., also a graduate of the state universirty and at this time a law
student; Louisa, Philip H., Lizzie Drake, William Ott, and Augustus H.