May 17, 1866
John William Abercrombie, who held key educational and governmental positions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was born in St. Clair County. Abercrombie’s career began when he became president of Clay College in 1886. Over the years, he also served in the Alabama Senate, as state superintendent of education, as president of the University of Alabama, in the U.S. House of Representatives and as acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor. He retired in 1927 after serving for a second time as the state schools superintendent. Abercrombie died in Montgomery in 1940.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.