Personal Memoirs-Randolph County:
W.L. Heflin, M.D., one of the leading physicians of Roanoke, Ala.,
is a son of Wyatt and Sarah (Stell) Heflin, the former of whom was
a native of Orange county, N.C., born there about 1795. He was of
Scotch and French Huguenot descent. He was reared in North Carolina
and when yet a young man removed to Morgan county, Ga. He was
married here and lived in this county a number of years.
He moved then to Fayette county, and thence to Coweta county, and in
1837 came to Alabama, setting in Randolph county, fourteen miles
west of Roanoke. Here he lived the rest of his life, dying in
February, 1860. He was a planter by occupation and took an active
part in politics, representing Randolph county several times in the
early fifties in the legislature.
John T. Heflin (deceased), in his life-time of the leading and
representative men of the Birmingham bar, was a native of Walton
county, Ga. He was born in that state, August 13, 1820, the son
of Wyatt and Sarah S. Heflin, the former of North Carolina, and
the latter of Georgia. On the paternal side, Mr. Heflin was of
distinguished Scotch and English descent, his ancestors coming to
American with Lord Granville prior to the Revolution, and on the
maternal side he was of French Huguenot extraction. The father
died in 1860, and the mother in 1869. John T. Heflin was the third
in a family of eight. He received an academic education in Georgia,
and studied law in Chambers county, Ala., in the office of Steiner
& Phillips, and was admitted to practice in 1841, having a
professional career of nearly fifty years. He was a member of the
state senate during the session of 1851-2. In 1857 he moved to
Jacksonville, and was associated with William H. Forney, a member of
congress for three years. In 1860, he was elected a ciruit judge
and remained on the bench until 1865. In 1875, he was a member of
the state constitutional convention for the purpose of forming a new
constitution. In April, 1882, he settled in Birmingham, becoming
the senior member of the law firm of Heflin, Bowdon & Knox.
Mr. Heflin, all his life was singularly devoted to, and in love with
his profession, and has achieved some magnificent triumphs in
forensic advocacy. In 1886 he was a candidate for judge of the
supreme court, and received a flattering vote. He was a bourbon
democrat of the old school. He was married in 1862 to Mrs. Bowdon,
of Talladega, whose maiden name was Sarah E. Chilton, a native of
Kentucky. She died June 1, 1878. Mr. Heflin was a member of the
Masonic fraternity.
Harrington P. Heflin, one of the younger members of the Birmingham
bar, was born at Louina, Randolph county, Ala., February 26, 1862.
In his early youth, Mr. Heflin attended the high school at Roanoke,
Ala., with the viewing of laying the foundation of a thorough
professional education, and having finished there, entered
Vanderbilt university in 1880, where he took the full collegiate
course of law. He afterward read law with the late Judge John T.
Heflin, and was admitted to the Birmingham bar in ay, 1887. He
practiced alone with marked success for two years, and in January,
1889, he formed a partnership with Col. W.D. Bulger, which continued
until 1892. Mr. Heflin is a young man of strong points as a lawyer
and advocate, and gives promise of much success in his chosen
profession. He is a member of the Chi Phi college fraternity, is
unmarried and is a democrat.
Dr. Wyatt Heflin, one of the physicians of Birmingham, standing well
to the front of his profession, was born in Randolph county, Ala.,
Oct 21, 1860. His education was begun in the schools of Randolph
and Chambers counties, and in Franklin, Ga., and then in Vanderbilt
university, Tenn., where he attended the literary department one year
and the medical department one year. He afterward attended
Jefferson Medical college and graduated in 1884. After leaving
college he practiced two years with his father, Dr. William L. Heflin
, at Louina, Ala., and in 1886 moved to Wedowee, where he remained
until September, 1888 when he went to Philadelphia and entered
Jefferson hospital for a course of special preparation in the diseases
of women. Leaving here, he located in Birmingham, where he now
enjoys a large and lucrative practice. He is a member of the
Jefferson county Medical society and the State Medical association.
He was health officer and member of the board of census, during
his residence in Randolph, and is one of the surgeons in charge of
the hospital of United Charities at Birmingham. His father,
W.L. Heflin is a graduate of the university of Georgia, and has
practiced most of his life at Randolph county, Ala., but at present
is located at Roanoke, Ala. His wife, the mother of Dr. Heflin, Jr.,
was Lavisa Phillips, a native of Alabama, and is the mother of
eleven children, of whom nine are living, eight sons and one daughter,
Dr. Wyatt Heflin being the eldest child. The mother died in 1883.
Dr. Heflin affiliates with the Methodist church.