The History of Marion, Alabama by Samuel Allen Townes

The History of Marion, Alabama by Samuel Allen Townes

Samuel Allen Townes

1806-1873

Samuel Allen Townes was born in Greenville, South Carolina. After attending the University of Virginia, he read law in Abbeville, South Carolina. He then opened a partnership with a friend and later founded a newspaper called the Whig. In 1833, ill health prompted him to move to Marion, Alabama, where he opened a law partnership with Col. Henry C. Lea the following year. From 1835-1837, Townes edited the Alabama Mercury, a weekly newspaper in Huntsville. He purchased the Plantation Hotel in 1838 and acquired land in the area. After working at a newspaper in the mid-1840s and publishing his book The History of Marion, Alabama in 1844, Townes returned to South Carolina in 1847. He edited the Greenville Mountaineer and was active in politics before his death in 1873.

Alabama Authors of the 19th & 20th Centuries, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, http://alabamaauthors.org

1844

The History of Marion, Alabama. Marion, AL; sn, 1844

AL Book Collection

Townes, Samuel Allen, “The History of Marion, Alabama by Samuel Allen Townes,” Alabama Authors of the 19th & 20th Centuries, accessed November 8, 2026, https://alabamaauthors.org/items/show/24550.