Anthony D. Sayre


Anthony Dickinson Sayre was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 1909 to 1931.

Biography

Born in Tuskegee, Alabama to parents Daniel and Musigora Sayre, his grandparents were early settlers in Alabama who moved from the northern United States. After two years of private school, Sayre enrolled in Roanoke College in Virginia. He returned to study law under Judge T. M. Arrington. In 1880, he was admitted to the bar.
For the next thirty years, he represented cities and counties in various capacities. He had served as clerk of the city court from 1883 to 1889, Montgomery County's representative in the state legislature from 1890 to 1893 and state senator from 1894 to 1897. He had served as president of the State Senate during his second term. He resigned from the Senate when in 1897 he was elected Montgomery city court judge, to which he was re-elected in 1903.

State Supreme Court

In 1909, Associate Justice James R. Dowdell became Chief Justice and Sayre was appointed by Governor Braxton Bragg Comer as associate justice. He served for the next 22 years. He was considered to be anti-death penalty and anti-formalist.

Personal life

Sayre married Minnie Buckner Machen of Eddyville, Kentucky in 1884. They had six children. One of their daughters Zelda married novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. Margaret Sayre Brinson, Roselyn Smith, Anthony D. Sayre, Jr., Clothilde Sayre Palmer were also children.
He was a Democrat.