Alexander Beaufort Meek, an American author, born in Columbia, S. C, July 17, 1814, died in Columbus, Miss., Nov. 30, 1865. Ho graduated at the university of Alabama, was admitted to the bar in 1835, and in the same year became editor of a newspaper at Tuscaloosa. He served as a lieutenant of volunteers against the Seminoles in 1836, and at the close of the campaign was appointed attorney general of the state, but soon resigned this post and resumed his practice. He was judge of the county court from 1842 to 1844, during which time he prepared a supplement to Aiken's "Digest of Alabama." From 1848 to 1852 he was associate editor of the "Mobile Register." He was elected to the legislature in 1853, and secured the establishment of a free school system in the state. He was a presidential elector on the democratic ticket in 1856, was again elected to the legislature in 1859, and was chosen speaker of the house. He published " Romantic Passages in Southwestern History," and " Songs and Poems of the South " (New York, 1857), and left an unfinished " History of Alabama".