There is also on on-line biography and picture at: http://www.archives.state.al.us/govs_list/g_jelksw.html Source: "Alabama and Statistical Register", 1903, State of Alabama Department of Archives and History, Compiled by Thomas M. Owen, Director, Montgomery, AL, Brown Printing Company, 1903 Page 5,6 Chief Executive Department, Governor of Alabama WILLIAM DORSEY JELKS, of Eufaula, Barbour county, is a native of Alabama. He was born November 7, 1855 in the little village of Warrior Stand, then in Russell, but now in Macon county. His father was J.W.D. Jelks, who gave up his life, June, 1862, in the cause of the Confederacy, while a captain in the gallant Third Alabama Regiment, Infantry, C.S.A. The father of the latter was Robert Jelks, a native of Halifax county, North Carolina, whose wife was Matilda Crowell, a half sister of John Crowell, the first Territorial delegate, and also the first member of Congress from Alabama. The mother of Gov. Jelks was Jane Goodrum Frazer, of one of the early families of Georgia and Alabama. He was bereft of his father at the age of six years, and his early youth was passed at Union Springs. Here he was trained in the country schools. In 1873, he entered Mercer University in Georgia, from which he was graduated in 1876. Literary studies while in college came easily first in their attraction for the mind of Gov. Jelks. His subsequent adoption of the profession of journalism grew out of a love for the ancient and early English classics. In 1876,he returned to Union Springs were he acquired an interest in the Herald, already in operation there. Shortly afterward, he resolved on a wider career, and removed to the city of Eufaula, which is now his home. In Eufaula, he acquired a controlling interest in the Eufaula Times, which, under his management, soon attained wide circulation and influence. Long before he entered politics he was a well known figure in State affairs. His paper always fought the battles of Democracy with vigor. As an editorial writer, Mr. Jelks was known over the whole of Alabama. His familiarity with men and measures, his fair treatment of his contemporaries, his lucid grasp of intricate problems, all combined to make him a man of mark, when local conditions brought him forward in 1898 to represent the county of Barbour in the State senate. Prior to his election as a State senator in 1898 Mr. Jelks had held no public office, except as a member of the city school board of Eufaula. Entering a body of strong men, he soon attained a conspicuous place among them. So notable was his position among his associates that at the session of 1900 he was elected president of the Senate, and it is significant that at the time of his election it was known that the newly elected Governor of Alabama, the late lamented William J. Samford, was in precarious health, and that in the inscrutable ways of Providence Senator Jelks might be called upon to fill the office of Chief Magistrate. It is well known that on December 1, 1900, when the time arrived for Governor Samford to appear and take the oath of office, he was too ill to respond, and that at the suggestion of the friends of the former the reins were assumed by Senator Jelks, as acting Governor. Calling to his aid the Governor's son, Thomas D. Samford, Esq., he filled the position until December 26, when the Governor was able to enter upon his duties. Resuming his position as President of the Senate and returning to private life, after adjournment he was again called to resume the high official station, on the death of Governor Samford, June 11, 1901. He entered upon his duties at once. The Constitutional Convention was then in session. Its work having been accomplished in the preparation of a new organic law, that body adjourned September 3, 1901. Governor Jelks, in accordance with the act for holding the convention, fixed November 11, 1901, as the date for submitting the constitution to the electors of the State for ratification or rejection. In the campaign which followed he took an earnest and active part in securing the adoption of the new instrument. After the formal vote of ratification had been expressed, he issued his proclamation naming Thanksgiving Day - November 28, 1901 - as the date when it should be effective. Governor Jelks stood for nomination as his own successor by the Democratic party, and at a primary election held August 24, 1902, was the successful candidate, winning in the contest over Hon. Joseph F. Johnston. At the regular election, November 4, 1902, he defeated Hon. J.W. A. Smith, Republican candidate of Jefferson county, for the position and will enter upon his second term January 19, 1902. On June 7, 1883, at Eufaula, Governor Jelks was married to Alice, daughter of Henry R. Shorter, late member of the railroad commission of Alabama, and wife, Addie, daughter of John Keitt, of Orangeburg, S.C. Mr. Shorter was the son of Dr. Reuben C. Shorter, a native of Culpepper county, Va., but who came to Eufaula (then Irwinton) in 1836.