Albert S. Marks

Marks was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, one of seven children of Elisha Marks and Elizabeth (Lashbrook) Marks. His parents were pious Methodists, and initially wanted Albert to become a minister. He attended school in Owensboro until the age of 14, when his father died, and he focused on helping his mother maintain the family farm. Although he had little formal education afterward, he was an avid reader, and poured through multiple books on history and ancient literature. When he was 19, Marks moved to Winchester, Tennessee, to work in the law firm of his mother's cousin, Arthur S. Colyar. He read law with Colyar, and was admitted to the bar in 1858. The firm then practiced under the name Colyar, Marks and Frizzell. After Frizzell withdrew in 1861, the firm continued as Colyar and Marks. ==Civil War==

Although he was a Southern Democrat, Marks was an opponent of secession. though he later joined General Nathan B. Forrest's staff as a judge advocate. After the war, he practiced law with Colyar in Winchester until 1866, when Colyar moved to Nashville. He then formed a firm with partners James Fitzpatrick and T.D. Gregory. ==Governor==

, Marks was elected judge of the state's Fourth Chancery District in 1870. Marks was the first lifelong Democrat to be elected after the Civil War (his two predecessors, John C. Brown and James D. Porter, had been Whigs before the war). Like his two immediate predecessors, the major issue confronting the Marks administration was the state's debt crisis, which had resulted from the gradual accumulation of bonded debt to pay for internal improvements and railroad construction over the previous four decades. The Panic of 1873 had greatly reduced property tax revenue, and the state had defaulted on its bond payments in 1875. By the time Marks took office, his party had split into two factions— those who favored full repayment of the debt to protect the state's credit, and those who favored only partial repayment. Marks did not seek reelection in 1880, realizing his party was still badly split over the debt issue. The divided Democrats were defeated in the general election for governor later that year. ==Later life==

Following his gubernatorial term, Marks formed a new law partnership with Colyar and John Childress Jr., known as Colyar, Marks and Childress. This firm operated until 1883. ==Family and legacy==

Marks married Novella Davis in 1863, while he was recovering from his injury received at the Battle of Stones River. They had become engaged prior to this battle, and after his leg was amputated, he offered to release her from the engagement, but she refused. After Arthur's death, his son, John, continued its expansion. Hundred Oaks was occupied by the Catholic Paulist Fathers throughout the first half of the 20th century. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in the mid-1980s, and is currently maintained by the non-profit Kent Bramlett Foundation. ==See also==