Quick Facts
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John Russell Tyson (November 28, 1856 – March 27, 1923) was an American lawyer, politician and judge. He served in the Alabama legislature before becoming a circuit judge, and later serving on the Alabama Supreme Court as associate justice and chief justice, before resigning to resume his legal practice. He won election and re-election as U.S. Representative from Alabama's 2nd congressional district in 1920, and died in office.
Early and family life
Tyson graduated from Howard College, Marion, Alabama, in 1877 and from Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, in 1879.He married Mary Dossie Jordan (1851-1926), daughter of Dr. James R. Jordan who died in Lexington, Virginia in 1862. Their children included Patsy J. Tyson (1881-1972), Ellen Tyson Noble (1887-1977) and James Jordan Tyson (1893-1966).
Career
Admitted to the Alabama bar in 1879, Tyson began his legal career in Hayneville, Lowndes County, Alabama.
He represented Lowndes County in the Alabama State house of representatives in 1880, and four years later moved to the state capital, Montgomery, Alabama, and established his legal practice there. Montgomery voters elected and re-elected Tyson as a member of the city council beginning in May 1889 and he begame its president in May 1891. He resigned that position in October 1892, after accepting an appointment to the circuit court.
Judicial career
Tyson served as a circuit court judge from 1892-1898. He then served as associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court from 1898–1906, then became its chief justice from November 1906 to February 28, 1909, when he resigned and resumed the practice of law in Montgomery, Alabama.
U.S. Congressman
Tyson was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-seventh and Sixty-eighth Congresses, and served from March 4, 1921, until his death in Rochester, Minnesota, on March 27, 1923.
Death and legacy
He died in Rochester, Minnesota, survived by his widow, two daughters and son. His remains were returned to Montgomery and interred in Oakwood Cemetery, Montgomery, Alabama. His grandson, John M. Tyson Sr. continued the family's legal and political traditions, serving as a municipal judge and in both houses of the Alabama legislature representing Mobile, although he lost his race to represent Alabama's 1st congressional district in 1964. His great-grandson John M. Tyson Sr. served as the Mobile County District Attorney, but lost his bids for statewide elective office.