Hiram Adkins


Submitted by Robin Sterling.


Hiram Adkins was born in Tennessee in 1835. He enlisted in Company K of the 56th Alabama Partisan Rangers, CSA in 1862. He reportedly became a 1st Lieutenant in Company E of the 28th Alabama Infantry, CSA. After the war, he served as Winston County Sheriff from 1871 to 1875. Afterward, he moved to Cullman County and was elected Sheriff and served from 1870 to 1880. Adkins also ran a livery stable in Cullman and was commonly referred to as “Major” after the war. He was a Mason and a Baptist. Adkins died in 1904. His wife, Sarah Virginia Blackwell Adkins was born 1843 and died in 1911. They are both buried in the Cullman City Cemetery. (Tombstone recorded a birth year of 1835; obit recorded 1833).

The Cullman Tribune, 6 May 1904:

Major Adkins Passes Away. Died at His Home Thursday Morning After a Protracted Illness—Death Not Unexpected. Was a Prominent and Useful Man. Died at his home in Cullman May 4, 1904, Major Hiram Adkins, one of Cullman’s oldest and most respected citizens.

Major Adkins had been in very bad health for some months and his death was not unexpected. He was born in Tennessee Feb. 15, 1833, and came to Alabama with his parents when a small child. He was married March 3, 1857, to Miss Sarah Blackwell, in Moulton, Ala., and of this union there are seven surviving children: Mesdames F.B. Burnum, Alice Wilhite and O.D. Medlock; Miss Emma Adkins, Chas. Adkins, of Dallas, Texas, and Frank and Willie Adkins, of this place. Major Adkins served the Confederacy and shared his privations, hardships and losses. For many years has been a resident of Cullman, and a well known figure in this and adjoining counties, having been for a long time a U.S. revenue officer. He was at one time sheriff of this county and he was deputy sheriff when failing health compelled him to relinquish its duties. He was by religious affiliation a Baptist.

The services will take place at his residence this afternoon at 2:30, and will be conducted by Rev. Mr. Colley, of East Lake, and Rev. J.T. Miller, pastors of the First Baptist and Methodist churches here. The Masons will then take charge and interment will take place in the Protestant cemetery.


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