John Gaston Aikin
AIKIN, JOHN GASTON, lawyer, was born November 29, 1803, in South Carolina,
and died November 29, 1865, at Stockton, Baldwin County; son of Robert
and Esther (Gaston) Aikin, -who lived in South Carolina and later at Tuscaloosa,
the former of Scotch and Puritan stock, and a manufacturer of cotton gins.
His wife. Esther, was a descendant of Huguenot ancestry. He received his
preparatory education in Tuscaloosa; and graduated at Yale college. He
received his legal training at the latter institution also, and entered
upon the practice at the age of twenty-one. In 1832 he was residing in
Tuscaloosa; afterwards practiced law in Mobile some years; and later located
at Stockton where he spent the remainder of his life. He had large land
holdings, and many slaves. He saw service in the Mexican War.
He was a man of fine physique, six feet four inches in height and weighed two hundred forty pounds. He was a Democrat; a Methodist; and a Mason. In 1833 he compiled the second "Digest of the Laws of Alabama," and in 1836 it was reprinted with a supplement. In 1865 his home was burned by the federal soldiers.
Married: in Mobile, Clarissa Amanda, daughter of Joshua and Susan (Kitchen) Kennedy, Sr., of that city, one of the largest land owners of Mobile and Baldwin Counties, granddaughter of William Mansfield Kennedy, a native of Scotland, and of royal connections, banished to America because of political conditions, and of Samuel and Mary (Smith) Kitchen, the father of German descent, and the mother of Welsh stock. The father of the latter was John Smith, an officer in the Revolutionary War.
Children: 1. Alma, resides at Stockton; 2. Leila, deceased; 3. Norma, resides at Stockton; 4. Clara, d. in infancy; 5. Adelaide Augusta, deceased; 6. William Gaston, a physician, graduate of the medical department. University of Alabama, m. Katie May Brooks, of Century, Fla.; 7. John Gaston, graduated as captain, New York nautical school, 1882, licensed chief mate, ocean steamer, 1890, chief mate and captain sea vessels 15 years, inventor of various mechanical and nautical machines and instruments, m. Irma Belt, of Baldwin County, and has four children: John Gaston, Wm. Kennedy, Clara Alma, and Evelyn Esther Aikin. Last residence: Stockton.
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