MEEK, Alexander Beaufort, jurist, born in Columbia, South Carolina, 17 July, 1814; died in Columbus, Mississippi, 30 November, 1865. He was educated at the University of Alabama, admitted to the bar in 1835, and in the same year edited a newspaper at Tuscaloosa. He was lieutenant of volunteers in the Seminole war, and at the close of the campaign was appointed attorney-general of Alabama, but soon resigned and resumed practice. He was judge of the county court of Tuscaloosa in 1842-'4, and during that "time prepared a supplement to Aiken's " Digest of Alabama.." He was associate editor of the " Mobile Register" in 1848-'52, and in 1853 served in the legislature, where he secured the establishment of an free-school system in the state. He was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1856, served in the legislature again in 1859, and was chosen speaker. His later years were devoted chiefly to literary pursuits. His publications include " Red Eagle" (New York, 1855); " Songs and Poems of the South " (1857) ; and " Romantic Passages in Southwestern History" (1857). He left an unfinished "History of Alabama." His best-known poem is one on '"The Charge at Balaklava."