ALBERT S. BLEDSOE, who in the practice of law has gained recognition as one of the capable members of the Cleburne bar, represents a prominent old family of the south, his parents being Major W. Scott and Susan (Harrison) Bledsoe. His father was a pioneer lawyer and prominent citizen of Cleburne and this section of the state. Born in Kentucky, at a very early age he was taken by his parents to White county, Tennessee, where he was reared. When the war broke out he organized a company for the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry, was elected its captain and later was promoted major of the regiment, serving throughout the entire war with distinction.
Following the close of hostilities Major Bledsoe returned to his Tennessee home, and in 1868 came to Texas, locating for a short time at Alvarado, in Johnson county. He had previously studied law and been admitted to the bar and he was there engaged in practice. In 1869, when the county seat was removed from Buchanan to Cleburne, he came to the latter place as one of the first attorneys here. He was a very able man in his profession which eventually became a comfortable fortune through his successful practice. He was likewise recognized as a leader of public thought and action here, and was called to represent Johnson county in the state legislature in 1870-71. On arriving in Cleburne in 1869 he formed a partnership with Captain Ben Bledsoe, the relation being maintained until the latter’s death in 1875. These gentlemen were not brothers, but distantly related, being descended from the same ancestry. Ben Bledsoe won his title as captain in the same regiment in which Scott Bledsoe served as major, and he married a sister of Mrs. Scott Bledsoe, so that the partners were brothers-in-law. After the death of Captain Ben Bledsoe, D. T. Bledsoe, another distant relative, joined Major Bledsoe in the law practice, and thus the firm style of Bledsoe & Bledsoe was continued until the death of the senior partner on the 14th of February, 1877. D. T. Bledsoe remained in active practice in Cleburne until 1890, when he removed to Abilene, where he practiced for about two years, his death occurring, however, at Brenham, Texas, on the 1st of July, 1893, when he was visiting there. Major W. Scott Bledsoe was married in early manhood to Susan Harrison, who was born in Overton county, Tennessee, and is now living at the home of her son Albert. There were three children of that marriage, the others being Nellie, now the wife of Quincy Templeton, ex-district clerk of Johnson county, and William H. Bledsoe, a prominent lawyer of Cleburne, practicing as a member of the firm of Brown & Bledsoe.
Albert S. Bledsoe was born September 16, 1872, and was a student of the schools of Cleburne and pursued his preparation for the profession under the direction of the firm of Crane & Ramsey, composed of Hon. M. M. Crane, ex-attorney general of Texas and now living in Dallas, and Judge W. F. Ramsey, who is still practicing law here and is also the president of the National Bank of Cleburne. In 1894, having been admitted to the bar, Albert S. Bledsoe and his brother reorganized the firm of Bledsoe & Bledsoe, which continued until April, 1902, when it was dissolved on account of the ill health that forced Albert S. Bledsoe to retire temporarily from his chosen life work. He has since, however, resumed active practice independently and has a liberal clientage. He was city attorney for four years and city recorder for three years, but his attention has chiefly been given to his legal work. He throws himself easily and naturally into the argument with a self-possession and deliberation that indicates no straining after effect, while a precision and clearness in his statement and acuteness and strength in his argument bespeaks a mind trained in the severest school of investigation and to which the closest reasoning has become habitual and easy.
Mr. Bledsoe now occupies the old family homestead, a mile and a half southeast of the city. It is a fine farm, originally containing three hundred acres, and is now a valuable property, well improved. He has a very wide and favorable acquaintance in social as well as professional circles and his lines of life have been cast in harmony with the record of a distinguished and honorably ancestry.
On December 8, 1895, Mr. Bledsoe married Miss Nettie McQueen, a native of Moore county, North Carolina. Their children are: Albert McQueen and Nettie Sue.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, p. 352-353.