The History of Florida: Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol.
III, page 155, 1923.
BUFORD, Hon. RIVERS HENDERSON, attorney general of the State of Florida, was a quarter of
a century ago working as a common laborer in the lumber mills and timber camps. A resolution
to become a lawyer was steadfastly maintained during the years, and patient labor was necessary
to achieve his professional qualifications, and once established in the practice of law his
career has been accumulating success every year.
Mr. BUFORD was born at Pulaski, Tennessee, January 18, 1878, son of ALBERT and MARTHA BOLLING
(RIVERS) BUFORD. His mother, who was born at Florence, Alabama, April 2, 1857, and died at
Wewahitchka, Florida, December 5, 1900, was through the Bolling line a direct descendant of
Pocahontas. Her father, Dr. RICHARD H. RIVERS, D. D., was born September 11, 1814, and
died June 21, 1894. He married MARTHA BOLLING COX JONES. Doctor RIVERS was a noted Methodist
Divine in the North Alabama Conference, during the war between the states was president of
the Selma Female Seminary and later became president of Martin College at Pulaski, Tennessee.
His last work as pastor was in the Broadway Methodist Episcopal Church of Louisville, Kentucky.
He was a son of EDMONT [EDMUNDS] and SALLY (HENDERSON) RIVERS, and grandson of THOMAS RIVERS, who was
born in 1789 [9 JUL 1757] at Brunswick, Virginia. SALLY HENDERSON was a daughter of SAMUEL and BETSY
CALLOWAY HENDERSON, and a descendent of the distinguished HENDERSON family that came to
Virginia from Scotland at the very beginning of Colonial settlement.
ALBERT BUFORD, now living retired at Marianna, was born October 26, 1855, and was a farmer in
Tennessee until 1882, when he moved to Wewahitchka in Calhoun County, Florida, and for a
number of years practiced civil engineering and surveying and also did a large amount of
work for lumber companies as a timber cruiser. He represented Calhoun County in the Legislature
in 1891, is a Methodist and a Knight of Pythias.
RIVERS HENDERSON BUFORD spent his boyhood in Calhoun County, and had only a public school
education. At the age of sixteen he was earning his living working in logging and lumber
camps. He took up the study of law at Tallahassee with FRED T. MYERS, and on being admitted
to the bar in 1900 began practice at Blountstown, where he remained until 1902. In 1901 he
was elected to represent Calhoun County in the Legislature. From Wewahitchka he removed to
Marianna, and still has his legal residence in that city. He practiced there with Hon.
WALTER KEHOE and with Hon. W. H. PRICE. In 1903 he removed to Quincy and was engaged in
general practice with Hon. W. H. ELLIS, now a justice of the Supreme Court. The firm of
Ellis & Buford continued for two years, and in 1905 it became Buford and Campbell. In 1907
Mr. BUFORD formed a partnership with Y. L. WATSON. In 1909 he was appointed prosecuting
attorney of Gadsden County, but resigned that office in 1911 to return to Marianna and resume
his private practice.
In 1912 Mr. BUFORD was elected states attorney of the Ninth Judicial District. This district
was divided in 1915, and he continued to serve as states attorney for the Fourteenth Circuit
until he resigned in 1920. In that year he was elected attorney-general of the state for the
term 1921-25.
Among his associates Mr. BUFORD is distinguished for the qualities of frankness and fairness
as well as more than ordinary abilities in his profession. In his home town of Marianna he
is a member of the Lodge, Chapter and Commandery of the Masonic Order, and belongs to Morocco
Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Jacksonville, Florida. His principal diversion is hunting.
During the World war he was a member of the Council of Defense, was a Four Minute Speaker and
a leader in all the drives in Jackson county.
At Quincy in 1904 Mr. BUFORD married Miss MARY MUNROE, daughter of Dr. THOMAS F. and MARTHA
H. MUNROE. Her mother is still living at Quincy. Her father, who died in 1905, practiced
medicine in Gadsden County for many years, and represented the very finest family of land
owners there. The Bank of Quincy was established by the Munroe family and is still owned
by them. Mr. and Mrs. BUFORD have five children: MARTHA, MAXINE, ALICE, BERTHA and ALBERT
LEWIS.
NOTE: Information in brackets [ ] are corrections provided by a family relative.