A. H. Douglas
A. H. Douglass was elected mayor in a harsh time. He was mayor during the first yellow fever breakout. Like some of his contemporary mayoral peers Douglass was faced with situations no candidate could have anticipated. Mayor Douglas's optimism which might have been celebrated in another decade ended up painting him as a harshly failed mayor. This may be unfair since many at the time did not anticipate there would be three more outbreaks, two of them catastrophic.
Douglass championed bond issues for things other than sanitation. This makes more sense when we recall that the growth of the railroad was pivotal for Memphis and sanitation was yet to be pegged as an absolute priority. Douglass tried to continue to grow the city while the city was dying in terms of population. There was no one left to pay the taxes. Douglass takes a hit historically for driving the debt of the city up so high it could not be paid. It is probably more true that the population that was left in Memphis after the epidemics could not afford to pay off even a much smaller debt.
Upon the death of his successor Douglass resumed office briefly.
From: Goodspeed
Judge A. H. Douglass, ex-criminal judge, was admitted to the bar at Somerville, Tenn., in 1843, and practiced there a few months and then removed to De Soto County, Miss., and followed agricultural pursuits in connection with real estate dealings until 1850, when he came to Memphis and has since resided here. He was a non-participant in the war, and at its close resumed the practice of law. He was mayor of Memphis from 1855 to 1857, and during that time the celebration of the completion of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad took place. In August, 1884, he was elected criminal court judge. Our subject's parents were Burchett and Martha (McGee) Douglass, natives of Smith County, Tenn., and were among the earliest settlers there.
The paternal grandmother, in more than one engagement with the Indians at Fort Lick Creek, loaded the guns for the men to disperse the savages. Soon after marriage the parents settled in Wilson County, but in 1836 moved to Fayette County, where they both died. The father served in both houses of the State Legislature from Wilson and Fayette Counties, and was speaker of both the Senate and House. He was a very useful, honorable and prominent public man. He was for many years president of the branch State Bank at Somerville. Our subject is one of seven children, and was born August 28, 1820, in Wilson County. He attended Clinton College graduating in 1837. In 1843 he married Miss Martha A., daughter of Gen. A. C. N. Robertson, of Hardeman County. They have one child-- Margaret--Mrs. John West, of Mississippi. The mother died in 1848, and in 1850 he married Miss Eliza B. Randolph, who has born him the following children: Eliza A., Richard R., Ida May, Adda H., Eugene B. and Mattie. The mother died April 30, 1886. Judge Douglass is a Democrat and a member of the K. of P. and the A. F. & A. M.