Pelham J. Merrill

Pelham Jones Merrill (December 1, 1907 – November 5, 1991) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 1953 to 1976. Early life, education, and career Merrill was born in Heflin, Alabama, into a prominent Alabama family; his father, Walter B. Merrill, would also serve as a state court legislator and judge. Merrill graduated from the University of Alabama in 1926 and received an LL.B. from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1934, thereafter entering the practice of law in Heflin. He maintained an office there until he took his seat on the Alabama Supreme Court in 1953. Government and military service Merrill represented Cleburne County, Alabama in the Alabama State House from 1936 to 1938, and served in World War II, from June 1942 to February 1946, in the United States Army Air Corps, where he achieved the rank of major.