STERLING HICKS BASS. A prominent attorney of Munford [Tipton County], who had the distinction of serving as this community’s first mayor, is Sterling Hicks Bass. A native of Tennessee, he was born at Melville [Hamilton County], on the 18th of December, 1876, a son of Patrick Henry and Frances Fredonia (Abernathy) Bass. The paternal grandfather, James Hicks Bass, was general of the state militia of Giles, Lincoln and Washington counties. The maternal grandfather was Sterling Abernathy. Patrick Henry Bass was born in 1845 and died in 1910. He served throughout the Civil war in the Confederate army and participated in most of the strategic battles of that conflict. His wife was born in 1847.

In the acquirement of his early education Sterling Hicks Bass attended the public schools of Lauderdale county and subsequently enrolled in the Webb School at Bellbuckle, where he graduated with honors in 1898. In 1901 he entered the University of Chicago and from that institution returned to Munford, where he taught school for four years. In 1904 he was elected cashier of the Munford Savings Bank and in his spare time he took up the study of law. He proved an able and brilliant student and in 1910 was admitted to the bar. Since that time he has been active in the legal circles of Munford and has won for himself an enviable position among the foremost members of the profession in Tipton county. Mr. Bass soon won the confldence and esteem of his fellow citizens and in 1905 he was elected mayor of Munford, being the first to serve in that official capacity. He gave to this community a businesslike and progressive administration, inaugurating and completing many movements for the upbuilding of the civic welfare. He has likewise been alderman.

At Munford, in 1902, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Bass to Miss Bessle Lee Wooten, who was born in 1887 and died in 1904. Subsequently Mr. Bass was again married, Miss Mamie Beachboard becoming his wife, the ceremony being performed in Bellbuckle. The second Mrs. Bass died in 1913, in her thirty-eighth year. On the 20th of March, 1914, Mr. Bass married Miss Lillian Thornburgh, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Thornburgh. Mr. Bass is the father of seven children: Sterling, whose birth occurred in 1906; David, born in 1909; Mary, born in 1910; Benjamin, whose birth occurred in 1913; Bronson, born in 1915; Nathan, born in 1917; and Paul Colston, whose birth occurred in 1921.

Since attaining his majority Mr. Bass has given his political allegiance to the democratic party and the principles for which it stands. For some time he has been secretary of the county democratic committee. The religious faith of the Bass family is that of the Methodist church, to the support of which Mr. Bass is a generous contributor. Fraternally he is a Master Mason and a member of the Banevolent Protective Order of Elks. During the years of his residence in Munford Mr. Bass has wielded a great influence for good in this community. He has an ambition for higher and better things for his town, county and state, and he is ever seeking to improve conditions. (Tennessee, The Volunteer State, 1769-1923, Vol. 3, John Trotwood Moore and Austin P. Foster, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1923, pp. 378-9)