Alfred M. Burney, A.M., president of Howard Female College, Gallatin, Tenn., is a native of Williamson County, Tenn., and son of John and Matilda (Young) Burney. His parents were of North Carolina, Scotch-Irish descent, and moved to Hardeman's Cross Roads, Williamson Co., Tenn., in 1826, where the subject of our sketch was born June 4, 1833. In 1837 the parents moved to Maury County, Tenn., and settled for life near Harts Cross Roads, six miles east of Spring Hill. Having finished his education at Poplar Grove Academy, which rose upon the ruins of Jackson College and took its place, our subject was called by the trustees to the position of principal of the institution, in which he had been educated and began life as teacher of many of those who had been his schoolmates, some of whom were older than himself. In 1856 he founded McCain's Academy, six miles south of Columbia and conducted it successfully as a chartered institution under a board of trustees for five years. In the year 1858 he was united in marriage to Miss Martha M. Davis, daughter of Jas. Davis of that vicinity. She died July 1, 1861, and her infant son died on the 4th of the same month, after which the subject of this sketch returned to Maury County, Tenn., and went into the Confederate Army, having been appointed to the commissary department in Holman's battalion of cavalry, which was respectively under the command of Gens. Wheeler and Forrest. At the close of the war he was elected principal of Mooresville Male and Female Institute at Mooresville, Tenn., and conducted this institution with the most flattering success for four years when he resigned to accept a similar position in the Robert Donnell Institute, Winchester, Tenn. During his residence at Mooresville he was united in marriage to Mrs. S. L. Nowlin, nee Orr, then of Waco, Tex., who was at that time spending a year with her mother to be near Mooresville. In 1871 he resigned his position at Winchester, Tenn., to accept the presidency of Cumberland Female College, McMinnville, Tenn., which position he held for nearly ten years, voluntarily retiring from the college on account of his wife's health, with the unanimous endorsement of every member of the board of trustees, twelve in number. During his retirement he was strongly solicited to become the editor of the Southern Standard, a weekly journal published at McMinnville. Yielding to the wishes of his friends he entered upon the duties of editor and discharged them with an ability and vigor seldom witnessed in that field of journalism, boldly advocating the election of Gen. W. S. Hancock for the presidency, and Judge John V. Wright for governor of Tennessee in the campaign of 1880. In 1882, while temporarily engaged in teaching at Murfreesboro, Tenn., in a private school, he was elected president of Howard Female College at Gallatin, Tenn., and entered at once upon the discharge of the duties of that position with an energy and determination characteristic of his life accompanied with the most flattering and successful results. He is at the date of this writing closing his fifth year as president of Howard Female College, which is also the closing of the fiftieth year of the institution in its semi-centennial commencement exercises. Mr. Burney and his wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in which he has been a ruling elder for many years, having been moderator of the McMinnville Presbytery, a position seldom filled by any except ministers. He is also a member of the I.O.O.F., having filled every position in that order from secretary of a subordinate lodge to Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee, and Grand Representative to the Grand Lodge of the United States. He is also a member of the order of F. & A.M., being at this date Worshipful Master of King Solomon's Lodge, No. 94, F. & A.M., Gallatin, Tenn. One peculiar feature in his history is that he never held a subordinate position, but always that of principal or president in his profession. He read a full course of law in Columbia, Tenn., preparatory to beginning its practice when the war broke out and changed the plans of his life. Another remarkable feature in his professional career is that he never sought a position and on retiring from the various positions held by him, he received the unanimous approval of every board of trustees with which he ever acted, and never had a single vote cast against an official act of his during his life to date. He made money working at the carpenter's trade with which he educated himself, coming out at the end $100 in debt, which he paid off in a few months after he began teaching. For eighteen years after he left the paternal roof and until her death he never failed to visit his mother once a year regardless of distance, time, or expenses.