Felix Eugene Alley

Felix Alley was born in 1873 to John Heywood Alley Jr. and Sarah Norton. He was a personal lawyer to the Cherokee Chief, William Holland Thomas, and also served as a representative to the North Carolina General Assembly in 1905. He later went on to be a Solicitor for the local North Carolina District Court. His last office was that of North Carolina Superior Court Judge from 1933 to 1948. He retired in 1948 before dying 9 years later in 1957.^[2]

Alongside his legal career, Alley was an amateur folklorist and musician. When he was just sixteen years old, he composed 'The Ballad of Kidder Cole,'^[3] that became a notable piece of Appalachian folk music. Alley's early life involving traditional mountain music and his banjo which was homemade is detailed in his 1941 memoir.^[4]

He presided over several cases in the North Carolina Superior Court including State v. McCollum, 6 S.E.2d 503, 210 N.C. 737 (N.C. 1940).^[5]