Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published
by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.  Reprinted by Southern Historical
Press.  p. 86.  Scott County.

ALVIN DUVALL, chief justice of Kentucky, and for many years a member of
the Frankfort bar, was born in Scott county, Kentucky, near Georgetown,
March 20, 1813.  He attended the common schools and graduated in 1833 at
Georgetown College; studied law under James F. Robinson, of Georgetown,
after which he entered Transylvania University, of Lexington, which he
was graduated in March 1840.
     Mr. Duvall practiced law with success until 1852, when he was
appointed circuit judge of his district to fill out the unexpired term of
Judge Reid.  His time expired in 1856 and the same year he was elected to
the court of appeals, for eight years, filling the position of chief
justice during the last two.  He was a candidate for re-election in August
1864, but General Burbridge, who was then commanding the state, ordered
his name to be stricken off the poll-book, on account of disloyalty to
the federal government.  The same military officer also ordered the
arrest of prominent men in the district, including Judge Duvall, who,
however, advised by friends, made his way to Canada, where he remained for
two months.  He then returned to Georgetown, and in the fall of that year
resumed the practice of law.  In 1866 he was appointed reporter of the
decisions of the court of appeals, and his two published volumes are
known as the First and Second Duvall.  Soon afterward he was made the
nominee of the Democracy for clerk of the court of appeals. The opposition
to the party had been very bitter in many districts, but he carried the
state by fifty thousand votes, the largest majority ever given a candidate
at that time.  He had represented his district in the legislature in 1850.
He was regarded as one of the ablest jurists of the state, his opinions on
the circuit and appellate benches were widely quoted as authority, and he
was the acknowledged peer of any of Kentucky's renowned jurists.  He was
a student through life, a classical scholar, a graceful and fluent writer
and an eloquent and convincing speaker.
     In 1843 he was married in Georgetown to Miss Virginia Holtzclaw.

Duvall Robinson Reid Burbridge Holtzclaw
=
Fayette-KY Canada

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/scott/duvall.a.txt