Obscure, but a constant presence in Alabama Governor's Office

A portrait above the fireplace in Alabama Governor's Office

     Winthrop Sergeant was a minor figure in the early European Settlement history of Alabama, but his portrait has been hanging in the office of the Alabama Governor for many years.
     Governor Bentley commented today that he had no information about Sergeant. There is, however, a bio of him in the Alabama Department of Archives and History's Encyclopedia of Alabama.
     He acted as a kind of early governor of the Mississippi Territory, which included what is now Alabama. He was rather intensely disliked because he was a (Yankee) New-Englander and had a rather strict disposition to match that background.
     Bob Johnson of The Associated Press told the story today of several Alabama Governors, including Don Siegelman and Guy Hunt, pledging to remove the portrait, but failing to do so for unknown reasons. I'm sure the State commission that runs the old Capitol Building would have a say about it.