Archibald Arrington Hicks was born in Granville County, North Carolina on September 9, 1862. Hicks was an educator-turned-attorney who served as mayor of Oxford (1891-1893), as state senator (1899, 1903, 1907, 1911, 1923, & 1931), and as county attorney (1915-1940). He died in Oxford on May 24, 1941.