Frank Armfield Linney was born on June 29, 1874, in Taylorsville, North Carolina. Linney was an attorney in Boone, North Carolina, who served as solicitor for the seventh judicial district (1906-1914) and U. S. District Attorney for the western district of North Carolina (1921-1927). He unsuccessfully ran for Congress on the Republican ticket in 1914 and 1918 and also for governor in 1916. During World War I, he was a member of the Watauga County Exemption Board. He died in Boone on June 29, 1928.