Peter Bryan Bruin

Stevenson Archer

Stevenson Archer, Territorial Judge, appointed March 6, 1817, was a native of Hartford County, Maryland, son of Dr. John Archer, an eminent physician, politician, and member of congress. He graduated in 1805 at Princeton College, the alma mater of his father; became a lawyer, and before his brief experience as a Territorial Judge was a judge of the court of appeals in Maryland, and member of congress, 1811-17. He held court at St. Stephens, in the region known as Alabama Territory after 1817, and remained upon the bench there until the admission of Alabama as a State in 1819. Then, returning to Maryland, he was a representative from that State in Congress, 1819-21 and from 1845 until his death in 1848 was chief justice of the State. His son James Archer, born in Hartford County, Maryland, 1811, was graduated at Yale in the same class with Samuel W. Dorsey, whose widow bequeathed Beauvoir to Jefferson Davis. James Archer came to Mississippi in December, 1834, and became a successful planter in Jefferson County. He married a daughter of David Hunt – nephew and once a clerk of Abijah Hunt, whose wife was a daughter of Thomas Calvit. Their family was large and the Archer descendants are numerous in Mississippi.

Peter Bryan Bruin

Peter Bryan Bruin was born in Ireland, the only son of an Irish gentleman, who was compelled to migrate to the American colonies because of implication in the rebellion of 1756. The young man in early life was a merchant. In the Virginia Colony in 1775 he was a lieutenant of Virginia provincials. He shared in the assault on Quebec, December 31, 1775, was badly wounded at the moment General Montgomery was killed, was made a prisoner, and for six months suffered the horrors of prison ships. Being exchanged on July 19, 1776; was promoted to major and aide-de-camp to general Sullivan, November 9, 1777, and later was major in the 7^th Virginia to the close of the war. He came down the river with his own family and several others, 1788, to settle in Natchez district, having accepted the colonizing propositions of Minister Gardoqui. He established the most northern settlement of the district at the time, and erected his house on an ancient mound near the mouth of Bayou Pierre. He was ever afterward a conspicuous and leading character in the Natchez district. He was made an alcalde by the Spanish government, was a friend of Col. Ellicott during his stay at Natchez, and upon organization of the territory as an American possession was appointed one of three territorial judges, entrusted with the making of laws and the administration of justice. He continued in this office, respected greatly for his good judgment and honor, though not a licensed lawyer, until his resignation in 1809. When Aaron Burr came down the river in January, 1807, he stopped at Judge Bruin’s for a visit, and a detachment of militia was sent there to arrest Burr, but on their arrival that much feared individual had dropped down river three miles. From Bruinsburg, as it was then called, Burr wrote to Governor Mead declaring his expiation was a peaceful agricultural enterprise. In later years Bruinsburg was made famous by another historical event, and was the place where General Grant landed his army for the great campaign against Vicksburg. Judge Bruin also had a plantation and home across the river in Concordia parish. He died at Bruinsburg January 27, 1827. His wife, Elizabeth, died September 17, 1807. The name is now not known in Mississippi, but there are descendants in the families of Briscoe, Watson, and Scott, and their alliances.

David Campbell

David Campbell, the chief judicial officer of the state of Franklin – Tennessee’s first name, was born in Virginia in 1750. He was a younger brother of Colonel Arthur Campbell. In 1776 he joined the Continental army and rose to the rank of major.

Campbell was elected clerk of the Washington County court (Virginia) in January, 1777, and studying law the while, served until August, 1780, when he resigned to begin the practice of law under a license issued to him by Governor Thomas Jefferson. While yet a young man he removed across State line into Tennessee country, settling in Greene County prior to 1783. He was elected by the Carolina Assembly of 1784 assistant judge of Washington District, but declined to qualify as he had joined in the State of Franklin movement. He was made Chief judge of the new state, and also a member of the Council of State. He attended the Carolina Assembly of 1787, as a representative from Greene County. On being elected by the body assistant judge again he accepted the place, thereby giving umbrage to his former Franklin associates.

He was appointed by the President one of the judges of the Territory south of the Ohio River. In 1792, he was one of the commissioners on the part of the national government to run and mark the line between the whites and the Cherokee Indians.

Judge Campbell was nominated for senator in congress in the first legislature of Tennessee, but was defeated by William Cooke. He was continued as a judge of the superior court – not Supreme Court, as has been stated by others. In 1803 an attempt was made to impeach him for misconduct in office, but it proved unsuccessful. Campbell, however, was (1809) defeated for re-election by James Tremble. He was nominated to a Federal judgeship in the Mississippi Territory, March 3, 1811, but falling into ill health, did not live to serve.

Judge Campbell resided in the later years of his life on a fine estate opposite the junction of the Little Tennessee and the Tennessee Rivers, the site of the present Lenoir City. He died in 1812.

He descended from the noted Campbell family of Southwest Virginia. Practically his entire adult life was devoted to judicial service. But for a lack of decision of character he would have been a greater favorite of the people and a more outstanding figure in the history of his State.

Oliver Fitts

Oliver Fitts, Federal Judge, was born about 1771, in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, and died at St. Stephens, in 1816; son of Henry and Susannah (Sturdivant) Fitts, the former born in Prince George County, Virginia, about 1730. He removed to Warren County, North Carolina, about 1773, where he acquired much property. Judge Fitts removed with his family to Warren County, North Carolina, and there received his education. He was a member of the House of Commons from Warren County, 1798-99; attorney general of North Carolina, 1808-10; was nominated by President James Madison on April 17, 1810, a judge of the Mississippi Territory and the nomination was confirmed on the next day by the senate. Alabama was at this date included in the Territory of Mississippi, and the Federal courts were held at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and St. Stephens. He removed his family from North Carolina and settled at the latter place, where he continued to discharge the duties of Federal Judge until his death. He married in 1795, Sarah Harris, of Surry County, North Carolina. His second wife’s name was thought to be Ashe. His children were; 1. James Harris, m. Rebecca Emily Alston; 2. Susan Brown, m. (1) Daniel B. Ripley, and (2) Edward F. Comegys; 3. Henry d. unm.; 4. Temperance Winnefred, m. William Crawford; 5. John, m. Virginia Wilmonia Aylettel 6. Oliver Harris, m. Nancy Moore. His last residence was St. Stephens.

Obadiah Jones

Obadiah Jones was born in Virginia, of Welsh parentage, and the family moved to South Carolina in his childhood. He grew up, working on the farm and studying at night, asking help of no one, and when food was scarce lived on wild fruits. He early learned great self-control and self –poise. At the age of 21, with his earthly possessions tied up in a handkerchief, and fifty cents in his pocket, he went to a town 50 miles distant to seek wider fields of opportunity. Falling in with Judge Knight at his destination, he was aided in finding work, went to school and in an incredibly short time was practicing law as a partner of the judge. As Georgia was a promising new field, he became a pioneer of Oglethorpe County. Between the ages of 31 and 32 he married Elizabeth Cowden of Ashville, N. C. He received the appointment of judge of Madison County, on the great bend of the Tennessee River, in the Mississippi Territory, in 1805. He apparently, did not accept at that time, as he filled similar post for Illinois Territory in 1809, and came to Madison County in the year 1810. On his arrival he bought a large plantation called Spring Hill, near the present town of Athens, Alabama. He was an intimate friend of Senator William H. Crawford of Georgia. A family record says, “He directed the surveying of Mississippi and Alabama into townships and sections and directed the moving of the Chickasaw Indians.” His old negro body servant, Grafton, whom he bought of Judge Knight, said the Indians were partial to Jones because of the descent of his wife from Pocahontas. He was given twelve sections of land for his services in Mississippi, eight in DeSoto County, which he divided among his four sons, and four in the lower part of the State, which he gave to his only daughter, Mrs. Roberts. He died at his Alabama home, May 31, 1825, at the age of 62 years. In 1836 his widow and sons moved to DeSoto County, where most of his descendants now live. There are many great pomp with which he used to open court and maintain dignity.

David Ker

David Ker, territorial judge, was a native of Down Patrick, North Ireland, of one of the Scottish families that sought that country for religious freedom. The family connections in Scotland were historic, and included the Duke of Roxburgh and Marquis of Lothain. David was graduated at Trinity college, Dublin, and migrated, with his wife, Mary, to North Carolina, before the Revolution, founded the university at Chapel Hill and was the first head of its faculty says Wheeler’s North Carolina. “In North Carolina. In 1790 he was residing in Fayetteville as a minister, and in charge of a classical academy. In 1794 he was elected professor of humanities in the University of North Carolina, and placed in charge of the institution. Resigning in 1796, he removed to Lumberton, where he became a merchant and studied law. He moved in 1800 with General Willis of Lumberton, to Mississippi. Ker, was, in fact, the one professor of the University, and began his work there in February 1795, according to Wheeler’s History. At Natchez, 1801, he established the first school for girls in the Mississippi Territory. In the same year he was appointed sheriff of Adams county, and in the fall of 1802, upon the removal of Peter Walker, he was made clerk of the court of the same county. Upon the departure of Judge Tilton, in the summer of 1802, Gov. Claiborne, reporting this to Mr. Madison, recommended the appointment of “David Ker, of this territory; Mr. Ker is an able lawyer and an amiable man; he unites to pure republicanism, pre-eminent talents, and would, in my estimation, fill the office of judge with dignity to himself and usefulness to his country.” His commission arrived in December, when Judge Ker entered upon the duties of his office. The appointment, the governor wrote, gave “much satisfaction to a great portion of the citizens.” His death in 1805, ended his service as a judge.

His eldest son, John Ker, was an eminent physician and surgeon in the Territorial troops in the War of 1812-15. A daughter of David, another son, married Dr. Rush Nutt.

Ephraim Kirby

Ephraim Kirby, of Litchfield, Connecticut, born 1757, was a soldier at Bunker Hill, and during the course of the war of the Revolution received thirteen wounds. Afterwards he worked to support himself while studying; earned the degree of Master of Arts at Yale, read law, and in 1789 published the volume of State reports of Massachusetts, probably the first in the United States. He was several times a candidate for governor of Massachusetts, but on the weaker side of the political party in that state. July 12, 1803, President Jefferson recognized his services and merits by appointment as one of the land title commissioners for the district east of the Pearl river, and he was also appointed Territorial judge, April 6, 1804. He reached his field of labor, but died at Fort Stoddert, October 2, 1804. His son was Col. Edmund Kirby, of the Mexican warl his grandson was Col. Edmund Kirby who ably commanded Rickett’s United States battery after First Manasas until he was killed; his nephew was Lieut.–Gen. Edwund Kirby Smith, of the Confederate States army.

Walter Leake

Walter Leake, third Governor of the State, was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, May 20, 1762. He was the son of Captain Mash Leake, a revolutionary officer, and Patience Morris Leake of Hanover. He was named for his paternal grandfather, Walter Leake, of Goochland, who was a son of William Leake and Mary Bostick, first family in Virginia. He was at one time a member of the Virginia legislature from Albemarle County, and a few years later we find him a candidate for the Unites States Congress against Thomas Mann Randolph, Mr. Jefferson’s son-in-law. Randolph beat him y two votes. Leake immediately announced his intentions of running again; but before another election, Mr. Jefferson appointed him chief judge of Mississippi Territory, which appointment he accepted. He accordingly removed with his wife – Elizabeth Wingfield – and family to his new post of duty. He was appointed one of the judges, there being no such office as “chief judge” of the Mississippi Territory, to succeed George Mathews, March 2, 1807, and arrived at the town of Washington in May. He made his home in Claiborne County, about sixty miles from Washington. Hinds County was fifteen years in the future, and was then in the undisturbed possession of the Choctaws. Judge Leake served with distinguished ability as Territorial judge until the general assembly, October 9, 1817, elected him one of the first United States senators from the State. Meanwhile he had been elected a delegate from Claiborne County to the constitutional convention of 1817, of which he was a valuable member, with his associates on the Territorial bench, Poindexter and Simpson. He took his seat in senate December 11, 1817, and drew the four years term. He resigned his seat to become a candidate for governor, and was elected over Charles B. Green by a vote of nearly four to one. The banl monopoly question was to some extent an issue, it having been raised against the bank by Governor Poindexter. June 17, before the election, Governor Poindexter appointed him to the Supreme bench to succeed John Taylor, deceased, and serve until the legislature should elect. Taylor had succeeded him in 1817. He was again on the bench, also holding circuit court, until he became governor January 7, 1822. In his farewell message, Governor Poindexter offered his “congratulations on the judicious selection which has been made in worthy and distinguished citizen who has been chosen to succeed me in this office. If integrity, the most pure and unsullied, combined with sound intelligence and great experience in public life, are qualifications for the highest trust in the gift of the people, they are identified in the individual selected as your chief magistrate.” His letters in the executive journal are dated from Jackson or Spring Plains, his home, until March, 1825, when the name Mount Salus appears. His last letter on the jopurnal is dated “Mount Salus, August 10, 1825.” He died November 17 of that year. One child survived him, a daughter who married Henry Goodloe Johnston. A grandson of the governor, Walter Leake Keirn was an officer of the Confederate States army and a member of the legislature from Holmes County, 1892-98.

The home he built and called “Mount Salus”, on the land purchased in 1823, was “fashioned after the manner of old English manor houses. Square built, with wide windows, heavy doors and solid floors, and was inviting in its hospitality and was often the scene of social gayety.” The home of Cowles Meade was about a mile distant. When the town grew up it bore the name Mount Salus until changed to Clinton three years later.

When General Lafayette visited Mississippi in 1825, Governor Leake was confined to his bed, suffering with the disease that caused his death, and sent his aide-de-camp to pay his respects to the distinguished visitor. Lafayette remembered the name and declared to those about him that Leake was a deserter. When Captain Mask Leake went into the field in 1781, having sent his oldest son into the army, he told Walter to remain at home and care for his mother and younger children. But later, the father found Walter in the lines before Yorktown, and took him before Lafayette, who was kind to the young man and immediately assigned him to duty. “And so”, said Lafayette, “Walter Leake deserted home to fight for his country.” “As a patriot and statesman,” said David Holmes, “he was distinguished from early life for the ardor, ability and fidelity with which he discharged the various and important trusts committed to him by his country.”

Seth Lewis

Seth Lewis, Judge of the Supreme Court of the Mississippi Territory, was a descendant of a London merchant who took refuge from religious persecution in Connecticut. Daniel Lewis, his father, was later a farmer in Massachusetts. Seth was born October 14, 1767. In 1774, the parents, having suffered financial misfortune, migrated to West Florida, taking with them their three sons and four daughters. The youngest of these Sarah, at a later date married Maj. Isaac Guion, and was mother of one of Mississippi’s governors, a fact that indicates the high social position the family attained. The Lewis family reached New Orleans by sea early in 1775, and taking boat up the river began a settlement on the banks of the Big Black, in the wilderness. Their privations were severe; the father died of fever in June and the mother in September. The children found refuge with the neighbors, some miles distant, until the elder brother, Daniel, gathered them together. In 1777 they moved to Natchez, where Daniel went into business. In 1778, one of the brothers, Asahel, joined William’s command and was taken prisoner at Manchae by the British loyalists and carried to Pensacola. The Tory sentiment being strong at Natchez, Daniel, with the remainder of the family, moved to Plaquemine, La., and soon afterward he was drowned while going to New Orleans. Seth, owing to the depleted financial condition of his family, found it necessary to bind himself out as an apprentice with a tanner and shoemaker on the coast. While in this situation the courageous young boy learned French from his associates. This and some instruction in childhood, was all the educational opportunity afforded him. But he had access to books, which he studied in leisure moments. At 21 years of age he and his sisters went to live at New Orleans. He became clerk to a trader, who sent him to Opelousas where he gained the friendship of an old French merchant, Duvolde, who took him as a partner, admitted him to his family, and gave him a place of honor in the community. When Duvolde retired from business Lewis engaged in various occupations, until at Natchez, in 1790, he undertook the sale of a flatboat load of goods at Nashville, Tenn., from Geneveive. At Nashville he formed the acquaintance of Josiah Love, and began the study of Law. He married in 1793, to a daughter of Col. Thomas Hardeman. In 1795 he began the practice of law, was immediately successful, and was elected to the first State legislature. While preparing to return to Mississippi, remembering the delightful climate and by now a lawyer of ability, the office of chief justice of the Territory became vacant. He secured the appointment from President Adams, May 13, 1800 but on assuming the office he found an unpleasant situation. The wealthy and aristocratic men of the district, having to a large extent adopted but theoretically the politics of Mr. Jefferson, became incensed at the appointment, by a Federalist president, of “a poor, ignorant shoemaker” as chief justice. On coming into office he drew up a law regulating the practice of courts, adapted from the laws of Tennessee, as required by the United States laws, and united with the governor and Judge Bruin in passing the act. His persecutors proposed to have him impeached for this. He also excited enmity by his independence of a judge. When the Jefferson party came into control in 1802, the Territorial legislature presented articles of impeachment and summoned him to appear before the body. In reply, he declared his innocence of all charges of misconduct, and said he was answerable to the congress of the United States, before which he was ready to appear. This ended the legislative proceeding. After congress had adjourned without action, Judge Lewis resigned his office in 1803. It had brought him the salary of $800.00 a year. In the course of his duties he visited Tombigbee settlements, at stated periods, to hold court, riding through the Choctaw country and fording the rivers. In 1803 he presented a petition to the general assembly praying that he be reimbursed for a horse stolen in the Indian country as he was returning from holding court in Washington district. At the next election, his enemies were generally defeated by the people, and Col. Anthony Hutchins, the leader of the anti-administration party, in his last illness called him to take charge of an important matter of litigation. He was also employed by two of the sons-in-law of Hutchins, Col. F. L. Claiborne and William Brooks, as counsel in the struggle over division of the property which followed the death of Hutchins. Judge Lewis arranged with George Poindexter, attorney of the other heirs, an amicable settlement. In April 1807, he was appointed attorney-general for the counties of the Natchez district, an office he resigned in 1808. In 1810, when he removed to Opelousas, Gov. Claiborne of Louisiana offered him the place of parish judge of Attakapas. Under the State government, 1812, he was made district judge. During the time of the codification mania in 1820-25, he attacked the penal code proposed by Edward Livingston, and caused its rejection. This triumph, however, caused a renewal of the cry of “Shoemaker” that embittered his life, for it actually estranged many from him. This and the profession of dancing master were calling socially decried everywhere in the South at that day. After 27 years as parish and district judge, he died November 15, 1848. Judge Lewis, an able and worthy pioneer, was the first master of a lodge of Masons in Mississippi.

Francois Xavier Martin

Francois Xavier Martin, Territorial Judge, was born in Marseilles, France, March 17, 1764, removed to Martinique at the age of 18 years. From there he went to the United States, making his home at New Bern, North Carolina, in 1786. He learned the printer’s trade as a means of acquiring the English language with such success that he became proprietor of a newspaper and publisher of school books and almanacs. Studying law and gaining admission to the bar, he extended is publishing ventures to law treaties of his own compiling, including a digest of State laws and British statues in force, and in 1797, hi Notes of a Few Decisions of the Supreme courts of North Carolina and the circuit court of the United States, 17789-97. He also collected materials for a history of North Carolina, published in the form of annals at New Orleans in 1829. After 20 years of successful practice as a lawyer he was appointed judge of the Mississippi Territory, March 7, 1809, to succeed the venerable Judge Bruin. After a brief service, he was transferred to the bench of the Territory of Orleans, where his services gained for him the title of “Father of the Jurisprudence of Louisiana”. He was made attorney-general of the State in 1813, judge of the Supreme Court in 1815, and chief justice in 1837, retiring from the bench in 1845. His death occurred in December 1846, at New Orleans. He was a writer of considerable ability and the author of a digest and reports of Louisiana law, and a history of Louisiana from the settlement until 1814.

George Matthews, Jr.

George Matthews, Jr., Territorial Judge, commissioned July 1, 1805, was born in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, the son of the noted General George Matthews. He was associated with the history of Mississippi through Yazoo land schemes. On account of the storm of protest against these laws, young Matthews was persuaded to leave his native State, and his appointment in Mississippi seems to have been only preparatory to making his home in Louisiana, where he was given a Territorial judgeship, January 19, 1806. In Louisiana, he married Miss. Flowers, of East Feliciana. Governor Claiborne appointed him chief justice of the State when it was organized and in this office he gained much distinction.

William McGuire

William McGuire, Judge of the Supreme Court of the Mississippi Territory, was born in Winchester, Virginia, in 1765. When he was but eleven years old he ran away from home and attempted to join Morgan’s riflemen along with his brother, and is said to have gone as far as Boston, from which place he was returned to Virginia.

Two years later he enlisted as a cadet in Morgan’s regiment, and as he was a large, strongly built boy his father finally consented. He later entered the artillery and was wounded at the battle of Eutaw Springs. The army register states that he was Ensign, 3^rd Virginia, 1780, Lieutenant 1782 and served to the close of the war.

The Journal of the House of Delegates of Virginia, June 8, 1784, reported “a petition of William McGuire, ;ate a lieutenant in the 1^st Regiment of Artillery, praying that compensation may be made him in consequence of a wound which he received at the battle of Eutaw Springs, which will render him cripple for life.”

On June 17: “Mr. Richard Lee reported from the Committee, that the petition of William McGuire late a lieutenant in the1^st Regiment of Artillery praying relief in consequence of a wound which he received at the battle of Eutaw Springs which will render him cripple for life, is reasonable and that the petitioner ought to be allowed half pay for life, to commence from the 3^rd day of November last.”

After the war William McGuire studied law at William and Mary College and practiced in Frederick and the adjoining counties. On April 11, 1792 he was married to Mary, daughter of William Little and wife Margaret Howe of Jefferson County, Virginia. He was a member of the Virginia Legislature during the session 1796-7, 1797-8, 1798-9, and on June 26, 1798, was nominated by President Adams to be Chief Justice of Mississippi Territory. The appointment was confirmed by the Senate. Judge McGuire came to the territory in the summer of 1799 and left in the fall of that year, complaining that he could not live on the salary. On his return to Virginia Judge McGuire again began the practice of law and continued until October 29, 1817, when he was appointed Military Store Keeper of Ordinance at Harper’s Ferry. He held this position until his death on November 24, 1820.

Niles’ Register, January 13, 1821, contained the following obituary notice: “Died at Harper’s Ferry the 24^th ult. (sic), Col. William McGuire, the 55^th year of his age. Superintendent of the United States Armory at this place. He was a brave soldier, a good citizen and an honest man. When but a stripling he entered the service in the Revolution as a volunteer, and was commissioned a lieutenant. He fought at Eutaw Springs and there received a wound which rendered him unfit for future duty. He filled many important civil offices.”

The newspapers of the period contain numerous obituaries that attest to his great worth as a soldier, citizen and a lawyer.

The best estimate, however, of his character may be formed from the following resolutions which have been discovered since his death. They appear to have been made at the time of his appointment to the office of Superintendent of the Armory at Harper’s Ferry, and are of such a nature as to deserve the attention of every officer who is called to the disbursement of public money:

“As it has pleased my Heavenly Father, for which I sincerely offer my humble acknowledgments, to dispose the President of the United States to bestow upon me a public office, and as there is annexed to that office great responsibility, I earnestly implore the blessing of God on my efforts in fulfilling the duties thereof. And as I shall receive and disburse large sums of Public money, I have thought it prudent to establish rules for my government in the discharge of my official duties.

Having, upon due consideration, established the following rules, I am bound invariably to adhere to them.

1^st. Faithful to discharge the duties of my station according to the best of my abilities.

2^nd. Never to appropriate any part of the public money to my own use, before it is due me, not then, if I can possibly do without it, should there be other urgent demands for it.

3^rd. To confine the disbursements of public money exclusively to public uses, and only to those for which it is placed in my hands.

4^th. In order that I may exercise strict and impartial justice toward all with whom I transact public business, it is necessary for me to lay aside all private friendships and family considerations, and conduct myself as I have hitherto done, viz: render a kindness to a friend, to promote the interest of my family, whenever I can do it without a sacrifice of my Christian duties or the principles of honor and integrity.

5^th. To treat my associates in office with kindness and attention; to promote, by all honorable conduct, harmony, and good order at the establishment; by which means the public interest will be promoted and private happiness increased and secured.

May every public officer, Mutatis mutandis, and every private man, resolve to do likewise.”

George Poindexter

George Poindexter was born in the County of Louisa, Virginia, in 1779. His ancestors were French Protestants, who left France for England to avoid the persecution of Louis XIV, and came soon afterwards to Virginia. His parents were possessed of considerable wealth before the Revolution, but suffered great losses thereby, and when George Poindexter was left an orphan at an early age he had only a small patrimony with which to secure an education. This gave out before he had carried as far as he wished his study of law at Richmond, and he was obliged to begin the practice at that city. A year or two later he came to Mississippi Territory, then under the governorship of Winthrop Sargent. At the age of twenty-three years he opened a law office at Natchez, and devoted himself industriously to the work of his profession, immediately attracting attention by his remarkable force of character. Into the field of politics he also entered, with principles derived from the “Virginia School” of 1798-99, and an unwavering loyalty to Thomas Jefferson. When Claiborne became governor he appointed Poindexter, attorney-general. In 1805, he was elected to the general assembly, and in January 1807, delegate to congress, where he took his seat in December. He met Aaron Burr in January, 1807, and arranged for his meeting with Mead. Foote in his history of Texas and the Texans mentions that Poindexter on the occasion of the capture on Cole’s Creek, officiated as a sort of diplomatic agent between Governor Mead and the great Conspirator, and was afterwards professionally connected with the trial in Washington. “I have heard from the lips of Mr. Poindexter a full account of both affairs than which nothing can be imagined more ludicrous.” Poindexter served in three congresses as Territorial delegate.

In January 1811, when Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts, debating the bill for the admission of Orleans Territory a the State of Louisiana, said, “I am compelled to declare it as my deliberate opinion that if this bill passes, the bonds of this Union are virtually dissolved; that the States which compose it are free from their moral obligations; and that, a it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some to prepare definitely for a separation-amicably if they can, violently if they must.” He was called to order by Mr. Poindexter, delegate from Mississippi territory. Mr. Quincy reduced his words to writing, and Poindexter demanded that the speaker decide if such language could be permitted in debate. The speaker sustained the gentleman from Mississippi, but the House by a vote of 56 to 53 refused to sustain the speaker. When Quincy concluded, Poindexter replied, and in the course of his remarks said, that Aaron Burr did not go to the length that the gentleman from Massachusetts had gone. “Had such expression been established by the evidence on his trial, I hazard an opinion that it would have produced a very different result. Perhaps, sir, instead of exile, he would have been consigned to a gibbet.”

He was a friend of the general course of measures adopted under the administrations of Jefferson and Madison, and frequently took a conspicuous part in debates in defense of their measures. His speech made in defense of President Madison for dismissing Francis James Jackson, minister from Great Britain who superseded Mr. Erskine, after Mr. Canning disavowed the act of the minister in suspending the Order in Council, has been published. It attracted much attention at the time. This speech was considered to be the best defense that was then made of that measure of Mr. Madison. As a delegate in 1812 he could not vote for war, but moved to insert in the journal of congress the approval of that policy. He served one session thereafter, and later was appointed one of the Territorial Judges, by President Madison.

After the British fleet arrived in Mississippi Sound and troops were below New Orleans Judge Poindexter went to the city, arriving December 29, 1814. He became one of the military family of General Carroll of Tennessee, and performed duty day and night as a volunteer aide-de-camp, and witnessed two attempts by the British to break the American line. The last, the famous battle of January 8, 1815, was an assault delivered against the American earthworks, stretching across a neck of land between river and morass and covered by the American gunboats. The American troops were in the trenches, and all took cover when the British artillery fire opened in the morning. Poindexter appears to have been injured by a canon ball that struck his quarters, and having no duty to perform, he rode out of line of fire, but later returned and was in the works until the attack ceased. Soon afterwards it was published by Poindexter’s political opponents, in Marschalk’s paper, that in the moment of danger he rode back to New Orleans. It was remarked in his defense that there was no collision of troops, no battle except of artillery, and “the poor creatures” who made up this story “might have been fully justified in certifying that they saw the regiment of cavalry, commanded by the gallant and intrepid Hinds, repair to the forests to be out of the range of the shot of the enemy.” He was followed by the story all through his political career. Another incident of his New Orleans experience is that he was the authority for the story that the British had a countersign, “Beauty or Booty”, which many declared at the time, and probably with justice, to be an invention.

He remained on the bench until October 1817, and in this as in other positions gained the approval of a majority of the people. “As a judge he was able, prompt, impartial, unrivaled in talent, and at the same time, unsurpassed by any lawyer in the State in legal learning.” (Sparks). He administered sternly and without favor to malefactors the punishments of the day – hanging, branding, whipping and the pillory, though he considered these punishments barbarous and when governor earnestly advocated the establishment of a penitentiary.

The whole bar, with one exception, signed an address, when he left the bench, in which it was said: “You have introduced a system of practice into our courts, and preserved an order and decorum in the dispatch of business, the beneficial effects of which have been felt in all classes of society.” In 1817, he also, was the leading member of the constitution convention, chairman of the committee of twenty-one, and the Constitution may, without injustice to others, be said to have been shaped almost entirely by the hand of Mr. Poindexter. The instrument is remarkable for simplicity, clearness, brevity, and proper scope, with the statement of fundamental principles of institutions, and leaving details to legislation. In the same year Mr. Poindexter was elected by the people without opposition, as their first representative in congress with a vote as well as a voice. At the session of 1818-19 the exciting topic of discussion was the proposition to censure Gen. Andrew Jackson for his recent capture of the Spanish forts at St. Marks and Pensacola, and the execution of English traders. Poindexter warmly sustained his friend Jackson in a speech of great length that was warmly applauded, and considered the authoritative defense of the General. Declining reelection to congress in 1819, he was elected Governor of Mississippi over General Hinds, by a large majority, though Hinds was the Mississippi hero of New Orleans, and his friends made the story of Poindexter alleged flight from the field an important issue. While he was yet governor, in February, 1821, he was in trusted by the legislature with the revision and amendment of the statutes of the State, which he had strongly urged should be done. His work includes a complete codification of existing laws and the preparation of new ones, also, the organization of judiciary system. He included and put through the legislature by sheer force of intellect laws that he had determined upon, particularly the ones creating a State school fund, called the “literary fund”, in which he took more pride, apparently, than any other. The legislature met in special session in June, 1822, to pass upon the code, and adopted it with some amendments. There was particular discussion of the propositions to make void runaway matches with girls under fourteen; to make the truth no justification of libel unless the publication was with good intent; to punish any white man found in an assemblage of slaves with a fine of $20.00 or twenty lashes on the bare back, without right of jury. The printing of the book of 745 pages was not completed by Francis Baker, at Natchez, until 1824. In this work Governor Poindexter was assisted by his private secretary, William Burns, who was paid by the State after the governor’s term expired. The governor himself was allowed $1,200, which was drawn by Burns, and the governor contended that he receive no compensation. The legislature presented him with a copy of Rees’ Encyclopedia, in recognition of his services. Of this code Gov. A. G. Brown said in 1847, that it was the best the State “has ever had, and equal to that of any State in the Union.”

His term as governor had expired in January, 1822, and he sought and obtained election to the House of Representatives that passed upon his code, that he might explain and defend it. But misfortune laid its hand upon him. Before the session was well under way, he had news of the illness of his year-old son, who died before he could reach home. He announced himself for congress, but was bitterly opposed by David Dickson and others. The tavern law and libel law were argued against him; Christopher Rankin was credited with securing a postponement of payment for public land, and just before election the story was sprung that the new code prohibited slaves from attending divine worship. At the election in August he received only 2,633 votes to 4,837 for Rankin. September 10 his young wife, twenty-four years of age, passed away. For a time he gave no more attention to politics, but busied himself with the practice of law. “While thus engaged,” says his authorized biography, “he became afflicted with severe indisposition, occasioned by the unskilled administration of medicine by his family physician. He lost the use of his limbs, and for five and six years he was unable to attend to business, public or private.” General Jackson recommended his appointment as United States Judge to succeed Shields in 1823; he was tendered and declined appointment by the governor to the United States Senate; while under medical treatment in Philadelphia was appointed chancellor in State, he wrote the speaker of the house of representatives of Mississippi, declining election to the United States Senate, but received a large vote. In 1830 he left Mississippi with little hope of recovery, but found unexpected relief while at Louisville, and the news of this in Mississippi caused the governor to tender him appointment as senator upon the death of Robert H. Adams. After much hesitation he accepted, and appeared in the senate chamber in Washington in December, 1830, being carried to his seat in the arms of his servant. The legislature, meeting about this time, confirmed the governor’s appointment by an almost unanimous election.

His later years were spent in the practice of law at Jackson. He died there, September 5, 1855, and his grave is there, marked by a modest but peculiarly beautiful monument. When governor his home was the plantation “Ashwood”, near Woodville.

Poindexter was a man of about 6 feet in height, of slender frame and strong marked features, his eyes keen and penetrating. “He was with the people in a log cabin, with nothing but whisky-grog to drink, and cornbread and bacon to eat, the same as he was in a decorated parlor, with Madeira wine and plum pudding,” said Cook, editor of “The Natchez”. His temper was thought by many to be severe and intolerant; others regarded him as mild and courteous; he was in fact, moody and variable, a characteristic greatly intensified by domestic trouble and illness. In 1804 he married Lydia, daughter of Maj. Jesse Carter, of Adams County, but they parted after a son was born for whom he provided an education, but apparently without affection. In 1816 he married Agathea B. Chinn, whose death has been mentioned. Early in his career he fought a duel which became widely notorious, that in which he killed Abijah Hunt. Once he refused to accept a challenge, on the grounds that he was governor of the State. Life, during his time was impulsive, still frontier. We could not say it was bad. But it was different from the present. His early life in the Territory was wild, his quarrels many, but his disputes were generally settled peaceably. Like many others of his time, he enjoyed intoxication, the race track and gaming table, and the facilities at Natchez for this sort of entertaining were unsurpassed. Such were his frailties. They were prominent enough to suggest a comparison with Mirabeau, and in all respect the simile is not strained.

Claiborne, although a bitter critic, styled him, “the ablest man who ever lived in the State.” James D. Lynch wrote of him: “Above all, was his lofty spirit of patriotism. He was proud of his country, and loved his adopted State with an ardor that aroused his genius and kindled the fires of his soul.”

Thomas Rodney

Thomas Rodney, Territorial judge, was born in Sussex County, Delaware, June 4, 1744. He was a brother of Caesar Rodney of Delaware, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress and general of Delaware militia. They were descended from William Rodney, native of England, who was a member of Penn’s council. Rodney was a lawyer and politician from early manhood. He served as a justice of the peace in 1770; was a member of the assembly to elect delegates to the first Continental Congress in 1774, member of the council of safety in 1775 and colonel of militia during the War of the Revolution. In 1778, he was chief justice of the Kent county court, in 1779 register of bills, in 1781-83 and 1785-87 member of the Congress of the Confederation. In 1787 he was speaker of the Delaware assembly. July 12, 1803, he and Robert Williams were appointed land commissioners for the territory west of the Pearl River, and at the same time he was appointed Territorial judge to succeed Seth Lewis. This office he held until his death at his plantation home in Jefferson county, January 2, 1811. When Rodney was about to make a visit to Richmond in August 1807, having concluded the land commission work, he was given a banquet at the home of Abram de France, at which, after he had retired, the toast was offered: “Col. Thomas Rodney, a hero of ’76.” His name is commemorated by the town of Rodney, and Rodney landing on the Mississippi river. Notable events in his career were his investigation of the Kemper raiders, the hearing of Aaron Burr, and his conflict of authority with Governor Williams, his former associate on the commission. Judge Rodney’s son, Caesar Augustus Rodney, born in Delaware in 1772, was attorney-general of the United States under Jefferson. He prosecuted the impeachment of Judge Chase and the indictment of Aaron Burr, visited the South American republic for Madison, was representative and senator in congress and died while minister to Buenos Aires.

Josiah Simpson

Josiah Simpson, Territorial Judge, was a native of Pennsylvania, and was educated at Princeton College. After reading law he engaged in the practice of his profession. He forst married a Miss Stuart of Fredericksburg, Virginia, who lived but a short while. In 1812 he was appointed one of two Territorial judges to succeed Judge Fitts, and the records show his presence at least as early as October of that year. On July 9, 1813, he married Ann Stanard, daughter of William Stanard, Esq., of Fredericksburg, Virginia. In Mississippi he made his home at Green Hill, near Natchez, afterwards known as Devereaux Hall, one of the old historic homes of Natchez. He possessed a keen and vigorous intellect, and his record shows him to have been a close, painstaking student. His deep knowledge of the law, rectitude and unostentatious manner soon won for him a high place at the bar and in the community. It has been said of him that “no man was more beloved”. In the constitution convention of 1817, a position he was urged to accept, he took a very prominent part, and contemporaries wrote of him, “His conservative character is impressed upon the most important features of our first constitution.” He died soon after the convention dissolved.

Cowles Mead introduced a bill for the relief of his widow in the legislature of 1817, in evidence of Mississippi’s high respect for his memory which contained the following tribute: “Josiah Simpson, late a judge of the supreme court of the Mississippi Territory, and late a member of the convention, where he rendered great and signal services to the State, to the citizens thereof, and to posterity, by the purity of his principles, sustained by talent, integrity and judgment.” The legislature also passed an act to provide for the education of his child, a daughter, who, it is stated, afterwards became the wife of Thomas L. Dobyns of Rodney, Mississippi.

He died on September 21, 1817, at his residence, Green Hill, near Natchez, and was buried at Natchez, with the solemnities and honors of Masonry, of which fraternity he was a member.

Port Gibson, September 24, 1817

A meeting of the bar took place on the news of the death of the honorable Josiah Simpson, when J. G. Clarke was called to Chair. The following resolution was offered and adopted.

RESOLVED, that the members of the bar of this place will wear crepe for thirty days on the left arm, as a testimony of the veneration, esteem and regard they have for the memory of the honorable Josiah Simpson, late judge of this State.

RESOLVED, that the foregoing resolution be published in the “Washington Republican”.

J. G. CLARKE, Chairman

P. A. VANDORN

STEPHEN D CARSON

THO. A WILLIS

Daniel Tilton

Daniel Tilton, territorial judge, a native of New Hampshire, was probably born near Exeter, in that state, for the record of Dartmouth College, which he attended from 1786 to 1788, refer to him as a resident of Exeter, New Hampshire, an state that he graduated from Phillips-Exeter Academy in 1783. In 1790 Daniel Tilton was graduated from Harvard. He was commissioned on May 7, 1798, one of the first two judges of the newly created Mississippi territory. His arrival in the Territory in January of the following year, bringing with him the Great Seal of Mississippi Territory from Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State, gave the territorial government authority to legislate. Of the legal training of Judge Tilton, Governor Claiborne wrote: “Mr. Tilton it is said some years ago read Law 12 or 18 months, but was never in the practice.” Judge Tilton involved himself in numerous controversies during his brief sojourn in the Territory. In 1800 he held a session of the Supreme Court in the County of Washington on the Tombigbee. Two years later (1802) Daniel Tilton apparently abandoned the judgeship, sailing from New Orleans on a vessel bound for Europe, and it was reported that he was engaged in some “commercial business”. In his place David Ker, of Mississippi Territory was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court. Daniel Tilton never, as far as it is known, returned to Mississippi territory. He is said to have died in 1830.

Harry Toulmin

Harry Toulmin, Territorial judge for Washington County, was born in Taunton, England, in 1767, son of Dr. Joshua Toulmin. He was a dissenting preacher several years in Lancashire, and came to Norfolk, Virginia, in 1793, where he established a seminary. Thence he was called to the presidency of Transylvania University, which he resigned upon appointment as secretary of state of Kentucky. He published a “Description of Kentucky”, the “Magistrate’s Assistant”, a “Collection of the Acts of Kentucky” and a “Revision of Criminal Law of Kentucky while in that State, and as secretary, promulgated the celebrated Resolution of 1798. President Jefferson appointed him judge for the county of Washington to succeed Judge Kirby, deceased, November 22, 1804, whereupon he came down the river, sailed from New Orleans to Mobile, and up to the Tombigbee settlement. His first court was held at a place, which, in memory of Goldsmith’s vicar, he named Wakefield, about twenty miles below St. Stephens. He was also postmaster, preached and officiated at funerals and marriages, made Fourth of July orations, practiced medicine, gratuitously and in general was the head of the settlements. In 1806, he was selected to make the first digest of the laws of Mississippi Territory, published at Natchez in September, 1807. He wrote eloquent appeals to the government for relief of the inhabitants of Washington County from Spanish obstruction of the river trade, and at the same time held in restraint the plots of Colonel Caller to drive the Spaniards from Mobile. Finally, he was compelled to put Caller and Reuben Kemper under arrest in 1811, and a great outcry was made about this; the grand jury was persuaded to make a presentment against him, and the general assembly to memorialize congress.

“There was a congressional investigation”, writes Judge Mayes; “but so far from being condemned, he was vindicated with applause as a most efficient and deserving officer.” Mr. Poindexter announced his opinion in congress that the charges were not only unfound, but proceeded from corruption. The records of the legislative investigation is on file in the Department of Archives and History, and one of the charges against Judge Toulmin is “that witnesses were examined at the point of the bayonet.” However, when he was elected to the legislature in 1813, he was denied a seat, but this was on the grounds that the functions of judge and legislator were incompatible, although there was no law to that effect applying to the Territory. Judge Toulmin had charge of the organization of Mobile preferred to remain at his plantation home near Fort Stoddert. He continued in the office of judge until the Territory was divided, after which he served several years in the Alabama legislature. He published a digest of Alabama laws in 1823. His death occurred at Wakefield, December, 1824 (Brewer). He left two sons, and seven daughters, one of whom married Maj.-Gen. E. P. Gaines.