Supreme Court of Mississippi. family to Kemper county, Mississippi. There the son attended the public schools. In 1871 he went to Meridian. He attended Williams College, Massachusetts, two ses sions, and, upon his return, began the study of the law, and soon afterwards obtained his license to practice and settled in Kemper county. He was sent as a delegate to the convention which passed the ordinance of secession, of which body he was the young est member. He was a gallant soldier in the Confederate army, and received a serious wound at Malvern Hill. In 1865 he was elected district attorney, reelected in 1866 and again in 1875. He resigned this office in 1876, and was in 1882 elected to the state senate. In 1889 he was appointed to the Supreme bench, which position he still retains. He is now the chief justice. Albert H. Whitfield is a native Mississipian. He is of Scotch-Irish descent and was born in Monroe county, October 12, 1849. He was reared on the farm. He graduated at the University of Missis sippi with first honor, taking the degree of A.B. in 1871. He was adjunct professor of Greek, Latin and history in that institution. He also obtained there the degree of A.M. in 1873 and the degree of B.L. in 1874. He practiced law from 1874 to 1894 when he was elected to the chair of law in the University of Mississippi. This position he filled until 1894 when he was appointed by Governor Stone to his present place on the Supreme bench. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by his alma mater in 1895. Thomas R. Stockdalc was a native of Pennsylvania, and graduated from Jefferson College. He afterwards attended the school of law in the University of Mississippi, at tained the degree of B.L. and settled in Bike county in 1858. He entered the Con
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federate service in 1861, and continued in the army till the close of the war. He was elected to Congress in 1886, and served there until 1890. In the fall of 1896 he was appointed by Governor McLaurin to the supreme bench for the unexpired term of Justice Cooper, resigned. He occupied the bench until March 1897, when his term expired. He died in 1898. Samuel H. Terrill is a native Mississippian, having been born in Jasper county in 1835. He was educated in the county schools and later attended the University of Mississippi. He enlisted in Company C of the 37th Mississippi regiment and served as its captain until 1863, when he was pro moted to the rank of major. After the war he settled permanently at Quitman and en gaged in the practice of law until 1882, when he was appointed to the circuit bench, where he served efficiently. In 1897 ne was promoted by appointment of Governor McLaurin to the seat he now occupies on the supreme bench. Much of the information contained in the foregoing sketch, especially touching the early judges, has been gleaned from Clai borne's "History of Mississippi," "The Bench and Bar of Mississippi," by James D. Lynch, and Goodspeed's " Memoirs of Mississippi." The writer intended to in clude in this article the history of noted causes which have been determined in the Supreme Court of Mississippi, and it would have been well to have treated each case in connection with the sketch of the judge who rendered the opinion therein. It was found, however, that this method would protract the article to an unreasonable length. An account of these cases may be furnished at some future day. Suffice it now to state that they fully sustain the reputation of the court for ability and impartiality.
