Benning, Henry Lewis (02 April 1814–10 July 1875), soldier and jurist, was born in Columbia County, Georgia, the son of Pleasant Moon Benning and Malinda Meriwether White, planters. In 1834 he graduated with honors from the University of Georgia, Athens. Soon afterward he moved to Columbus, where he was admitted to the bar. Barely two years after entering upon his profession, Benning was appointed solicitor general for his judicial circuit. In 1839 he married Mary Howard Jones, daughter of a prominent Columbus attorney with whom Benning formed a partnership. They had ten children....
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Benning, Henry Lewis (1814-1875), soldier and jurist
Edward G. Longacre
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Brearly, David (1745-1790), jurist and revolutionary war officer
Harry M. Ward
Brearly, David (11 June 1745–16 August 1790), jurist and revolutionary war officer, was born at “Spring Grove” farm, near Maidensead (now Lawrenceville), New Jersey, the son of David Brearly and Mary Clark, farmers. The family name was sometimes spelled “Brearley.” His early education is unknown, and he may have briefly attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). He studied law and became an attorney at Allentown, New Jersey, where he made his residence. Brearly participated in the revolutionary movement and became associated with men involved in protest against Great Britain before the war who were later dubbed the “early Whigs” and who would dominate East New Jersey politics. In his law practice, he specialized in estate matters; he was appointed Monmouth County surrogate in 1768 and 1771. About 1767 Brearly married Elizabeth Mullen; they had four children before she died in 1777....
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Daniel, John Warwick (1842-1910), Confederate soldier, legal scholar, and U.S. senator
Thomas E. Gay
Daniel, John Warwick (05 September 1842–29 June 1910), Confederate soldier, legal scholar, and U.S. senator, was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, the son of William Daniel, Jr., a lawyer and judge, and Sarah Ann Warwick. He attended private schools in the Lynchburg area; after attending Lynchburg College from 1855 to 1859, he enrolled in a classical school administered by Dr. Gessner Harrison. When Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, Daniel interrupted his education to enlist in the cavalry. He rose to major and fought in several battles, including Gettysburg. At the battle of the Wilderness in 1864 he received a wound that put him on crutches for the remainder of his life and earned him the sobriquet of the “Lame Lion of Lynchburg.”...
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Devens, Charles, Jr. (1820-1891), soldier, jurist, and politician
Michael A. Cavanaugh
Devens, Charles, Jr. (04 April 1820–07 January 1891), soldier, jurist, and politician, was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the son of Charles Devens, Sr., a hardware merchant and town clerk, and Mary Lithgow. Charles Devens attended the Boston Latin School before being admitted to Harvard University. He graduated in 1838 and went on to Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1840 and practiced from 1841 to 1849 in Franklin County, Massachusetts. From 1848 to 1849 he served in the state senate, and from 1849 to 1853 he held the post of U.S. marshal for the District of Massachusetts. While serving as marshal he became involved in a runaway slave dispute. After a U.S. Commissioner ruled that the slave was to be returned to his owner, Devens, as U.S. marshal, was required to carry out the order. This duty was most repugnant to him, and for several years he worked unsuccessfully for the release of the slave by offering to pay for his freedom. Eventually the slave gained his freedom during the Civil War, and Devens was able to find him a position in the federal government during the ...
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Fenner, Charles Erasmus (1834-1911), soldier, jurist, and education leader
Gordon Morris Bakken
Fenner, Charles Erasmus (14 February 1834–24 October 1911), soldier, jurist, and education leader, was born in Jackson, Tennessee, the son of Erasmus Darwin Fenner and Annie America Callier. Fenner’s father was a prominent physician in New Orleans and the founder of the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal...
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Force, Manning Ferguson (1824-1899)
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Manning F. Force. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-90941).
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Force, Manning Ferguson (1824-1899), soldier, jurist, and writer
John F. Marszalek
Force, Manning Ferguson (17 December 1824–08 May 1899), soldier, jurist, and writer, was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Peter Force and Hannah Evans. His father was later mayor of Washington and was most famous as compiler of the “American Archives,” a vast collection of rare books, pamphlets, newspapers, maps, and other documents dealing with the history of the American colonies. Manning Force attended Benjamin Hallowell’s preparatory school in his mother’s hometown, Alexandria, Virginia, preparing himself for appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Instead, he went to Harvard, entering as a sophomore and graduating in 1845. He received a law degree after three years of further study, and in 1849 he moved to Cincinnati to practice law. He passed his bar examination in 1850, and the law firm he worked for made him a partner, changing its name to Walker, Kebler, and Force....
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Gholson, Samuel Jameson (1808-1883), jurist and general
Timothy S. Huebner
Gholson, Samuel Jameson (19 May 1808–16 October 1883), jurist and general, was born in Madison County, Kentucky. Little is known of his parents, but it is certain that the family moved to Russellville in northern Alabama in 1817. There Gholson studied law with Judge Peter Martin and gained admission to the bar in 1829. A year later, the young lawyer crossed the border into northeastern Mississippi, where he settled in Athens in Monroe County and established a law practice....
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Hamtramck, John Francis (1798-1858), soldier, mayor, and jurist
John C. Fredriksen
Hamtramck, John Francis (19 April 1798–21 April 1858), soldier, mayor, and jurist, was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the son of John F. Hamtramck, Sr., a soldier, and Rebecca Mackenzie. When his father died in Detroit in 1803, Hamtramck fell under the guardianship of ...
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Howe, John Homer (1822-1873), jurist and soldier
Mark R. Williams
Howe, John Homer (12 September 1822–03 April 1873), jurist and soldier, was born in Riga, New York, the son of Joseph Howe and Eunice Smith, farmers. After working for a time on the Erie Canal, Howe migrated along the lakefront to Kingsville, Ohio, where he completed his legal studies. He was admitted to the Ohio bar and in 1845 married Julia Anna Castle in Ashtabula, Ohio. They had four children....
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Johnston, Peter (1763-1831), jurist, legislator, and soldier
Robert M. Ireland
Johnston, Peter (06 January 1763–08 December 1831), jurist, legislator, and soldier, was born at Osborne’s Landing on the James River, Virginia, the son of Peter Johnston, a merchant and farmer, and Martha Rogers. At two years of age Johnston moved with his parents to a large farm in Prince Edward County, Virginia, where he was educated by tutors before enrolling in Hampden-Sydney College (established on land donated by Johnston’s father). In late 1779, in a decision that displeased his Loyalist father, Johnston quit college to join the cavalry legion of Lieutenant Colonel ...
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Mason, John (1600-1672), soldier and magistrate
Ronald P. Dufour
Mason, John (1600–30 January 1672), soldier and magistrate, was born in England of unknown parents. Little is known of his early life except that he saw military service in the Netherlands. He migrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony sometime before 2 July 1633. He was appointed captain of the Dorchester militia shortly after his arrival, and he was one of the founders of Windsor, Connecticut, in 1635....
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Parke, Benjamin (1777-1835), jurist and soldier
Robert M. Ireland
Parke, Benjamin (02 September 1777–12 July 1835), jurist and soldier, was born in New Jersey, where he received a common school education. In about 1797 he moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where he studied law with James Brown (1766–1835), a former minister to France, and married Eliza Barton; they had two children. In 1801, having been admitted to the bar, he moved to Indiana, residing first at Vincennes, then at Salem. In Indiana he allied himself with the territorial governor, ...
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Pryor, Roger Atkinson (1828-1919), journalist, Confederate soldier and jurist
Daniel E. Sutherland
Pryor, Roger Atkinson (19 July 1828–14 March 1919), journalist, Confederate soldier and jurist, was born in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, the son of Theodorick Bland Pryor, a lawyer, and Lucy Eppes Atkinson. His mother died before Pryor was two years old, so he was raised by his father, who had become a Presbyterian minister. Pryor attended the Classical Academy in Petersburg before entering Hampden-Sidney College in 1843, where he graduated as class valedictorian in 1845. He went on to study law at the University of Virginia for two years, taking his degree in 1847....
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Stockton, Charles Herbert (1845-1924), naval officer and author
Rod Paschall
Stockton, Charles Herbert (13 October 1845–31 May 1924), naval officer and author, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of William Rodgers Stockton, an Episcopalian clergyman, and Emma Trout Gross. After attending the Germantown Academy and the Freeland Academy in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, Stockton was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1861. Because of the proximity of Confederate Forces during the Civil War, the academy was temporarily relocated to Newport, Rhode Island....
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Underhill, John (1597-1672), military leader and magistrate
Ronald P. Dufour
Underhill, John (1597–21 September 1672), military leader and magistrate, was born in the Netherlands, the son of John Underhill, an English military adventurer in Dutch service, and Honor Pawley. The younger Underhill received little formal education, but he served as “a Cadet in the guard” of the Prince of Orange. Influenced by English religious refugees, he also became a Puritan. In 1628 he married Helena de Hooch....
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Varnum, James Mitchell (1748-1789), lawyer, revolutionary war general, and judge
Sheldon S. Cohen
Varnum, James Mitchell (17 December 1748–09 January 1789), lawyer, revolutionary war general, and judge, was born in Dracut, Massachusetts, the son of Samuel Varnum and Hannah Mitchell, affluent farmers who had James prepared for Harvard College. Varnum successfully entered the class of 1769 along with forty-two other undergraduates. In April 1768, during his junior year, he helped lead a student protest against the college tutors. Several undergraduates, including Varnum, left the campus as a result of this upheaval, though most of them returned and were reinstated. Varnum, however, made his departure permanent and on 23 May 1768 entered the College of Rhode Island (now Brown University) in Providence. He earned his B.A. the following year and, at the college’s commencement exercises, presented the argument that “British America cannot under the present circumstances, consistent with good policy, afford to become an independent State.” He received his M.A. from the college in 1772....
