Alexander Montgomery (Mississippi lawyer)

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Alexander Montgomery (died September 7, 1878) was a Mississippi lawyer who served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi from 1831 to 1833.

Born in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi, [1] [2] Montgomery was the son of a pioneers also named Alexander Montgomery, who had been chosen by President John Adams to serve on the Territorial council of Mississippi prior to statehood. The younger Montgomery was a pupil of George Poindexter and Edward Turner, and established a law practice in partnership with Samuel S. Boyd, a native of Maine; their firm "was for many years one of the leading ones of the State". [1] Following the resignation of Judge Joshua Child from the state supreme court, Montgomery was one of several candidates put forth for the seat. [3] Upon his election by the legislature to the circuit and supreme court of the state in November, 1831, defeating William L. Sharkey for that position "by a considerable majority", [3] Montgomery became the first native Mississippian on the bench. [1] [4] His term upon the bench was cut short by the adoption of a new constitution and judicial system, which went into effect in 1833. [1] After the end of his judicial service, he resumed the practice of the law in Vicksburg, Mississippi. [4]

Montgomery appeared as a witness in an 1840 controversy, where he was described as "a distinguished and influential Whig , who adheres to the maxim that 'the private station is the post of honor'". [5] In 1845, he was appointed to a committee of five jurists asked to prepare resolutions commemorating the death of U.S. Supreme Court justice Joseph Story. [6]

Montgomery "was an active practitioner to a very advanced age", and died at the home of a Dr. Nailer, a relative, in Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, when "far advanced in years". [7] [4] [2]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Dunbar Rowland, ed., Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, Volume 2 (1907), p. 280.
  2. 1 2 Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi (1891), p. 450.
  3. 1 2 "At Home", The Natchez Weekly Courier (December 9, 1831), p. 6.
  4. 1 2 3 Thomas H. Somerville, "A Sketch of the Supreme Court of Mississippi", in Horace W. Fuller, ed.,The Green Bag, Vol. XI (1899), p. 506.
  5. ↑ The Mississippi Free Trader (October 14, 1840), p. 1.
  6. ↑ "Meeting of the Bar of Adams County", Mississippi Free Trader (October 1, 1845), p. 1.
  7. ↑ "Death of Judge Alexander Montgomery", The Clarion-Ledger (September 18, 1878), p. 2.
Political offices
Preceded by Justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi
1831–1833		Succeeded by
Court abolished


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