John Jay Jackson Junior

John Jay Jackson Junior

John Jay Jackson Jr. (born August 4, 1824 in Parkersburg , Virginia (now West Virginia ), †  September 2, 1907 in Atlantic City , New Jersey ) was an American lawyer and politician ( Republican Party ).

Career

John Jay Jackson Jr. graduated from Princeton University in 1845 . He studied law and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1847. Jackson served as a resident attorney in Wirt County between 1847 and 1848 . He was the Prosecuting Attorney of Wirt County in 1848 and the Commonwealth Attorney of Ritchie County for the next two years . He then worked as a lawyer in Wood County until 1851. Jackson also decided to pursue a political career. He was a member of the Virginia House of Representatives from 1851 to 1855 . He then returned to Parkersburg, where he worked as a lawyer until 1861.

On July 26, 1861, US President Abraham Lincoln nominated him for a seat at the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia to fill the vacancy created by John White Brockenbrough's transfer to the Confederate States . Jackson was ratified by the US Senate on August 3, 1861 , and received his appointment that same day. At the time, Virginia and West Virginia were still a single state. Although at the beginning of the Civil War the western part of Virginia opposed secession of Virginia from the United States, now that part of Virginia fell away. This area largely coincided with the existing Western District of Virginia . West Virginia was not officially recognized as a state until June 20, 1863. By resolution 13 Stat. 124 on June 11, 1864, the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia became the United States District Court for the District of West Virginia . The parts of the Western District that were not part of West Virginia were combined with the Eastern District to form a single District of Virginia . After 1864, John Curtiss Underwood was the only federal judge in Virginia. There was no Western District of Virginia between 1864 and 1871. Alexander Rives was the first federal judge of a newly formed Western District after the war. Jackson was assigned to the newly formed United States District Court for the District of West Virginia. In this position he decided in 1870 in favor of the ex-Confederates in West Virginia that they were entitled to vote under the 15th Amendment . On July 1, 1901, the District of West Virginia was divided. The United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia and the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia were created . Jackson was assigned to the Northern District, where he worked until his resignation on March 15, 1905. As a result of his long 44-year tenure as a federal judge, Jackson was known as "the Iron Judge".

family

John Jay Jackson junior was the great-grandson of Congressman George Jackson (1757-1831) and the grandson of US Congressman John George Jackson (1777-1825). He was the son of Emma G. Beeson (1800–1842) and Brigadier General John Jay Jackson senior (1800–1877). His father took part in 1861 as a delegate at the so-called Wheeling Convention , in which the establishment of the state of West Virginia was decided. His brothers were Jacob B. Jackson (1829-1893), the sixth governor of West Virginia, and the House of Representatives James M. Jackson (1825-1901). The Jackson Memorial Fountain in Parkersburg is dedicated to the Jackson family.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ US District Courts for the Districts of West Virginia on the Federal Judicial Center website
2. ↑ Nimfa H. Simpson (January 1984). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Jackson Memorial Fountain" (PDF; 1.1 MB), State of West Virginia, West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Historic Preservation

Web links

• Biographical Directory of Federal Judges - John Jay Jackson Jr. on the Federal Judicial Center website
• John Jay Jackson Junior on the West Virginia Division of Culture and History website