Thomas Johnson (Arkansas judge)

Thomas Johnson (December 29, 1808 – March 25, 1878)[1][2] was chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court from 1845 to 1852.

Born in Maryland,[1][3] Johnson moved to St. Louis, Missouri in the autumn of 1834 and to Batesville, Arkansas in January, 1836.[1]

In 1840, the Democratic Party-dominated legislature elected Johnson to be chief justice following the expiration of Judge Daniel Ringo's term. Ringo was a Whig.[3] Soon after his seating on the supreme court, he moved to Little Rock.[1] Johnson served as chief justice until 1852. In 1877, he died at his home in Little Rock, at the age of 69.[2][3]

He was a tall, darkhaired, thin, "dry man, of great honesty and uprightness of character".[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "In Memoriam", Daily Arkansas Gazette (May 22, 1878), p. 2.
  2. ^ a b "Meeting of the Bar Association in Respect to the Death of the Hon. Thomas Johnson", Daily Arkansas Gazette (March 27, 1878), p. 4.
  3. ^ a b c d Fay Hempstead, Historical Review of Arkansas (1911), p. 452.
Political offices
Preceded by Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court
1845–1852
Succeeded by