Andrew Kirkpatrick (1756–1831) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist from

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

Biography

Andrew Kirkpatrick was born in Mine Brook, New Jersey on February 17, 1756. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (later

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

) in 1775. He served one term as a member of the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

from 1797 to 1798. He was appointed to the

New Jersey Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases challenging t ...

in 1798. In 1804, he became the chief justice of that Court, and remained so until 1825. For many years Kirkpatrick was a trustee of the College of New Jersey, and trustee of Queen's College (now Rutgers) from 1792 to 1809. He also served as a vice-president of the American Bible Society. He died on January 7, 1831, at New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Marriage and family

Kirpatrick married Jane Bayard in 1792, and they had four children. Their son

Littleton Kirkpatrick Littleton Kirkpatrick (October 19, 1797 – August 15, 1859) was an American Whig Party politician, who represented in the United States House of Representatives for one term from 1853 to 1855. He was the son of Andrew Kirkpatrick and the ...

also became an attorney and politician, serving in Congress and as mayor of New Brunswick, New Jersey. His namesake grandson, Andrew Kirkpatrick became an attorney and a

United States District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district c ...

judge.Frank John Urquhart, ''A History of the City of Newark, New Jersey'' (1913), p. 380.

Sources

The Political Graveyard
1756 births 1831 deaths Politicians from New Brunswick, New Jersey Members of the New Jersey General Assembly Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of New Jersey {{US-state-judge-stub