Anthony Bledsoe Shelby (January 15, 1789 – August 14, 1851) was a justice of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

of the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...

from 1839 to 1841.

Life and career

Born in Gallatin,

Sumner County, Tennessee Sumner County is a county located on the central northern border of the U.S. state of Tennessee, in what is called Middle Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 196,281. Its county seat is Gallatin, and its largest city is Hend ...

to David Shelby, an attorney, and Sarah Bledsoe, Shelby was descended on his father's side from the family of Revolutionary War participant

Isaac Shelby Isaac Shelby (December 11, 1750 – July 18, 1826) was the first and fifth Governor of Kentucky and served in the state legislatures of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic an ...

, and on his mother's side was the grandson of

Anthony Bledsoe Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton ...

of Kentucky."Death of Col. W. B. Shelby, of Brandon", ''The Clarion-Ledger'' (July 17, 1873), p. 2. He

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

to gain admission to the bar,Jay Guy Cisco, ''Historic Sumner County, Tennessee: With Genealogies of the Bledsoe, Cage and Douglass Families'' (1909), p. 109-110.''Notable Southern Families'' (1922), p. 317-318. and in the 1820s, he succeeded his father clerk of the Sumner Circuit Court. He later moved to Texas, where he "assisted in gaining independence for that state", and served as a justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic. As a justice, Shelby only wrote four opinions before resigning, Shelby's position on the court being tenuous, with the seat also being claimed by Thomas Johnson. One account of an event during Shelby's service relates the following: He later moved to Mississippi, settling in

Brandon, Mississippi Brandon is a city in and the county seat of Rankin County, Mississippi, United States. It was incorporated on December 19, 1831. The population was 21,705 at the 2010 census. Brandon is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is lo ...

, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Personal life

Shelby married Mariam Winchester, with whom he had thirteen children, five of whom died in childhood. a son, David Shelby, born in Gallatin, Sumner County, in May 1914, who went on to become a doctor, and was in turn the father of federal judge David Davie Shelby.''Historic Sumner County'', ''The Tennessean'' (October 20, 1907), p. 36. Another son, Winchester B. Shelby, born in June 1827, also in Gallatin, was a colonel in Confederate States Army during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. He died in

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name *Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

Rankin County, Mississippi Rankin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The western border of the county is formed by the Pearl River. As of the 2010 census, the population was 141,617, making it the fourth-most populous county in Mississippi. The ...

, and was buried in Brandon Cemetery.

References

1789 births 1851 deaths People from Gallatin, Tennessee U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Justices of the Republic of Texas Supreme Court 19th-century American judges {{Texas-state-judge-stub