James Keith (September 7, 1839 – January 2, 1918) was a

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

lawyer, soldier, politician and judge, who served as the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Virginia (then called the Supreme Court of Appeals) from 1895 to 1916.

Early and family life

Born in

Fauquier County, Virginia Fauquier is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,972. The county seat is Warrenton. Fauquier County is in Northern Virginia and is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. History In 160 ...

in 1839 to Circuit Judge Isham Keith (1798–1863) and his wife, the former Juliette Chilton, James Keith received his early education in local schools and studied law under Professor John B. Minor at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

. His grandfather, Thomas Keith, fought in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. His father also owned a woolen mill at Waterloo. In 1860, Isham Keith owned 17 enslaved people, and his son James also may have owned at least one slave. In 1873, Keith married Lilias Gordon Morson (1848–1877) in Fauquier County. She was the daughter of Arthur Alexander Morson of Richmond and his Fauquier-born wife, Maria Scott. Ten years after her death, in 1887 the widower married her younger sister, Frances Backsdale Morson (1855–1908), who had a daughter and a son: Juliet Chilton Crockett (1888–1967) and Arthur Alexander Morson Keith (1891–1979).

American Civil War

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 ...

, James Keith and his slightly older brother Isham Keith Jr. (1833–1902) enlisted as privates in the Black Horse Cavalry and served for the duration. James Keith was promoted to adjutant on December 7, 1863. After surrendering at Appomattox Court House, he was paroled at Winchester on May 30, 1865, and received a presidential pardon on August 19, 1865.

Postwar

After the war, James Keith resumed his law studies under John M. Forbes, a prominent lawyer in Warrenton. Fauquier County voters elected Keith to the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...

in 1869 and he served in the session of 1869—70. In late 1870, he was elected as judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, composed of

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

, Fauquier, Fairfax,

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Prince William William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educa ...

and Rappahannock counties. Keith established an outstanding record as a circuit judge until January 1, 1895, when legislators elected him to the

Supreme Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrative ...

, and his fellow judges elected him their president (chief judge) soon afterwards. He continued as a judge and president until he retired on June 10, 1916. He was active in the

United Confederate Veterans The United Confederate Veterans (UCV, or simply Confederate Veterans) was an American Civil War veterans' organization headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was organized on June 10, 1889, by ex-soldiers and sailors of the Confederate Sta ...

and presented a portrait of Fauquier County's General (and later U.S. Congressman and Senator Eppa Hunton to the Richmond chapter.

Death and legacy

Keith, who suffered from a heart condition, died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

just after New Year's day, 1918. He was buried at Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery beside his wives. The

Library of Virginia The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It serves as the archival agency and the reference library for Virginia's seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and ...

maintains his official papers. The

Virginia Historical Society The Virginia Museum of History and Culture founded in 1831 as the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a major repository, research, and teaching center for Virginia history. It is a private, n ...

has some Keith family papers, maintained by Fanny Scott, the wife of Virginia Attorney General Robert Taylor Scott, and who led the Black Horse Chapter of the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, ...

at Warrenton (the unit which had both sons of Judge Isham, and where that Judge Keith died and was buried).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keith, James Justices of the Supreme Court of Virginia Virginia lawyers 1839 births 1918 deaths People of Virginia in the American Civil War People from Fauquier County, Virginia 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers Virginia circuit court judges