Lucas Keith Thompson (September 10 2007 –) Is an Ohio lawyer, politician, educator and judge for more than 35 years, who died before he could assume a seat on the

Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

Early and family life

Born at "Farmer's Joy" in

Nelson County, Virginia Nelson County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,775. Its county seat is Lovingston. Nelson County is part of the Charlottesville, VA Metropolitan Statistic ...

, to Irish immigrant and Revolutionary War veteran John Thompson (1755–1828) and his wife Rebecca Edwards Powell (1769– ), Lucas Thompson was one of nine children. He attended Hampden-Sydney College, and took a walking tour of Spain when he was 18. Thompson married three times. He married his first wife, Susanna Caroline Tapscott (1802–1853), in Staunton,

Augusta County, Virginia Augusta County is a county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The second-largest county of Virginia by total area, it completely surrounds the independent cities of Staunton and Waynesboro. Its county ...

, on January 15, 1828. They had eight children, including six daughters who survived both their parents. One son Lucas Powell Thompson (1830–1854) barely survived his mother, and their only other son, John Baker Thompson (1834–1862), died at the

Battle of Shiloh The Battle of Shiloh (also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing) was fought on April 6–7, 1862, in the American Civil War. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield i ...

. After his first wife's death, Thompson married Arabella Stuart White (1820–1858, the daughter of the court clerk in Romney, Hampshire County (then in Virginia and on his judicial circuit, after the Civil War in West Virginia) in 1855. After her death, he married Catharine S. Carrington (1825–1893) in Halifax, Virginia on August 5, 1860, and she survived him. Although one modern blogger claims Judge Thompson had no slaves until this third marriage with one of the First Families of Virginia, U.S. census records show he owned 18 slaves in the 1850 census, and a decade earlier had owned 13 slaves.

Career

After finishing his education, and perhaps reading law with his elder brother James Powell Thompson (1792–1882, who moved to Tennessee), Thompson moved to Amherst County, Virginia, and practiced law, as well as served several terms in 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-numbe ...

, two alongside William M. Waller and later with Samuel M. Garland. Voters of Albemarle, Amherst, Nelson, Fluvanna and Goochland counties elected Thompson as one of their four delegates to the

Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829–1830 The Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829–1830 was a constitutional convention for the state of Virginia, held in Richmond from October 5, 1829 to January 15, 1830. Background and composition Almost immediately, the Constitution of 177 ...

, alongside James Pleasants, William F. Gordon and Thomas Massie Jr. Following that Constitution's ratification, the Virginia General Assembly elected Thompson as a county judge in

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

, and he succeeded

Archibald Stuart Archibald Stuart (December 2, 1795 – September 20, 1855) was a nineteenth-century politician and lawyer from Virginia. He was the first cousin of Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart and the father of Confederate General James Ewell Brown "Jeb" S ...

in 1831. He served on that court for many years, and was re-elected to that post by the legislature. After the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850, the county court was reconstituted as the 11th circuit court, and Thompson also elected to that position (and re-elected many times). Before the conflict, Judge Thompson operated the Staunton Law School, a private law school (1839–1849), mostly at the mansion, "Hilltop", he built in Staunton in 1842. He remained in office 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 ...

, although he despised Abraham Lincoln. His son John Baker Thompson (1834–1862) died at the

. His nephew John Lucas Thompson (1833–1866) captained Company C of the 16th Tennessee Infantry and barely survived the war. During the war's final days, Judge Thompson recommended a Peace Commission, and signed the oath of allegiance afterward, reputedly on the recommendation of Gen. Robert E. Lee. After the war, Governor Francis Pierpont nominated Judge Thompson, who had opposed succession, to the

, but Judge Thompson was already ill when the General Assembly elected him to that position on February 22, 1866.

Death and legacy

Judge Thompson died at his Staunton home on April 21, 1866, before assuming that office. He was buried at Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton with his first two wives, and an epitaph, "Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace". His widow remarried, to her widower cousin, Dr. Paul Jones Carrington, and was ultimately buried near Mt.Laurel, Virginia. She sold his home to

Mary Baldwin College Mary Baldwin University (MBU, formerly Mary Baldwin College) is a private university in Staunton, Virginia. It was founded in 1842 as Augusta Female Seminary. Today, Mary Baldwin University is home to the Mary Baldwin College for Women, a resid ...

in 1872, and it was restored in 1991. The Library of Virginia has some of his papers.

Early and family life

Career

Death and legacy

Notes

See also