Micah Chrisman Saufley (May 13, 1842 – August 12, 1910) was a justice of the Territorial

Wyoming Supreme Court The Wyoming Supreme Court is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices. Each Justice is appointed by the Governor of Wyoming from a list of three nominees sub ...

from April 23, 1888, to October 11, 1890. Born in

Wayne County, Kentucky Wayne County is a county in the U.S. state of Kentucky along the southern border with Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,555. Its county seat is Monticello. The county, on the south-central border with Tennessee, was named ...

,"Kentucky Jurist Passes Away", ''The Bourbon News'' (August 16, 1910), p. 2. Saufley served in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

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 ...

, in which he was first lieutenant in Morgan's Men of the Confederate cavalry."First Lieutenant Morgan's Calvary", ''Paducah News-Democrat'' (August 13, 1910), p. 8. During the war, he was imprisoned for a time at

Johnson's Island Johnson's Island is a island in Sandusky Bay, located on the coast of Lake Erie, from the city of Sandusky, Ohio. It was the site of a prisoner-of-war camp for Confederate officers captured during the American Civil War. Initially, Johnson ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. Upon his return, he studied law in

Monticello, Kentucky Monticello is city in Wayne County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 6,188 at the time of the 2010 U.S. census. Monticello claims to be "The Houseboat Capital of the World" as there are numerous ...

and

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

to gain

admission to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

of that state, and then "established a successful practice in

Stanford, Kentucky Stanford is a home rule-class city in Lincoln County, Kentucky, United States. It is one of the oldest settlements in Kentucky, having been founded in 1775. Its population was 3,487 at the 2010 census and an estimated 3,686 in 2018. It is the c ...

.Wyoming State Archives biography of Micah C. Saufley, available at 2301 Central Ave, Cheyenne, WY 82001. In 1888, President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

appointed Saufley to a seat as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Wyoming. In 1890, when Wyoming achieved statehood, the territorial court was abolished, and Saufley resumed the private practice of law in

. Saufley later returned to the bench as a judge of the Thirteenth Judicial district of Kentucky, a position he held at the time of his death. It was thought that he would be "one of the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination for Governor in the next election", but the death of one his sons in 1909 led him to withdraw from politics. Saufley died from sudden

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

in his barn where he had gone to feed the chickens.

References

1842 births 1910 deaths People from Wayne County, Kentucky U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law United States Article I federal judges appointed by Grover Cleveland Justices of the Wyoming Supreme Court Kentucky state court judges {{Wyoming-state-judge-stub