Thomas H. Woods (March 17, 1836 - August 10, 1910) was a Mississippi lawyer and legislator who served as Chief Justice of the
Mississippi Supreme Court.
[ Leslie Southwick]
Mississippi Supreme Court Elections: A Historical Perspective 1916-1996
18 Miss. C. L. Rev. 115 (1997-1998).
Born on in
Glasgow, Kentucky, in 1848 his father, Reverend Henry Woods, moved his family to
Kemper County, Mississippi.
[Thomas H. Somerville, "A Sketch of the Supreme Court of Mississippi", in ]Horace W. Fuller
Horace Williams Fuller (June 15, 1844 – October 26, 1901) was an American lawyer and editor who served as the first editor of ''The Green Bag'', a late-19th- and early-20th century legal news and humor magazine.
Life and career
Born in Aug ...
, ed.,'' The Green Bag'', Vol. XI (1899), p. 514-515. Woods attended the public schools there, and later attended two sessions at
Williams College in
Massachusetts. After returning to Mississippi, 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 ...
and obtained his license to practice, settling in Kemper County. He was sent as a delegate to the convention which passed the ordinance of secession, of which body he was the youngest member.
He served in the
Confederate States Army and served as the Captain of Co. C,
13th Mississippi Infantry Regiment
The 13th Mississippi Infantry Regiment was a unit of the Confederate States Army from Mississippi. As part of the Army of Northern Virginia, the 13th Mississippi took part in many battles of the Eastern theater of the American Civil War, as wel ...
, receiving a serious wound at
Malvern Hill.
After the war he was an
attorney
Attorney may refer to:
* Lawyer
** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions
* Attorney, one who has power of attorney
* ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film
See also
* Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...
, and in 1865 was elected District Attorney, reelected in 1866 and again in 1875.
He resigned in 1876, and was elected to the
Mississippi State Legislature in 1882.
In 1889, Governor
Robert Lowry appointed Woods to the
Mississippi Supreme Court, in which he served as the chief justice.
, ''The Grenada Sentinel'' (October 12, 1889), p. 2. He also served as the first president of Citizens National Bank, also known as Citizens Savings Bank which was started in 1888. He died at his home on and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 41,148 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census and an estimated population in 2018 of 36,347. It is the count ...
.
References
Sources
* ''Publication #51 Rose Hill Cemetery Interment Records''; page 246; by Bill and Mary East; Published by Lauderdale County Department of Archives & History, Inc.
* '' The Meridian Star''; May 1, 1938; Page 11; Article "From a Small Start to Federal Agency"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, James H.
Confederate States Army officers
District attorneys in Mississippi
1910 deaths
Chief justices of the Mississippi Supreme Court
1836 births
American bank presidents
People from Glasgow, Kentucky
U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law
19th-century American judges
19th-century American businesspeople
Williams College alumni