Townsend Dickinson (1795 – February 1851)Arkansas Courts
A Self-Guided Tour of Justice Building Portraits
(2016), p. 3. was a justice of the

Arkansas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Arkansas is the highest court in the state judiciary of Arkansas. It has ultimate and largely discretionary appellate jurisdiction over all state court cases that involve a point of state law, and original jurisdiction o ...

from 1836 to 1842, serving as one of the first three members of the court. Born in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Dickinson came to the

Arkansas Territory The Arkansas Territory was a territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1819, to June 15, 1836, when the final extent of Arkansas Territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Arkansas. Arkansas Post was the first territo ...

shortly after its acquisition by the United States, and settled at

Batesville, Arkansas Batesville is the county seat and largest city of Independence County, Arkansas, Independence County, Arkansas, United States, 80 miles (183 km) northeast of Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock, the state capital. According to the 2010 Census, ...

, in 1821. In 1823 he was elected to the territorial legislature, and was made by that body prosecuting attorney of his district. In 1833, he was made U.S. Land Office Registrar for Batesville. He was a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1836, and of the first state legislature, by which he was elected to the supreme bench that same year. After his term expired in 1842, he returned to practice in Batesville. A judge Byers of Batesville relayed an anecdote which illustrates Dickinson's legal acumen: Dickinson died from drowning in a lake in

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi (; Ecclesiastical Latin: "'' Body of Christ"'') is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patrici ...

, at about age 55. He and a companion were attempting to cross the lake in a buggy at night, and missed their road, ending up in deep water."From Texas", ''The New Orleans Times-Picayune'' (February 24, 1851), p. 2.

References

1795 births 1851 deaths Members of the Arkansas House of Representatives Justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court Deaths by drowning in the United States {{Arkansas-state-judge-stub