William Frick (November 2, 1790 – July 29, 1855) was a justice of the

Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland is the state supreme court, highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its name was changed on December 14, 2022, from the Maryland Court of Appeals, after a voter-approved change to the state constitution. The cou ...

from 1848 to 1851.

Early life

William Frick was born on November 2, 1790, in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Maryland, to Anna Barbara (née Breidenhart) and Peter Frick. Frick attended

Moravian College Moravian University is a private university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The institution traces its founding to 1742 by Moravians, descendants of followers of the Bohemian Reformation under John Amos Comenius. Founded in 1742, Moravian University ...

Nazareth, Pennsylvania Nazareth is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The borough's population was 6,053 at the 2020 census. Nazareth is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th most populous metropoli ...

. He served in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

as a volunteer during the campaign in Maryland. Frick then

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 ...

in Baltimore in the law office of General

William H. Winder William Henry Winder (February 18, 1775 – May 24, 1824) was an American soldier and a Maryland lawyer. He was a controversial general in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. On August 24, 1814, as a brigadier general, he led American troops in ...

, gaining

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 ...

in that city in 1813.

Career

Legal and political career

His legal work was mainly in admiralty, maritime and insurance law. He was described as being "identified with almost every social and public enterprise of importance undertaken in the city". He was a presidential elector for

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

in 1833, and in 1837, President Jackson appointed Frick collector of the

Port of Baltimore Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore is a shipping port along the tidal basins of the three branches of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland on the upper northwest shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is the nation's largest port facilities f ...

. He was elected to the

Maryland Senate The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single- ...

, representing Baltimore City, from 1841 to 1846.

Judicial service

In June, 1848, Governor

Francis Thomas Francis Thomas (February 3, 1799 – January 22, 1876) was an American politician who served as the List of Governors of Maryland, 26th Governor of Maryland from 1842 to 1845. He also served as a United States House of Representatives, United S ...

appointed Frick as a judge of the Baltimore county courts and associate judge of the court of appeals, which offices he held until his election in 1851 as the first judge of the superior court of Baltimore City, where he remained until his death.

Personal life and death

On June 16, 1816, Frick married Mary Sloan, with whom he had six sons and two daughters, William Frederick, Elizabeth A., Mary L., Charles, George P., Frank, James Sloan and William. He lived at 182 North Charles Street in Baltimore. He died on July 29, 1855, in

Warm Springs, Virginia Warm Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Bath County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 census was 123.

, after an illness of only a few days. His widow survived him until 1865.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frick, William 1790 births 1855 deaths Lawyers from Baltimore Moravian University alumni U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Maryland state senators Judges of the Supreme Court of Maryland