Frederick Nash (February 9, 1781 – December 5, 1858) was an American lawyer and jurist from

Hillsborough, North Carolina The town of Hillsborough is the county seat of Orange County, North Carolina, United States and is located along the Eno River. The population was 6,087 in 2010, but it grew rapidly to 9,660 by 2020. Its name was unofficially shortened to "Hills ...

. He served on the

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists ...

and was its chief justice from 1852 until his death. Frederick was the son of

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Abner Nash Abner Nash (August 8, 1740December 2, 1786) was the second Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina between 1781 and 1782, and represented North Carolina in the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1786. Life story Nash was born the son of Co ...

and Mary Jones Nash, Abner's second wife. He was born in

New Bern New Bern, formerly called Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 29,524, which had risen to an estimated 29,994 as of 2019. It is the county seat of Craven County and t ...

, and attended

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, graduating in 1799. He returned home to read law, and to set up a law practice in New Bern. Nash moved to Hillsborough in 1807, and was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly, serving from 1813 to 1817. He was a judge of Superior Court from 1818 to 1824 and again from 1836 until his election as an associate judge of the state's Supreme Court in 1844. When Justice Thomas Ruffin resigned in 1852, Nash was raised to Chief Justice and held that post until his death. He died at home in Hillsborough. Nash was married twice: first to Mary Kollock, then after her death to Anna Maria MacLean. After Frederick died, his daughters, Sally (1811–1893) and Maria (1819–1907), opened a school for young ladies in the family home at Hillsborough. His grandson, Francis "Frank" Nash (1855–1932), was for many years an assistant attorney general for North Carolina and clerk of the state Supreme Court. His office at Hillsborough was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1971. It is located in the

Hillsborough Historic District Hillsborough Historic District is a national historic district located at Hillsborough, Orange County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 529 contributing buildings, 9 contributing sites, 13 contributing structures, and 2 contributing obj ...

References

Frank Nash Papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nash, Frederick 1781 births 1858 deaths North Carolina lawyers Chief Justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court Politicians from New Bern, North Carolina Princeton University alumni U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers