William B. Griffith

"Griffith & Quitman" Mississippi Free Trader, January 9, 1823

William B. Griffith (1795 – October 28, 1827) was a Mississippi attorney and orator who was elected by the legislature as a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi in February 1827. He declined the office.

Life and career

He was a native of New Jersey and graduated from the College of New Jersey.[1] He may have been resident in Natchez by 1818.[2] In the 1820s, Griffith had a law partnership with a young John A. Quitman.[3] Griffith was resident in Natchez first, and Quitman arrived in 1822 with a letter of introduction.[4] Griffith was "said to have been the most polished orator that had yet appeared in Mississippi."[5] He was appointed by President James Monroe to serve as United States Attorney for the District of Mississippi, holding this office from 1822 to 1828, when he was succeeded by Felix Huston.[6] In February 1827, he was elected by the Mississippi state legislature as a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi, but Griffith declined the office. According to Dunbar Rowland, "[George Winchester] was a candidate for judge of the supreme court in February, 1827, to succeed Hampton, but the vote was 19 to 16, for William B. Griffith. When the latter declined, the governor appointed Judge Winchester."[7]

Personal life and death

He married Theodosia Turner in Natchez in 1823.[8]

Griffith died in Natchez in October 1827.[9] The cause of death was reportedly of yellow fever.[5][1] John T. McMurran, a clerk at the firm, replaced Griffith as Quitman's law partner.[10] His widow, Theodosia L. Griffith, daughter of Mississippi judge Edward Turner, died after a brief illness in February 1829.[11] McMurran and Griffith were married to sisters, and Quitman was married to their cousin, a daughter of Henry Turner.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b "Tribute of Respect". Natchez Ariel. November 10, 1827. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-08-02.
  2. ^ "J. &. W. Griffith". Natchez Gazette. June 20, 1818. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-08-02.
  3. ^ Robert E. May, John A. Quitman: Old South Crusader (1985). p. 21.
  4. ^ "Memoirs of Quitman". Mississippi Free Trader. November 26, 1860. p. 1. Retrieved 2025-08-02.
  5. ^ a b James Daniel Lynch, The Bench and Bar of Mississippi (1881), p. 112-13.
  6. ^ Executive Office for United States Attorneys (1989). Bicentennial Celebration of United States Attorneys, 1789–1989 (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Justice. p. 204.
  7. ^ Rowland, Dunbar (1907). Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. Vol. 2. p. 985.
  8. ^ "William B. Griffith, 1823". Mississippi Marriages, 1800–1911 – via FamilySearch.
  9. ^ "Entry for Wm B Griffith, 28 Oct 1827". Mississippi, Adams County, Natchez Death Index, 1835–1905 – via FamilySearch.
  10. ^ Bench and bar MS 140–141
  11. ^ "Married and Died". Southern Galaxy. February 12, 1829. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-08-02.
  12. ^ Sparks, William Henry (1882). The Memories of Fifty Years: Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring During a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the Southwest. E. Claxton. p. 343.

Further reading

  • Welch, Kimberly M. (2018). Black litigants in the antebellum American South. The John Hope Franklin series in African American history and culture. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-4696-3643-6.
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