Home County: Howard
Term of service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: February 1824 - March 1845
Judge George Tompkins was born March 27, 1780, in Caroline County, Virginia.[i] After educating himself, Tompkins set off to Kentucky, where he became a school teacher.[ii] While teaching during the day, he studied law in his free time.[iii] Tompkins first settled in St. Louis in 1809. In 1816, Tompkins relocated to Old Franklin in Howard County, Missouri. There he formally began his career in law and established a law practice in the area.[iv] While in Howard County, Tompkins served two terms on the Territorial Council.[v]
In February 1824, Tompkins was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri to fill the vacancy left by the death of Judge John Rice Jones.[vi]
Tompkins served as a judge on the Court from his appointment in February 1824 until March 27, 1845. Tompkins was compelled to retire from the Court on March 27, 1845,[vii] due to a constitutional provision that prohibited holding the office after reaching the age of 65.[viii] When he retired, he had served longer than any previous Supreme Court judge.[ix] He lived out the rest of his life at his home, located west of Jefferson City.
Judge Tompkins died April 7, 1846.[x]
[i] L. C. Krauthoff, “The Supreme Court of Missouri,” Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, Vol. 3, (Boston, MA: Boston Book Co., 1891), 167.
[ii] Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 167.
[iii] Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 167.
[iv] Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 167.
[v] Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 167.
[vi] Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 167.
[vii] William Van Ness Bay, Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri, 31.
[viii] William Van Ness Bay, Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri, (F. H. Thomas and Company, 1878), 31.
[ix] Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 167.
[x] Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 168.
Biographical information authored by Mr. Matt Orf, 2017, University of Missouri-Columbia.