Home County: Montgomery
Term of service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: November 1820-April 1841
Judge Mat[t]hias McGirk* was born in 1783 in Tennessee.[i] By 1812, he had moved to Missouri and, in 1813, was nominated by the Missouri Territorial House of Representatives to a position with the Missouri Territory Legislative Council,[ii] where he represented St. Charles County.[iii] McGirk officially served (with President James Madison’s nomination and Senate confirmation) with the legislative council from 1814 to 1817.[iv]
During his service with the territorial legislature, McGirk wrote an act that became the basis for law in the Missouri Territory.[v] Approved by Missouri Territorial Governor William Clark in 1816, the legislation was titled “An Act Declaring What Laws Shall Be in Force in This Territory.”[vi] The act declared English common law would be the law in Missouri if it did not conflict with the United States Constitution or territorial law.[vii] After the conclusion of his term with the territorial council in 1817, McGirk continued his life in public service. In 1820, he was elected to the Missouri State Senate, representing the people of St. Louis.[viii]
He later resigned from the senate and, on November 13, 1820, accepted Governor Alexander McNair’s appointment to the Supreme Court of Missouri.[ix] McGirk was the first judge appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri.[x] Judge McGirk also was the Court’s first chief justice.[xi] He served as chief justice during his entire service with the Court, from 1820 to 1841.[xii] Judge McGirk heard his first case with the Court during the March 1821 term[xiii] and served until April 23, 1841.[xiv]
In 1827, McGirk moved from St. Louis to Montgomery County, Missouri, where he resided the rest of his life.[xv] A year after he retired from the Supreme Court of Missouri, Judge McGirk died, on August 14, 1842 in Montgomery County.[xvi]
*There is a discrepancy with regard to the spelling of Judge McGirk’s first name. Some sources included the letter “t” twice; others included just one “t.”
[i] “1840 U.S. Federal Census.” Information courtesy of Ancestry.com, accessed on October 18, 2017, available from https://ancestry.com. Charles van Ravenswaay, Dana O. Jensen, ed. “Judge Matthias McGirk,” Missouri Historical Society Bulletin. Vol. 8, No. 3. April, 1952, 244. Horace W. Fuller, ed. “Mathias McGirk,” The Green Bag, Vol. III (Boston, MA: The Boston Book Company, 1891), 165.
[ii] McGirk, Mathias-State: Missouri-Regiment: Col McNair’s Command, Missouri Militia.” Information courtesy of the National Archives Catalog, accessed on October 25, 2017, available from https://catalog.archives.gov. “To James Madison from the Missouri Territory House of Representatives, 7 August 1813.” Information courtesy of Founders Online/National Archives Catalog, accessed on October 26, 2017, available from https://founders.archives.gov.
[iii] “To James Madison from the Missouri Territory House of Representatives, 7 August 1813.” Information courtesy of Founders Online/National Archives Catalog, accessed on October 26, 2017, available from https://founders.archives.gov. Hugh P. Williamson, “Mathias McGirk: The First Chief Justice,” Journal of the Missouri Bar, 19, (1963, August), 419. “van Ravenswaay, “Judge Matthias McGirk,” Missouri Historical Society Bulletin, 245.
[iv] “To James Madison from the Missouri Territory House of Representatives, 7 August 1813.” Information courtesy of Founders Online/National Archives Catalog, accessed on October 26, 2017, available from https://founders.archives.gov.Hugh P. Williamson, “Mathias McGirk: The First Chief Justice,” 419.
[v] Hugh P. Williamson, “Mathias McGirk: The First Chief Justice,” 419.
[vi] Hugh P. Williamson, “Mathias McGirk: The First Chief Justice, 419.
[vii] Hugh P. Williamson, “Mathias McGirk: The First Chief Justice,” 419.
[viii] Hugh P. Williamson, “Mathias McGirk: The First Chief Justice,” 420.
[ix] Buel Leopard, Floyd C. Shoemaker, eds., The Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of the State of Missouri, (Columbia, MO: The State Historical Society of Missouri, 1922), 46.
[x] Hugh P. Williamson, “Mathias McGirk: The First Chief Justice,” 419.
[xi] Hugh P. Williamson, “Mathias McGirk: The First Chief Justice,” 419.
[xii] Louis Houck, ed. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, from 1821 to 1827 . Vol. I (Cape Girardeau, MO: Kimball & Taylor, Printers, 1870), title page. See also:Louis Houck, ed. Reports of the Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court, from 1840 to 1842. Vol. VII (Cape Girardeau, MO: Kimball & Taylor, Printers, 1871), title page.
[xiii] Louis Houck, ed. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, from 1821 to 1827 (Cape Girardeau, MO: Kimball & Taylor, Printers, 1870), 2.
[xiv] Hugh P. Williamson, “Mathias McGirk: The First Chief Justice,” 420. See also “Resignation,” Jeffersonian Republican, Jefferson City, Missouri, Saturday, April 24, 1841, page 2, column 4. Information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia Newspaper Database, accessed June 2017, available from http://shsmo.org/newspaper/.
[xv] Howard L. Conard, ed., “Mathias McGirk”, Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, Vol. 4, (St. Louis, MO: The Southern History Company, 1901), 262.
[xvi] Hugh P. Williamson, “Mathias McGirk: The First Chief Justice-Grave of Judge McGirk,” 423.
Biographical information authored by Mr. Matt Orf, 2017, University of Missouri-Columbia.