James Dabney Thornton | |
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Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court | |
In office January 5, 1880 – January 5, 1891 | |
Appointed by | Direct election |
Preceded by | New seat established by Constitution of California of 1879 |
Succeeded by | Charles H. Garoute |
Personal details | |
Born | Oak Hill, Cumberland, Virginia, U.S. | January 19, 1823
Died | September 27, 1902 San Francisco, California, U.S. | (aged 79)
Spouse |
Sarah Frances Thornton
(m. 1848) |
Alma mater | University of Virginia (BA) |
James Dabney Thornton (January 19, 1823 – September 27, 1902) was an American lawyer and judge who served as associate justice of the Supreme Court of California from 1880 to 1891.
Thornton was born January 19, 1823, at Oak Hill in Cumberland, Virginia, to William Mynn Thornton and Elizabeth Anderson.[1][2] He studied at the University of Virginia, graduating in 1841.[2] After college, he read law for a year and then worked three years in a commercial house in Richmond, Virginia, while continuing his legal studies.[2] In November 1848, he and his wife moved to Eutaw, Alabama, where his wife's father, Harry Innis Thornton Sr., was a judge and member of the Alabama Legislature.[3] By 1851, Harry I. Thornton had moved to California and was appointed to the federal Public Land Commission to address property ownership in California.[4] In 1854, James Thornton also determined to move to California, arriving in San Francisco in June 1854.[5] There, he started a law firm with his father-in-law and John James Williams, whom he had befriended in Richmond, Virginia.[6]
In 1856, Thornton served as a district court commissioner for the Fourth district court in San Francisco.[7] In August 1858, he was nominated by the Democratic Lecompton Party for judge of the Fourth district court.[8]
In June 1861, he attended the state convention of the Breckenridge Democratic Party, with pro-Southern sympathies.[9] During the Civil War, he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, as did Solomon Heydenfeldt, who was born in Charleston, South Carolina.[10][2] At that time, his wife's brother, the attorney Harry Innis Thornton Jr., gave a speech on the floor of the California State Senate defending the Southern states' rights to succeed, and afterwards left to fight for the Confederacy.[11]
In 1878, James Thornton was appointed judge of the Twenty-third district court by Governor William Irwin.[12][13]
In 1879, when adoption of a new constitution required elections for all seats on the Supreme Court, Thornton was nominated by both the Democratic Party and Workingman's Party and was elected.[14][15][16][17] The newly elected judges drew lots to determine the length of term, and Thornton drew an 11-year term, the same length as Elisha W. McKinstry.[18][19] In November 1890, just prior to the end of his term, he ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for judge of San Francisco County Superior Court.[20][21] Instead, after stepping down from the high court he returned to private practice.[2]
He died September 27, 1902, in San Francisco.[13][22]
On February 17, 1848, he married Sarah Frances Thornton[23][24] in Eutaw, Alabama, and they had eleven children, including six who lived to adulthood: Crittenden Thornton, a lawyer in San Francisco;[25][26] Harry I. Thornton, Jr., who graduated from Hastings College of the Law;[26] Elizabeth Anderson 'Lizzy' Thornton (Mrs. John Crittenden Watson, an admiral); William M. Thornton, a banker in Montana and later businessman in Chicago;[27][28] Margaret Thornton (Mrs. Abbott Kinney of Santa Monica); and John Thurston Thornton, also a lawyer in San Francisco. Two other daughters died before adulthood: Ann Mary Thornton (1851–1870) and Gertrude Thornton (1855–1877).
Judge H. T. Thornton and his son-in-law, Judge James D. Thornton, recently of the Supreme Court, on Green street, near Stockton
While in Richmond he made the acquaintance of, and formed a friendship with, James D. Thornton, now of this city, afterward his partner for many years.
War, war exists among the States of the Union, amongst the American people, amongst the sovereign citizens of the respective States. it would be unnecessary for me now to Institute an Inquiry, or to bring forward proofs to establish who it was that Inaugurated that war. All the horrors that result from such a strife are to be precipitated upon the peaceful homes of our fellow-citizens of the South, and we cannot sit here Indifferent thereto--speech of James D. Thornton
Twenty-third District Court —This court organised yesterday morning, with the following officers: judge, James D. Thornton
Judge Lake nominated James D. Thornton, of San Francisco, and spoke warmly in his favor.
J. D. Thornton drew a term of eleven years
The Democratic nominees for the Superior Bench are all worthy of popular support. Of Judge James D. Thornton it is unnecessary to speak at length.
The Democrats made the following nominations tonight: Superior judges, long term, James D. Thornton, present supreme court judge.
Belonged to the well-known Thornton family...Mrs. James D. Thornton is her mother's sister, who married a gentleman of the same name but of most remote connection with the family.
In this city, May 3, 1904, Sarah Frances, daughter of Harry Innis Thornton Sr., and widow of the late James Dabney Thornton, a native of Huntsville, Alabama, aged 78 years and 9 months.
All doubt has now been dispelled about the fate of Harry I. Thornton, a son of ex-Justice of the Supreme Court Thornton....Crittenden Thornton, a brother of Harry I. Thornton, Jr.
W. M. Thornton, a banker of Montana, is visiting his father, Judge James D. Thornton, of the Supreme Court.
Wm. M. Thornton, son of Supreme Justice James D. Thornton of this State, is a candidate for State Senator on the Democratic ticket in Deer Lodge, Montana.