Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published
by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.  Reprinted by Southern Historical
Press.  p. 76.  Franklin County.

GEORGE M. BIBB, for fifty years one of the foremost characters in the
judicial and political history of Kentucky, was born October 30, 1776,
in Prince Edward county, Virginia, and died April 14, 1859, in Washington,
D. C.  He was the son of Richard Bibb, and Episcopal clergyman of great
learning.  His earliest recollections were of the struggle for American
independence, which began in the year of his birth, and he died just
before the war of 1861-65 had concentrated its unrecorded horrors around
his birthplace.  He was one of the legal giants of Kentucky, and was the
last representative at the national capital of the "gentlemen of the old
school."  Refusing to give up the fashions of his early life, he
continued to wear the "small clothes," which were not even odd on the
elegant old-time gentleman, but added to the popular respect and
reverence for him.
     Judge Bibb was well-educated, being a graduate of both Hampden
Sydney and William and Mary colleges, and in his later days was the
oldest surviving graduate of each.  Studying law with that distinguished
jurist, Richard Venable, he practiced in Virginia for a short time, and
in 1798 removed to Lexington, Kentucky.  He attracted business by his
legal acquirements, solid judgment and cogent reasoning, and was soon
numbered among the ablest and most profound attorneys in the state. His
superior talents won him official honors, both in jurisprudence and in
political circles.  He was appointed by Governor Christopher Greenup
one of the judges of the court of appeals on the 31st of January, 1808,
and on the 30th of May, 1809, Governor Charles Scott appointed him its
chief justice, in which capacity her served until March, 1810, when he
resigned his high trust.  The following year he was elected to the
United States senate, and continued an active participant in the affairs
of the highest law-making body of the nation until 1814, when he
resigned.  During the war of 1812, Chancellor Bibb in the senate, and
William Lowndes and John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, and Henry Clay,
in the house of representatives, formed what was called the "war mess"
of the Madison administration--from having supported the war and the
president with such great talent, vigor and zeal.
     On his retirement from the senate Chancellor Bibb resumed the
private practice of law in Lexington and in 1816 removed to Frankfort,
where he was connected with the most important litigation of the courts
of that city.  He was one of the most prominent lawyers who espoused
the cause of the "Relief" and the New Court.  On the 5th of January,
1827, he was again appointed chief justice by Governor Desha and
discharged the duties of that position until December 23, 1828, when he
again resigned, to accept the office of United States senator, to which
he was elected for a full term of six years, 1829-35.  In 1823 he was
elected one of the commissioners,--his associate being Henry Clay,--to
go to Virginia and to the Unites States supreme court to maintain the
validity of the occupying claimant laws.  From 1835 to 1844 he held the
important position of chancellor of the Louisville chancery court, which
he resigned to become United States secretary of the treasury in the
cabinet of President Tyler, holding the position until the close of the
administration March 4, 1845.  The remainder of his life was devoted to
the practice of law in the District of Columbia, most of the time in the
position of chief clerk in the department of the United States attorney
general, but really doing the duties now required of the assistant
attorney-general,--and office established for the very labors performed
by him.
     Chancellor Bibb was prominent in all circles and was one of the
leaders of the Masonic fraternity, holding for four years--from 1804 to
1808--the office of grand master of the Grand Lodge of Masons of
Kentucky, an honor conferred upon no one else in the state.  He was a
profound scholar and great mathematician as well as an eminent jurist,
and in public and professional life ranked among the truly great men of
his times.

Bibb Venable Lowndes Calhoun Clay Greenup Scott Desha
=
Lexington-Fayette-KY Prince_Edward-VA Washington-DC SC

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/franklin/bibb.gm.txt