Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago. Reprinted by Southern Historical Press. p. 78. Clark County. JAMES SIMPSON, judge of the court of appeals of Kentucky, and one of the most distinguished jurists that the state has produced, was born March 16, 1796, in Belfast, Ireland, and died on the 1st of May, 1876, in Winchester, Kentucky. His father, James Simpson Sr., a man of classical education and broad mental culture, became a minister of the Presbyterian church and was also an educator of note. On account of political complication he was obliged to flee from Ireland, and embarked for America with his wife and family when the future chief justice was but eighteen months old. As he stood on the deck of the vessel which was to bear him to freedom and future prosperity, the last sight which met his gaze was his old home in flames, enkindled by the hands of his enemies! The vessel on which he embarked bore him in safety to the shores of the new world, and he took up his residence in Pittsburg [sic], Pennsylvania, where he remained for about ten years. During that time his wife died. With his children he removed to Clark county, Kentucky, and from that time on Judge Simpson was a resident of this state. James Simpson attended the common schools, but the greater part of his education was acquired under the direction of his father, who was well fitted to train the young mind and shape its habits of thought. The son was of a very studious disposition, and his eager desire for knowledge, supplemented by a retentive memory, enabled him to acquire a fund of information far in advance of many who had much superior school privileges. He read the Latin classics in the original and was well informed on all subjects now usually embraced in the high school course. He was ambitious, and with one object in view pursued his course from the earliest days of his intellectual development to fit himself for the practice of law. On the 18th of February, 1817, before attaining his majority, he applied to the county court for a certificate showing him to be "a person of honesty, probity and good demeanor," which was granted him, and immediately after reaching the legal age, at the first term of the circuit court, he procured a license to practice law. He had read and studied under the masterful guidance of Hon. Samuel Hanson, and his preparation for the bar was so thorough and complete that at the first term of court, after he joined the legal fraternity, he appeared as attorney in a number of cases. For ten years he was associated in practice with Hon. Chilton Allen, and almost from the beginning of his professional career he had an extensive clientage. He was a man evidently marked out for greatness, and his career was one unbroken series of splendid successes. His fitness for political honors and his ability to meet the weighty questions which affect the welfare of the commonwealth led to his being elected twice to the general assembly of the commonwealth, where he was one of the leading members on the floor of the house. In 1860, on account of the gravity of the political situation growing out of the secession movement, he was elected to the state senate. He served one term in that body during those exciting days, and it was largely through his instrumentality that the state remained in the Union, and he cast her influence with that side. Except as a representative in the lower house and in the senate of Kentucky, he held no political office. In 1835 he was appointed judge of the circuit court to succeed the Hon. Richard French, occupying the circuit court bench until 1847. His course was such as to add honor and dignity to the office with which he was honored, and he won the confidence of the bar and the public by his upright and unflinching administration of justice and the wisdom of his decisions. The masterful ability of Judge Simpson insured him still further honors, and in 1847 he received an appointment to the highest judicial body of the state, being made associate justice of the court of appeals. He served thus until the adoption of the new state constitution in 1850 and thereafter was one of the four justices of the new court and filled the exalted position of chief justice of the court for two years. In 1852 he was elected to the supreme bench for another term of eight years, during which time he again served for two years as chief justice. On the expiration of his term in 1860 he declined to enter on a political contest for re-election, being conscientiously opposed to making judicial office a football of party prejudice or favor. Devotedly attached to his profession, systematic and methodical in habit, sober and discreet in judgment, calm in temper, diligent in research, conscientious in the discharge of every duty, courteous and kind in demeanor and inflexibly just on all occasions, the qualities enabled Judge Simpson to take first rank among those who have held the highest judicial office in the state, and made him the conservator of that justice wherein is the safeguard of individual liberty and happiness and the defense of our national institution. His reported opinions are monuments to his profound legal learning and superior ability, more lasting than brass or marble and more honorable than battles fought and won. They show a thorough mastery of the questions involved, a rare simplicity of style and an admirable terseness and clearness in the statement of the principles upon which the opinions rest. He fully comprehended and carried into practice Justinian's noble summary of the law's precepts: "Juris precepta sunt haec: honeste rivere, alternum non cadere suum emque tribuere." No judge of the court of appeals has evinced a clearer knowledge, a livelier conscience, a more industrious application than Judge Simpson. On the 22d of November, 1840, the Judge united with the Presbyterian church, and in 1836 became an elder in the same. He exemplified in his life that Christian spirit which ennobles those who truly follow in the footsteps of the lowly Nazarene, and endears them to their fellow men. His sage counsel, noble example and devotion to the best interests of the church make him a pillar of strength in upholding all that is best in life, and he breathed his last with a smile of infinite peace and content stamped upon his face, saying, "The door is open; I must go in." In early life Judge Simpson gave his political support to the Whig party, and on it dissolution became a Democrat, while during the war he was a conservative Unionist, but after the war was identified with the Democratic party until his death. He, however, took but little part in politics, aside from voting and lending his influence to the measures best calculated to enhance the best interests of his city, county and state. On the 22d of February, 1825, Judge Simpson was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Caldwell, a daughter of Robert and Fanny (Irvine) Caldwell. The latter was a daughter of Colonel Christopher Irvine, of Richmond, Kentucky, and his wife was a daughter of Colonel Richard Calloway, and one of the three girls who were in the fort at Boonesboro with Daniel Boone in the early days of Kentucky's history. They were captured by the Indians, but after three days were recaptured. Robert Caldwell was an own cousin of John Caldwell Calhoun, the distinguished South Carolina statesman. Judge Simpson died at his home in Winchester, Kentucky, on the 1st day of May, 1876, in the eighty-first year of his age. At his death Judge Simpson left two sons and three daughters, the latter being Fanny I., who married Samuel F. Taylor and is now Mrs. Bottaile; Mary H., wife of James T. Thornton, of Kansas City, Missouri; and Carrie, wife of John A. Mills, of Winchester. The sons are Isaac P., a lawyer of San Antonio, Texas; and James D., a member of the Clark county bar, cashier of the Citizens' National Bank and president of the Safety Building and Loan Association of Winchester. For a number of years he was engaged in active practice, but for the past twenty years has devoted his attention to other business pursuits. On the death of Judge Simpson many resolutions were passed, indicating the high respect and honor in which he was held throughout the state, and the sincere grief that was felt at his demise. The court of appeals assembled in Frankfort, May 4, 1876, to take action thereon, and the resolutions which they passed included the following: "Resolved, That in the death of Judge Simpson the profession of which he was an ornament has lost one who was an upright judge, an able jurist and a zealous advocate. Society has been deprived of one of its purest members and his family of a devoted and exemplary head." At the meeting of the bar of Winchester, over which presided General John B. Huston, the following resolutions were passed: "Resolved, That as a member of the legal profession he illustrated in his long, successful career the noblest qualities in rarest combination; always true to his trusts, and competent to his task, kind and courteous to his associates, ever ready to help those beneath him on the ladder, and to give to them freely of his great abundance. "That in his long and distinguished services, whether as judge of the circuit court, or the court of appeals, he justly earned for himself an honorable and enduring fame secured to none in the annals of the commonwealth. "That in him we recognize not only the accomplished jurist but also the citizen without reproach, whose private life has been blameless, and who public career has added another star to the constellation of our country's honored names. "That as younger members of the profession we pay a cordial tribute to his memory for many acts of personal kindness and words of friendly counsel. We accept the model which his life and character offer to us in all their harmonious and just proportions, and along the pathway of professional duty will turn to it and gather fresh encouragement and inspiration." Simpson Hanson Allen French Caldwell Irvine Calloway Taylor Bottaile Thornton Mills = SC MO TX PA Ireland http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/clark/simpson.j.txt