Courts in the Classroom
Supreme Court of Indiana
Division of State Court Administration
30 S. Meridian Street, Ste 500
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Dr. Elizabeth R. Osborn
Coordinator for
Public History and
Education Programs
Pho: 317.233.8682
elizabeth.osborn@courts.IN.gov
Sarah Kidwell
Outreach Coordinator
Pho: 317.234.3055
sarah.kidwell@courts.IN.gov
2011 Outstanding Public
History Project Award
from the National Council
on Public History
Justice Biographies
Justice Samuel Barnes Gookins
(Fifteenth Justice)
Justice Gookins was born May 30, 1809, in Rupert, Vermont, and died June 14, 1880, in Terre Haute, Indiana.290
He moved to the Terre Haute area in 1823.291 When his mother died, he went to live with another family.292 He learned the newspaper business and from 1834 to 1850 was widely known as a publisher.293
He was defeated in a race for the Indiana Supreme Court in 1852 while he was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives.294 In 1855, he ran again and won.295 He served on the Indiana Supreme Court from October 10, 1854 until December 1857, resigning for reasons of low pay and poor health.296 In 1857, a justice received only $1200 per annum.297
He moved to Chicago, Illinois, and practiced law there until 1875, when he moved home to Terre Haute.298 He published a History of Vigo County in 1880.299
290. TAYLOR, supra note 89, at 46.
291. Id.
292. Id.
293. Id.
294. Id.
295. Id.
296. Id.
297. Id.
298. 1 MONKS, supra note 25, at 251.
299. 1 BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY, supra note 55, at 147.
Source: Browning, Minde C., Richard Humphrey, and Bruce Kleinschmidt. "Biographical Sketches of Indiana Supreme Court Justices." Indiana Law Review: Vol. 30, No. 1, 1997. View this source in PDF format.
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