Indiana Supreme Court Justice Biographies: Justice Silas D. Coffey

Indiana Supreme Court
Justice Biographies

Justice Silas D. Coffey
(Thirty-sixth Justice)

Justice Coffey was born February 23, 1839, in Owen County, Indiana,⁸⁸ and died on March 6, 1904, in Brazil, Indiana.⁸⁹

He entered Indiana University in 1860, but withdrew when the Civil War erupted.⁹⁰ Yet the war did not stop his studies. He carried a copy of Blackstone’s Commentaries with him.⁹¹

After the war Coffey returned home, studied law and opened an office in Bowling Green, Indiana, then the county seat of Clay County.⁹² Coffey was an active participant in the Republican Party.⁹³ In 1881, he was named to the 13th Circuit Court bench where he stayed until he was elected to the Indiana Supreme Court.⁹⁴ He sat from January 7, 1889 until January 7, 1895.⁹⁵

88. 1 MONKS, supra note 25, at 274.
89. CHARLES W. TAYLOR, BENCH AND BAR OF INDIANA 708 (Indianapolis, Bench & Bar Publ. Co. 1895).
90. 1 MONKS, supra note 25, at 274.
91. TAYLOR, supra note 89, at 704.
92. 1 MONKS, supra note 25, at 275.
93. TAYLOR, supra note 89, at 53, 55, 711.
94. Id.
95. 1 MONKS, supra note 25, at 275.

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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