Indiana Supreme Court Justice Biographies: Justice Samuel Barnes Gookins

Indiana Supreme Court
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.

Last modified on Thursday, June, 28, 2007

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