John T. McKinney

John Taliaferro McKinney (March 18, 1785 – March 4, 1837) was a Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from January 28, 1831 to March 4, 1837.[1]

Born in Caroline County, Virginia, McKinney attended Charlotte Hall Military Academy in Maryland, and "apparently saw military service during the War of 1812",[1] and was indicated in one biography to have eventually held the rank of general,[2] although "no source for this rank has been found".[3] McKinney read law to gain admission to the bar in Kentucky in 1815.[3] At some point thereafter he moved to Indiana, where he was admitted to the Franklin County bar on March 3, 1822, becoming a prosecuting attorney in October of that year, and being commissioned as a captain in the Indiana Militia that same month.[3] McKinney gained a strong reputation as an attorney. In one instance, he and an opposing attorney were fined five dollars for fist-fighting in the courtroom, and were each fined five dollars.[2]

McKinney entered politics, serving two terms in the Indiana House of Representatives in the mid-1820s, and three terms in the Indiana Senator, from 1828 to 1831.[1] On January 28, 1831, Governor James B. Ray, who was friends with McKinney through their time practicing law before the same courts, appointed McKinney to a seat on the Indiana Supreme Court.[3] At the time of his appointment, McKinney already suffered from tuberculosis, from which he died while still serving on the court, in Brookville.[1]

References

1. Minde C. Browning, Richard Humphrey, and Bruce Kleinschmidt, "Biographical Sketches of Indiana Supreme Court Justices", Indiana Law Review, Vol. 30, No. 1 (1997), section reproduced in Indiana Courts Justice Biographies page.
2. Leander J. Monks, Courts and lawyers of Indiana, Vol. 1 (1916), p. 197-98.
3. Linda C. Gugin, James E. St. Clair, Justices of the Indiana Supreme Court (2010), p. 21-23.