James Keith (Virginia judge)
{{Short description|American judge (1839–1918)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = James Keith
|image = Judge James Keith.jpg
|image_size =
|caption = Oil on canvas portrait of Justice Keith, by Mary Van der Veer
|office = Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia
|appointer =
|term_start = 1895
|term_end = 1916
|state_delegate2 = Virginia
|district2 = Fauquier County
|term_start2 = 1869
|term_end2 = 1879
|preceded2 =
|succeeded2 =
|birth_name =
|birth_date = {{birth date|1839|9|7}}
|birth_place = Fauquier County, Virginia, U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|1918|1|2|1839|9|7}}
|death_place = Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
|resting_place = Hollywood Cemetery
|party = Democrat
|spouse = {{marriage|Lilias Gordon Morson|1872|1877|reason=died}}
{{marriage|Frances Backsdale Morson|1878}}
|children = 2
|relatives = Lucien Keith (nephew)
William Randolph (great-great-grandson)
John Marshall
Scott Shipp
|alma_mater = University of Virginia
|religion =
|signature =
| allegiance =
{{flag|Confederate States of America|name=Confederate States of America}}
| branch =
| serviceyears = 1861–1865
| unit = 4th Virginia Cavalry
| commands =
| battles = American Civil War
| rank =
| awards =
}}
James Keith (September 7, 1839 – January 2, 1918) was a Virginia lawyer, soldier, politician and judge, who served as the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Virginia (then called the Supreme Court of Appeals) from 1895 to 1916.
Early and family life
Born in Fauquier County, Virginia on September 7, 1839, James Keith was born to Circuit Judge Isham Keith (1798–1863) and his wife, the former Julia Chilton. He was the great-great-grandson of William Randolph and a direct descendant of Chief Justice John Marshall. Keith received his early education in local schools and studied law under Professor John B. Minor at the University of Virginia. He graduated in 1860 and studied law in the office of John M. Forbes.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/richmond-times-dispatch-judge-james-keit/168930965/ |title=Judge James Keith Dies at His Home |date=1918-01-03 |newspaper=Richmond Times-Dispatch |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2025-03-26}}{{Open access}}
Keith was a cousin of judge R. Carter Scott and was related to General Scott Shipp.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/richmond-times-dispatch-judge-james-keit/168932736/ |title=Judge James Keith Dies at His Home |date=1918-01-03 |newspaper=Richmond Times-Dispatch |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2025-03-26}}{{Open access}} His grandfather, Thomas Keith, fought in the American Revolutionary War.Sons of American Revolution membership application dated March 20, 1896 His nephew was state senator Lucien Keith.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/richmond-times-dispatch-lucien-keith-die/168933690/ |title=Lucien Keith Dies at Home in Fauquier Co. |date=1933-03-17 |newspaper=Richmond Times-Dispatch |page=7 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2025-03-26}}{{Open access}} His father also owned a woolen mill at Waterloo. In 1860, Isham Keith owned 17 enslaved people, and his son James also may have owned at least one slave.1860 U.S. Federal Census for southwest revenue district, Fauquier County, Slave schedule; the link between "J. Keith" and the federal slave schedule for northeast Fauquier county appears incorrect or annotation for leased slave may refer to "I. Keith" Virginia state census materials are not available online
In 1872, Keith married Lilias Gordon Morson, daughter of lawyer Arthur Alexander Morson, of Warrenton. She died in 1877 and in 1887, he married the sister of his first wife, Frances Barksdale Morson. They had two children, Juliet and Morson.
American Civil War
During the American Civil War, James Keith and his older brother Isham Keith Jr. (1833–1902) enlisted as privates in Company H of the Black Horse Cavalry and served for the duration.{{cite web|title=Papers of James Keith, President, Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals|url=http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=lva/vi00944.xml;query=James%20Keith;brand=default|website=ead.lib.virginia.edu|publisher=Library of Virginia|accessdate=June 9, 2016}} James Keith was promoted to adjutant on December 7, 1863.{{citation needed |date=March 2025 |reason=specific date}} After surrendering at Appomattox Court House, he was paroled at Winchester on May 30, 1865, and received a presidential pardon on August 19, 1865.{{citation needed |date=March 2025}}
Postwar
After the war, James Keith resumed his law studies under Forbes, a prominent lawyer in Warrenton. Fauquier County voters elected Keith to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1869 and he served in the session of 1869—70. In late 1870, he was elected as judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, composed of Alexandria, Fauquier, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Rappahannock counties.
Keith served as circuit judge until January 1, 1895, when legislators elected him to the Supreme Court of Appeals, and his fellow judges elected him their president (chief judge) soon afterwards. He continued as a judge and president until he retired on June 10, 1916.{{cite web|title=Judges of the Supreme Court of Virginia|url=http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Judges_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_Virginia|website=www.encyclopediavirginia.org|publisher=Virginia Foundation for the Humanities|access-date=March 26, 2025}}
He was active in the United Confederate Veterans and presented a portrait of Fauquier County's General (and later U.S. Congressman and Senator Eppa Hunton to the Richmond chapter.Eppa Hunton Autobiography
Death and legacy
Keith died of pneumonia on January 2, 1918, at his home at Cathedral Place in Richmond. He was buried at Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery. The Library of Virginia maintains his official papers.{{cite web|url=http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=lva/vi00944.xml;query=James+Keith;brand=default|title=Papers of James Keith, President, Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, 1843–1910 (bulk 1877–1910) |website=ead.lib.virginia.edu|accessdate=March 23, 2019}} The Virginia Historical Society has some Keith family papers, maintained by Fanny Scott, the wife of Virginia Attorney General Robert Taylor Scott, and who led the Black Horse Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy at Warrenton (the unit which had both sons of Judge Isham, and where that Judge Keith died and was buried).{{cite web|url=https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=vhs/vih00011.xml|title=A Guide to the Keith Family Papers, 1830–1979 Keith Family Papers, 1830–1979|website=ead.lib.virginia.edu|accessdate=March 23, 2019}}
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Keith, James}}
Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Virginia
Category:People of Virginia in the American Civil War
Category:People from Fauquier County, Virginia
Category:Burials at Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)
Category:19th-century Virginia state court judges