John G. Jackson

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John George Jackson (September 22, 1777 - March 28, 1825) was a U.S. Representative and federal judge from Virginia, the son of George Jackson, brother of Edward B. Jackson, and grandfather of William Thomas Bland, Jacob Beeson Jackson, James Monroe Jackson, and John Jay Jackson, Jr.

Born in Buckhannon, Virginia (now West Virginia), Jackson moved with his parents to Clarksburg in 1784. He received an English training and became a civil engineer. He was appointed surveyor of public lands of what is now the State of Ohio in 1793. He served as member of the Virginia General Assembly, 1798-1801, during which time he supported resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Acts. Jackson became a lawyer in 1801. Besides his law practice, Jackson began a number of successful businesses.

Prior to marriage, Jackson had a son, who became General John J. Jackson, the father of John Jay Jackson, Jr. Jackson's first wife Mary "Polly" Payne was the youngest sister of Dolley Madison - they were married in 1800. She died in 1808 of tuberculosis. Jackson continued to correspond with Dolley Madison after the death of his wife and her sister. On June 11, 1810, shortly before he married Mary Sophia Meigs, the daughter of Return J. Meigs, Jr. he wrote Dolley that his new wife "is about the size of our dear Mary, [and] much such a person."^[1]

Writing under the pseudonym, "A Mountaineer," Jackson protested in the Richmond Examiner against what he perceived were the two main inequities of the Virginia Constitution - voting rights tied to land ownership, and representation in the legislature based on counties rather than population.

Jackson was elected to the Eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1803, to September 28, 1810. Because of their family ties, Jackson was viewed as a mouthpiece for James Madison, and Jackson's remarks from the floor of the House were often controversial. In 1809, while in Congress Jackson fought a duel with another Congressman, Joseph Pearson of North Carolina, and on the second fire was wounded in the hip. Jackson resigned because of his wounds, and was succeeded by William McKinley.

He served a second period in the Virginia General Assembly, from 1811 to 1812. On December 26, 1811, Jackson escaped a deadly fire that swept through a theater in Richmond, Virginia, killing, among others, Governor William Smith.^[2]

He was a brigadier general of the Virginia Militia in 1812.

Jackson was elected to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses (March 4, 1813-March 3, 1817). He declined to be a candidate for reelection in 1816 to the Fifteenth Congress, and succeeded by James Pindall.

Jackson was a member of the Board of Commissioners who met at the tavern at Rockfish Gap in 1818 and decided to locate the University of Virginia at Charlottesville - a group that included Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Marshall and among others, Philip C. Pendleton, another future judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia.

In 1819, St. George Tucker served as judge of the United States District Court for the District of Virginia. That year, Congress divided Virginia into two federal court districts, Eastern and Western. Jackson was nominated by James Monroe to serve as the first judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, and the Senate confirmed his nomination in February 24, 1819. He served until his death in Clarksburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). He was interred in the Old Jackson Cemetery.

Judge Jackson was succeeded by Philip C. Pendleton.

Two books have been written about Jackson's life.^[3]

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] Sources

• John G. Jackson at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Federal Judicial Center, biographical listing for John George Jackson
Hon. Armistead M. Dobie, "Federal District Judges in Virginia before the Civil War," 12 F.R.D. 451 (1951,1952) (viewed on Westlaw)

Political offices
Preceded by '	Member of the Virginia House of Delegates 1798 - 1801	Succeeded by '
Preceded by John Smith	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 1st congressional district March 4, 1803 - September 28, 1810	Succeeded by William McKinley
Preceded by '	Member of the Virginia House of Delegates 1810 - 1811	Succeeded by '
Preceded by Thomas Wilson	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 1st congressional district March 4, 1813 - March 3, 1817	Succeeded by James Pindall
Legal offices
Preceded by None	U.S. District Court Judge, Western Virginia February 24, 1819 - March 28, 1825	Succeeded by Philip C. Pendleton