William Sprigg (judge)

William Sprigg (1770 – September 9, 1827)^[1] was a Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, the Superior Court of the Orleans Territory and the highest court of the Illinois Territory.

Early life

Sprigg was born in 1770 in Prince George's County, Maryland to Joseph Sprigg and Hannah Lee. His uncle, Thomas Sprigg, was a Member of Congress from Maryland from 1793–1797 and his half-brother, Samuel Sprigg was Governor of Maryland from 1818-1820.

Career

Sprigg was an early pioneer and an attorney in Adams County, Ohio, then the Northwest Territory. When Ohio became a state in 1803, the state legislature appointed Sprigg to the Ohio Supreme Court. He served as a justice on the Supreme Court from April 1803 to April 1806 and again from 1808 to 1810. During the interim period, Sprigg was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson to serve on the highest court in the Territory of Orleans. In 1809, Sprigg was appointed by Governor Ninian Edwards a judge in the newly formed Illinois Territory.

Sprigg served on the Illinois Court for many years and when Illinois became a state, he became the center of a great controversy about the relative relationship between the judicial and legislative branch in Illinois. The result was that by April, 1818 Judge Sprigg was either removed or had resigned from the bench.^[2]

When Illinois became a state in December 1818, Sprigg sought the Illinois House of Representatives nomination for Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Illinois. He failed to win their approval, and moved to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he died September 9, 1827.^[1]

Memorials

Sprigg Township in Adams County, Ohio is named for Judge Sprigg.^[3]

References