Connally Findlay Trigg (judge)

Connally Trigg

Connally Findlay Trigg (March 8, 1810 – April 25, 1880) was a United States federal judge.

Born in Abingdon, Virginia, Trigg read law in 1833 and had a private practice in Abingdon until 1856. He was a member of the Abingdon Town Council beginning in 1835, and a Clerk of the Washington County Court in Abingdon from 1838 to 1852.^[1] A Whig, he ran for Congress in 1855, but was defeated by the Democratic incumbent, Fayette McMullen.^[2][3]

Following his defeat in the congressional election, Trigg moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he entered into private practice in partnership with Oliver Perry Temple. He left this partnership in 1859. Trigg largely avoided Knoxville politics until the secession crisis intensified in the weeks following the election of President Abraham Lincoln. During this crisis, Trigg remained a steadfast supporter of the Union. In February 1861, he was one of Knox County's pro-Union candidates for the proposed statewide secession convention (voters ultimately rejected holding the convention).^[2] In May and June 1861, he was one of Knox's delegates to the Unionist East Tennessee Convention. He served as chairman of the convention's business committee, which was tasked with drafting a set of grievances and resolutions.^[2]

On July 16, 1862, Trigg was nominated by President Abraham Lincoln to a joint appointment to the United States District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Tennessee, all vacated by West H. Humphreys, who had joined the Confederate judiciary. Trigg was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 17, 1862, and received his commission the same day. Trigg's service to the Western District was terminated by operation of law on June 14, 1878, with his assignment being reduced to the remaining districts. Trigg served on the Middle and Eastern districts until his death,^[1] in 1880, in Bristol, Tennessee.^[2]

References

1. • Connally Findlay Trigg at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
2. Oliver Perry Temple, Mary Boyce Temple (ed.), "Judge Connally F. Trigg," Notable Men of Tennessee (Cosmopolitan Press, 1912), pp. 208-212.
3. James Pinkney Hambleton, A History of the Political Campaign in Virginia, in 1855 (J.W. Randolph, 1856), p. 419.