Archibald W. O. Totten (November 25, 1809 – 1867) was a justice of the

Tennessee Supreme Court The Tennessee Supreme Court is the highest court in the state of Tennessee. The Supreme Court's three buildings are seated in Nashville, Knoxville, and Jackson, Tennessee. The Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, and four justice ...

from 1850 to 1855. Born in

Overton County, Tennessee Overton County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 22,511. Its county seat is Livingston, Tennessee, Livingston. Overton County is part ...

, his family moved to Gibson County in the west of the state when Totten was young.Albert D. Marks, "The Supreme Court of Tennessee", Part II, '' The Green Bag'', Volume 5 (1893), p. 180. Totten studied law to gain

admission to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

, and commenced the practice of law at the county-seat,

Trenton, Tennessee Trenton is the county seat and fourth largest city of Gibson County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 4,240. History Trenton was established in 1824 as a county seat for the newly cre ...

. After building a successful practice in Trenton, he moved to

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis and 130 Miles Southwest of Nashville, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population wa ...

, as that was where the Federal Courts for the Western Division of the State met. When William B. Turley resigned from the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1850, Totten was appointed to the seat, and on February 28, 1850 was elected to continue serving. On May 25, 1854, Totten became a member of first group of Tennessee Supreme Court justices to be elected by popular vote. As a justice, Totten was "not a man of preeminent ability, but he filled the measure of judicial duty", being described as "deliberate in the formation of his opinions, diligent in research, attached to established precedent, and could not be swayed from his conscientious convictions". He remained on the bench until his resignation on July 17, 1855. Totten was a member of the

Peace Conference of 1861 The Peace Conference of 1861 was a meeting of 131 leading American politicians in February 1861, at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the American Civil War. The conference's purpose was to avoid, if possible, the secession of ...

, held in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Totten died in 1867.

References

Justices of the Tennessee Supreme Court People from Overton County, Tennessee People of Tennessee in the American Civil War 1809 births 1867 deaths 19th-century Tennessee state court judges {{Tennessee-state-judge-stub