Connally Findlay Trigg (March 8, 1810 – April 25, 1880) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee (in case citations, E.D. Tenn.) is the federal court in the Sixth Circuit whose jurisdiction covers most of East Tennessee and a portion of Middle Tennessee. The court has ju ...

, the

United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee The United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (in case citations, M.D. Tenn.) is the federal trial court for most of Middle Tennessee. Based at the Estes Kefauver Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Nashville ...

and the

United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee The United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee (in case citations, W.D. Tenn.) is the federal district court covering the western part of the state of Tennessee. Appeals from the Western District of Tennessee are taken to ...

Education and career

Born on March 8, 1810, in Abingdon,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, Trigg

read law Reading law was the primary method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship un ...

in 1833. He entered private practice in Abingdon until 1856. He was a town councilman for Abingdon starting in 1835. He was clerk of the Washington County, Virginia Court from 1838 to 1852. Trigg was elected to the

Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 The Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 was an assembly of elected delegates chosen by the voters to write the fundamental law of Virginia. It is known as the Reform Convention because it liberalized Virginia political institutions. Backgro ...

, one of four chosen for the delegate district including his home Washington County and

Smyth Smyth is an early variant of the common surname Smith (surname), Smith commonly found in Ireland.Citation: Bardsley, 1901 Shown below are notable people who share the surname "Smyth". Notable people sharing the Smyth surname Listed here are peop ...

and

Wythe A wythe is a continuous vertical section of masonry one unit in thickness. A wythe may be independent of, or interlocked with, the adjoining wythe(s). A single wythe of brick that is not structural in nature is referred to as a masonry veneer. ...

Counties. A Whig, he ran for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

in 1855, but was defeated by the Democratic incumbent,

Fayette McMullen LaFayette "Fayette" McMullen (May 18, 1805 – November 8, 1880) was a 19th-century politician, driver, teamster and banker from the U.S. state of Virginia and the second appointed Governor of Washington Territory. Early life and family Born ...

.Oliver Perry Temple, Mary Boyce Temple (ed.),
Judge Connally F. Trigg
" ''Notable Men of Tennessee'' (Cosmopolitan Press, 1912), pp. 208-212.James Pinkney Hambleton,
A History of the Political Campaign in Virginia, in 1855
' (J.W. Randolph, 1856), p. 419. He continued private practice in

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

from 1856 to 1861. From 1856 to 1861, he was in partnership with

Oliver Perry Temple Oliver Perry Temple (January 27, 1820 – November 2, 1907) was an American attorney, author, judge, and economic promoter active primarily in East Tennessee in the latter half of the 19th century.Mary Rothrock, ''The French Broad-Holston Country: ...

Unionist

Trigg largely avoided Knoxville politics until the secession crisis intensified in the weeks following the election of President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

. 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). In May and June 1861, he was one of Knox's delegates to the Unionist

East Tennessee Convention The East Tennessee Convention was an assembly of Southern Unionist delegates primarily from East Tennessee that met on three occasions during the Civil War. The convention most notably declared the secessionist actions taken by the Tennessee sta ...

. He served as chairman of the convention's business committee, which was tasked with drafting a set of grievances and resolutions.

Federal judicial service

Trigg was nominated by President

on July 16, 1862, to a joint seat on the

, the

and the

vacated by Judge

West Hughes Humphreys West Hughes Humphreys (August 26, 1806 – October 16, 1882) was the 3rd Attorney General of Tennessee and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, the United States District Court ...

, who had been removed from office by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on June 26, 1862, for siding with the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

. He was confirmed by the

on July 17, 1862, and received his commission the same day. He was reassigned to serve only in the Eastern District and Middle District on June 14, 1878. His service terminated on April 25, 1880, due to his death in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, Tennessee.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trigg, Connally Findlay 1810 births 1880 deaths Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee Judges of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee United States federal judges appointed by Abraham Lincoln Southern Unionists in the American Civil War 19th-century American politicians United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law