Jesse Lynch Holman (October 24, 1784 – March 28, 1842) was an

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

attorney, politician and jurist, as well as a novelist, poet, city planner and preacher. He helped to found

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

, Franklin College and the

Indiana Historical Society The Indiana Historical Society (IHS) is one of the United States' oldest and largest historical societies. It describes itself as "Indiana's Storyteller". It is housed in the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center at 450 West Ohio Stree ...

. He was one of the first three Justices of the

Indiana Supreme Court The Indiana Supreme Court, established by Article 7 of the Indiana Constitution, is the highest judicial authority in the state of Indiana. Located in Indianapolis, the Court's chambers are in the north wing of the Indiana Statehouse. In Dec ...

and 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 District of Indiana The following are former United States district courts, which ceased to exist because they were subdivided into smaller units. With the exception of California, each of these courts initially covered an entire U.S. state, and was subdivided as the ...

Education and career

Born on October 24, 1784, near Danville,

District of Kentucky Kentucky County (aka Kentucke County), later the District of Kentucky, was formed by the Commonwealth of Virginia from the western portion (beyond the Big Sandy River and Cumberland Mountains) of Fincastle County effective 1777. The name of ...

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 ...

(now

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

), Holman grew up on the frontier. He

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 ...

and was admitted to the Kentucky bar on September 2, 1805.Blake, p. 26–27. He entered private practice in Pointe William (now Carrollton), Kentucky from 1805 to 1811, also practicing in New Castle, Kentucky and Frankfort, Kentucky. In 1808, Holman came to the

Indiana Territory The Indiana Territory, officially the Territory of Indiana, was created by an organic act that President of the United States, President John Adams signed into law on May 7, 1800, to form an Historic regions of the United States, organized incor ...

and acquired land in

Dearborn County Dearborn County is one of 92 counties of the U.S. state of Indiana. Located on the Ohio border near the southeast corner of the state, Dearborn County was formed in 1803 from a portion of Hamilton County, Ohio. In 2020, the population was 50,6 ...

.Blake, p. 28. He continued private practice in

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

, Indiana Territory (State of

from December 11, 1816) from 1811 to 1835, becoming a prominent politician and jurist. He was appointed by Governor

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States, serving from March 4 to April 4, 1841, the shortest presidency in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causin ...

to be prosecutor for

, Indiana Territory in 1811. He was the territorial representative for the Indiana Territory in 1814. He was President of the Indiana Territorial Council in 1814. He was a Judge of the Circuit Court of Indiana Territory from 1814 to 1816, with the Second Judicial Circuit from 1814 to 1816, and with the Third Judicial Circuit in 1816. He was appointed by

Governor of Indiana The governor of Indiana is the head of government of the U.S. state of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state gover ...

Jonathan Jennings Jonathan Jennings (March 27, 1784 – July 26, 1834) was an American politician who was the first governor of the State of Indiana and a nine-term congressman from Indiana. Born in either Hunterdon County, New Jersey, or Rockbridge County, Vi ...

to serve as a justice of the

, serving from 1817 to December 28, 1830.Gugin and St. Clair, p. 10. He was Superintendent of Schools for Dearborn County, Indiana from 1830 to 1834. He was a candidate for 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 ...

from Indiana in 1831.

Notable case as Indiana Supreme Court Justice

One of the most notable cases to appear before Justices Holman, James Scott, and Isaac N. Blackford was ''Lasselle v. State''. In this case the Indiana Supreme Court reversed a lower court's decision and held that "The framers of our constitution intended a total and entire prohibition of slavery in this State; and we can conceive of no form of words in which that intention could have been more clearly stated."

Federal judicial service

Holman received a

recess appointment In the United States, a recess appointment is an appointment by the President of the United States, president of a Officer of the United States, federal official when the United States Senate, U.S. Senate is in Recess (motion), recess. Under the ...

from President

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

on September 16, 1835, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

Benjamin Parke Benjamin Parke (September 2, 1777 – July 12, 1835) was an American lawyer, politician, militia officer, businessman, treaty negotiator in the Indiana Territory who also served as a United States federal judge in Indiana after it attained stateho ...

, being sworn in on October 8 of that year. He was nominated to the same position by President Jackson on March 21, 1836. After some political disagreements among the Indiana Congressional delegation were resolved, he was confirmed by the

on March 29, 1836, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on March 28, 1842, due to his death in Aurora. Originally buried at Veraestau, he was later moved to the Holman family plot at River View Cemetery. ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs
site mapparcel map
an
quad map

Other service

In addition to judicial duties, Holman was an active leader in Dearborn County's civic affairs. He helped plat the town of Aurora in 1819. A lifelong Baptist, Holman was active in the church's missionary work and Sunday school programs, helping to establish the First Baptist Church of Aurora in 1820 and the Indiana Bible Society in 1831.Blake, p. 42. Holman also supported public education. He helped found Aurora's public library and served as the superintendent for Dearborn County schools from 1832 to 1834. In 1834, during a break from political life, Holman became an ordained minister and preached at the First Baptist Church of Aurora.

Novelist

In 1808, Holman wrote a novel, ''The Prisoners of Niagara; or, Errors of Education.''

Family

In 1810, Holman married Elizabeth Masterson, the daughter of Judge Richard M. Masterson, a wealthy Kentucky landowner and jurist. Holman brought his wife and first child to Dearborn County in 1811 and built a home he named "

Veraestau Veraestau is a historic home located in Center Township, Dearborn County, Indiana. It was built in 1838, and is a two-story, Greek Revival style brick and frame dwelling. It incorporates an earlier brick extension to the original 1810 log cab ...

" on a bluff overlooking the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

.Blake, p. 25. He was the father of Congressman

William S. Holman William Steele Holman (September 6, 1822 – April 22, 1897) was a lawyer, judge and politician from Dearborn County, Indiana. He was a member of the Democratic Party who served four different stints as a U.S. Representative from 1859 to ...

(1822–1897).Blake, p. 51. Holman's daughter, Emmerine, married

Allen Hamilton Allen Hamilton (1798–1864) was a founding father of Fort Wayne in Allen County, Indiana. Biography Hamilton, an Irish emigrant, lived in Lawrenceburg in Dearborn County, Indiana, in 1820, when he married Emerine J. Holman, the daughter o ...

, a founder of

Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 United S ...

, Indiana.

References

Sources

* * Blake, George. "Jesse Lynch Holman: Pioneer Hoosier." ''Indiana Magazine of History'' 39 (March 1943). * Gugin, Linda C., and James E. St. Clair, eds. ''Justices of the Indiana Supreme Court''. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana Historical Society Press, 2010. * "Seeking a Federal Judgeship under Jackson." ''Indiana Magazine of History'' 35 (September 1939). * Shepard, Randall T., "Slave Cases and the Indiana Supreme Court." ''Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History'' 15 (Summer 2003) p. 34–41.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holman, Jesse Lynch 1784 births 1842 deaths Members of the Indiana Territorial Legislature 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American novelists Justices of the Indiana Supreme Court Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Indiana United States federal judges appointed by Andrew Jackson Franklin College (Indiana) People from Aurora, Indiana People from Carrollton, Kentucky People from New Castle, Kentucky Kentucky lawyers Indiana lawyers Politicians from Danville, Kentucky Politicians from Frankfort, Kentucky Writers from Indiana Writers from Danville, Kentucky Indiana Historical Society United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Baptists from Indiana American abolitionists