[111] He was highly esteemed and his appointment increased the respect of the people for the Court. Claiborne, pp. 231, note, and 141, 238. See Goodspeed, vol. i, p. 1073, for sketch. He died 1805, and not in 1810 as stated by Claiborne.
[112] Claiborne, pp. 242, 258, 283. He presided, with Judge Bruin, at the trial of Burr.
[113] He was probably appointed for the Washington District, but evidently never served. He was one of the Land Commissioners for the District East of Pearl river, appointed under Act of Congress, of March 3, 1803—Pickett's Alabama, vol. ii, p. 196.
[114] Judge for Washington District, now in Ala. Born in Taunton, England. He was the most prominent and the strongest of the early public men in Alabama, and died in 1824. An excellent account of his life is in Claiborne, p. 309, note. See also Brewer's Alabama (1872), p. 575; Lynch, p. 21-2; and Pickett's Alabama, vol. ii, pp. 204-5.
[115] Evidently never accepted appointment, as on Mar. 7, 1809, still a resident of Ga., he was appointed a Judge in Illinois. The latter place he also appears not to have accepted, as in 1810 he became Judge for Madison Co., M. T.
[116] Martin's Louisiana (1882), p. xxiii. Never received a permanent commission, but on Jan. 19, 1806, became a Judge in Orleans Territory. Son of Gov. George Matthews, of Ga. See also Gilmer's Georgians.
[117] Claiborne, p. 356; and Lynch, pp. 135-7.
[118] Resigned and became a Judge in Orleans Territory, March 21, 1810. For excellent memoir, by Judge W. W. Howse, see Martin's Louisiana (1882).
[119] See note supra. He accepted this appointment, and presided in the courts of Madison county, and later of other counties in the Northern part of Alabama territory until 1818.
[120] Grandfather of James Harris Fitts, Tuscaloosa, Ala.—Memorial Record of Alabama (1893), vol ii, p. 1090. He has sometimes been confounded with Gideon Fitz, of Va., who was a brother-in-law of Gov. Robert Williams. Mrs. Sallie B. Morgan Green, so well known in Miss. as a writer, but now of Calusa, Cal., is a grand daughter of Gideon Fitz, See Claiborne, pp. 161 note, 352; and Goodspeed, vol. i, p. 109.