George C. Wright (1855 - 1860)
Served on the Iowa
Supreme Court from January 11, 1855, to January 11, 1860; and again from June
26, 1860, when he was appointed to fill the vacancy occasioned the death of
Justice Lacon D. Stockton, until he resigned September 1, 1870. He was Chief
Justice for seven years.
Born at Bloomington,
Indiana, in 1820. He was graduated from Indiana University in 1839, and located
the next year at Keosauqua, Iowa. He was a member of the Second and Third
General Assemblies. In 1870 he went to the United States Senate for one
six-year term.
In collaboration with
Justice C. C. Cole, he established at Des Moines the first law school west of
the Mississippi river. This school later became the Law Department of the
University of Iowa. Justice Wright was a lawyer, judge, legislator, teacher,
and business man. For many years he was a director of the Rock Island Railroad.
He was president of the State Agricultural Society, president of the Polk
County Savings Bank, and an organizer of the Pioneer Lawmakers Association. His
brother was a Governor of Indiana.
Justice Wright died in
Des Moines in 1896.
