Thomas Ringland Stockdale (March 28, 1828 – January 8, 1899) was a U.S. representative from Mississippi from 1886 to 1895, and a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi from 1896 to 1897.
Biography Born at West Union Church near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, Stockdale graduated from Jefferson College (now Washington & Jefferson College) in 1856 and received a master's degree in 1859.Richard Zuczek, Encyclopedia of the Reconstruction Era, Volume 1, 2006, page 613Thomas H. Somerville, "A Sketch of the Supreme Court of Mississippi", in Horace W. Fuller, ed., The Green Bag, Vol. XI (1899), p. 515. He taught school in Pike County, Mississippi,Firebird Press, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi Volume 2, Part 2, 1999, pages 840 to 841 received his law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1859 and practiced in Woodville, Mississippi.John Howard Brown, The Cyclopedia of American Biography, Volume 7, page 219
During the Civil War, he served in the Confederate States Army. Enlisting as a private in the 16th Mississippi Infantry in 1861, he was promoted to lieutenant, captain and major, and served as regimental adjutant. He later commanded a battalion in the 4th Mississippi Cavalry Regiment and then served as the regiment's second in command with the rank of lieutenant colonel.Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta Quarterly, January, 1891, page 194Broadfoot Publishing, Confederate Military History: Mississippi, 1987, page 481
After the war Stockdale resumed the practice of law in Summit, Mississippi. He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1868. He was also a Democratic presidential elector in 1872 and 1884.Dunbar Rowland, Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Volume 2, 1907, page 734
Stockdale was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1886 and served four terms, March 4, 1887 to March 3, 1895. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1894.Thomas William Herringshaw, Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century, 1901, page 894Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Mississippi Official and Statistical Register, 1904, pages 315 to 317Atlanta Constitution, , October 8, 1894New York Times, Missouri Democratic; They Elect Twelve Out of the Fifteen Members of Congress, November 7, 1894
In 1896 Stockdale was appointed by Governor Anselm J. McLaurin to fill a vacancy as a justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court and he served until 1897.Leslie Southwick, Mississippi Supreme Court Elections: A Historical Perspective 1916-1996, 18 Miss. C. L. Rev. 115 (1997-1998).Mississippi Supreme Court, Cases Argued and Decided in the Supreme Court of Mississippi, Volume 74, 1898, page iii
He died in Summit, Mississippi on January 8, 1899, and was interred in Summit's Woodlawn Cemetery.Star Publishing Company, Reunion Proceedings of the Jefferson Class of '56, 1902, page 28Thomas E. Spencer, Where They're Buried, 2009, page 213Baltimore Sun, , January 10, 1899
Stockdale's home has been preserved by the Summit Historical Society, and the grounds of his home also contain a memorial to Stockdale.Summit Historical Society, Stockdale Dedication page, accessed November 19, 2012
References
External links