From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I, pages 545-546.
Brant & Fuller, 1890.


GEORGE W. THOMPSON

Judge George W. Thompson, who sat upon the bench of the old twentieth 
judicial circuit of Virginia, was a native of Ohio, received his 
early education at the Jefferson college, now the Washington and 
Jefferson college, Penn., where he graduated in the fall of 1824.  He 
then studied law under the late William B. Hubbard, at the time a 
prominent and successful lawyer at St. Clairsville.  He was admitted 
to the bar in the fall of 1826, when he went to Richmond to improve 
his studies, returning to St. Clairsville in 1828, where he practiced 
until 1837.  He came to Wheeling in 1837, and entered upon the 
practice of law, succeeding therein until his election to congress in 
1851.  He was appointed in a joint commission with Mr. William Green 
and Mr. William C. Reeves on the part of Virginia, and Messrs. Thomas 
Ewing, John Brough and James Collins for Ohio, to settle the 
jurisdiction of the Ohio river between the two states named.  He was 
appointed United States district attorney by President James K. Polk, 
between 1844 and 1848, whence, the following year, he was elected to 
the judgeship in the twentieth judicial circuit, and ably officiated 
in circuit and district courts.  During his term in congress, the 
judge introduced a bill and secured its passage in opposition to a 
previous decree by the supreme court of the United States for the 
abatement and removal of the Wheeling bridge.  This was a most 
important achievement, and probably one of the finest constitutional 
distinctions ever made between legislative and judicial power, as it 
set aside the effect of a judicial decree of that court by an act of 
congress, and secured the foundation for all future legislation on 
crossing navigable streams in the United States.  In 1860, our 
subject was re-elected to the judgeship in the circuit and district 
courts of Virginia by a majority of two to one over his opponent, Mr. 
Berkshire.  He held the office till July, 1861, when his removal was 
effected in consequence of a refusal to take the oath of office to 
support what he conscientiously believed to be the unconstitutional 
actions of those who undertook to set up the present state of West 
Virginia.  In addition to his distinguished services on the bench and 
in congress, judge Thompson was the author of several works of 
literary merit.  In 1866 there was issued from the press under his 
name, "The Living Forces."  This was followed by others, and much 
manuscript was left unpublished at the time of his death.               


(Linda Fluharty)