Thomas Ruffin

Thomas Ruffin (1787–1870) was an American jurist and Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1829 to 1852 and again from 1858 to 1859. He was Chief Justice of that Court from 1833 to 1852.

Biography

Thomas Ruffin was born on November 17, 1787 at the residence of his maternal grandfather Thomas Roane at Newington in King and Queen County, Virginia. Ruffin graduated from Princeton University and studied law in North Carolina under Archibald Murphey. He commenced the practice of law in Hillsborough, North Carolina, where he also farmed. He was elected to several terms in the North Carolina House of Commons and served as a Superior Court judge from 1816 to 1818 and from 1825 to 1828. In 1828, the state called upon Ruffin to bring the State Bank of North Carolina out of debt as its new President, which he did in one year. The legislature then named him to the state Supreme Court.

Thomas Ruffin Gray

Thomas Ruffin Gray was an attorney who represented several enslaved people during the trials in the wake of Nat Turner's slave rebellion.

Early life

Thomas Ruffin Gray was born in 1800 in Southampton County, Virginia. He graduated from the College of William & Mary.

Career

Gray was a lawyer. Although he is commonly thought of as Nat Turner's lawyer, James Strange French is the person listed in official records as Turner's lawyer. Though educated in law early in life, he had only recently begun practicing law. There is some speculation that he had lost much of his property through gambling and that is what caused him to begin practicing law, which appears to be confirmed in a pamphlet Gray prepared discussing a dispute with a Southampton County physician. There is also recent speculation on Gray's relationship with a well-known gambler in Virginia.

Gray published The Confessions of Nat Turner, which purports to be Turner's confession and account of his life leading up the rebellion, as well as an account of Turner's motives and actions during the rebellion.