Justice John Catron, Grandson of Christopher

A MAN OF NOTE:  Justice John Catron


John Catron, born in 1781 in Grayson County, Virginia was the son of Johann Peter and Elizabeth Houk Kettering/Catron, and grandson of Christopher and Anna Maria Susanna Gose Kettering.  He became a Justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1837.  Referring to the 29-page booklet entitled, The Centenary of Associate Justice John Catron of the United States Supreme Court which was published in 1937 and presented at the 56th Annual Session of the Bar Association of Tennessee at Memphis by Walter Chandler, I found the following information:

     "On the 3rd day of March, one hundred years ago, and in the last hours of his second administration, President Jackson sent to the Senate the name of John Catron of Tennessee to be Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.1  Five days later and, singularly, in the administration of a different President, Martin Van Buren, the nomination was confirmed and John Catron entered on a distinguished service which was to continue for twenty-eight years through one of the critical periods of our country's history.  Judge Catron was the only Justice ever nominated by one President for the highest Court in the land and confirmed on that nomination in the term of another Chief Executive, and was the first Tennessean to sit on the 'supremest supreme court in the world.'

     "John Catron was of German descent.  His grandfather, Christopher (Stauffle)  Catron, immigrated to Pennsylvania from Holland in 1764 with his wife and several children, the oldest being Peter Catron, father of our subject.  The family removed to Virginia, and Peter Catron, born in Germany, served in the American Revolution.  John Catron was born in the now Grayson County, Virginia, in the year 1781.  In 1804 Peter Catron and his family moved to Wayne County, Kentucky where the parents resided during the remainder of their lives.2     "Probably because John Catron's father could not read English, the son insisted on studying English grammar in preference to Latin, much to the disgust of his teacher, James Witherspoon, a Presbyterian clergyman.  The story is told in the diary of S.H. Laughlin that Catron was passing through McMinnville, Tennessee on one occasion in 1812 and saw a copy of Blair's Rhetoric on a counter of Buchanan & Laughlin's store.  Although without ready cash, he arranged to buy the book on credit and returned later and paid the purchase price.3  Those familiar with that textbook know that it was used in the colleges for advanced study of the English language.  Schools were few and far between in the western country in those days, and it is no small wonder that young Catron was able to attain enviable proficiency in history, geography and literature.  The Bible, being the daily reader in the early schools, was thoroughly absorbed by the student.  Throughout his life John Catron enjoyed reading the classics, and was fascinated by Irving's Knickerbocker History of New York, Hume's History of England and Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.4

Justice John Catron

"........He (John Catron) was not an orator, did not have a pleasing voice or graceful gestures and did not present an especially methodical argument, but was earnest and resourceful, and his tenacity was without limit.  In appearance, John Catron was a commanding figure, more than six feet tall and of large frame.  He had penetrating black eyes, ample dark hair, a large nose and a square jaw.  His manner attracted attention and his supreme self-confidence begat the confidence of his clients."  (This picture was copied from the booklet, The Centenary of Associate Judge John Catron of the United States Supreme Court, and was taken in 1860 when he was 79 years of age.)


SOURCES: 

       1 The appointment was authorized by an Act passed after five o'clock PM on March 3, 1837, and the legislation marked the end of a long contest to extend the benefits of the Federal judicial system to all the States, equally. "Propositions to increase the number of Judges and of Circuits, though recommended at various times by Presidents Madison, Monroe,J. Q. Adams and Jackson, had failed to receive the approval of Congress,owing to its unwillingness to allow the new appointments to be made by the existing President." (The Supreme Court in United States History by Charles Warren, Vol 2, p 313.)If it was contemplated that President Jackson, with only a few hours to continue in office, would not have time to nominate the new Justices before adjournment of the 24th Congress, the speculation failed, because the names of John Catron and William Smith were sent to the Senate immediately after the bill was signed.

   2 Judge John Catron of the United States Supreme Court by Boutwell Dunlap, in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography,Vol. 28,pp.171-174.

    3 Sketches of Notable Men by S. H. Laughlin, in Tennessee Historical Magazine IV (1918), pp. 76-77.  Also J.C. Guild's Old Times in Tennessee, p. 459.
   4 Letter from Judge Catron in Portraits of Eminent Americans by John Livingston, Vol2, p. 805.

It goes without saying that this essay, which was written and presented to celebrate the one hundred year anniversary of his nomination to appointment to the Supreme Court, speaks volumes to Justice John Catron's accomplishments with little said about his personal life.  So be it.