Mathias McGirk

Mathias McGirk (1783–1842) of Montgomery County, Missouri, was a Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court from 1821 to 1841.

Born in Tennessee, McGirk moved to St. Louis around 1814, but soon relocated to Montgomery County. He served in the Missouri General Assembly, and was thereafter appointed to the court.[1]

He authored Rachel v. Walker, 4 Mo. 350 (1836), which freed an enslaved woman who had been taken to free territory by an Army officer. Walker was an important predecessor to the Dred Scott case. Mathias' brother, Isaac McGirk, represented Marguerite Scypion in her claim for freedom in the Missouri courts in 1805.

References

  1. ↑ The Green Bag (1891), Vol. 3, p. 165.
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