Samuel A. Kingman.
Samuel A. Kingman was the Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court from 1867 to 1876.
Sam Kingman was born in Worthington, Massachusetts, on June 26, 1818, to Isaiah and Lucy Kingman. He received his education in public schools and at Mountain Academy in Worthington. At the age of 17, he began teaching. Two years later, he moved to Kentucky, where he taught school and studied law. After being admitted to the bar, he practiced law in Carrollton, Kentucky, before relocating to Smithland, Kentucky. There, he served as County Clerk and District Attorney for three years, from 1849 to 1851. He also represented the county in the State Legislature and participated in framing a new state constitution. On October 29, 1844, Sam married Matilda Willets from Terre Haute, Indiana, and the couple eventually had two children. In 1857, he moved his family to Knoxville, Iowa, and about a year later, they became residents of Kansas.
For six months, he was located in Leavenworth, then took up a claim in Brown County, near the site of Horton. Subsequently, he moved to Hiawatha and opened a law office. In 1859, he was a member of the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, and the same year, he was one of the three commissioners appointed by the legislature to adjust the territorial claims. When Kansas became a state, Kingman was nominated for Associate Justice on the Union Republican ticket but was defeated. Two years later, he was elected Chief Justice and re-elected in 1872.
He resigned from the bench in 1876 because of ill health. Later, he was appointed State Librarian but was compelled to give up this position for the same reason. He was the first president of the Kansas State Historical Society and a director of it until his death. He was also President of the State Judicial Association and the Kansas State Bar Association. Judge Kingman was a Whig until the formation of the Republican party, when he became one of its staunch supporters. Judge Kingman died at Topeka on September 9, 1904. Kingman County was named in his honor.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated June 2025.
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