Samuel D. Lecompte

SAMUEL D. LECOMPTE, first chief justice of the Territory of Kansas and afterward prominent on the bench of Leavenworth County, and a representative in both houses of the Legislature, was born in Dorchester County, Maryland, December 13, 1814. After graduating from Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, he studied law in Maryland and, upon being admitted to the bar, began practice in Carroll County, that state. He had served one term in the Maryland Legislature and become quite prominent politically, when he moved to Baltimore in 1854.

In October, 1854, President Pierce appointed Mr. Lecompte chief justice of the Territory of Kansas, which position he held until March 9, 1859. Upon retiring from the bench he located in Leavenworth and opened a law office. At the close of the Civil war he renounced his democratic beliefs and became a republican. Judge Lecompte served four years as probate judge of Leavenworth County; represented the county in the State Legislatures of 1867-68, and on April 15, 1874, was elected chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee of the First District. In 1887 he went to Kansas City to live with his son and died there on April 24, 1888.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
VOLUME 1 & 2
BIOGRAPHIES — VOLUMES 3, 4, & 5
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