John Faucheraud Grimké

John Faucheraud Grimké (Dec. 16, 1752 - Aug. 9, 1819) was an American jurist who served as the Senior Associate Justice, the equivalent of Chief Justice, of the South Carolina Supreme Court. He also served in the South Carolina state legislature. He was mayor of Charleston, South Carolina from 1786 to 1788.

Educated in the law in London, Grimké signed, with Benjamin Franklin and others, a 1774 petition to King George III and the British government protesting the Boston Port Law. At the beginning of hostilities, he returned home and fought through the American Revolutionary War as lieutenant colonel of artillery. He served as an officer under Colonel Samuel Elbert, under the extended Georgia command of Major General Robert Howe, in 1778.

Grimké was elected a judge of the superior court in 1783, and in 1799 became senior associate. Princeton gave him the degree of LL.D in 1789. As a member of the legislature, he served as speaker of the house in 1785-'6, and a member of the convention of 1788 that adopted the Federal constitution.

Grimké died at a spa in Long Branch, New Jersey attended by his daughter Sarah.

The name Grimké derives from Huguenot ancestors who came to South Carolina in the 17th century.

Publications

In 1785 Grimké served as a member of a three man commission designated to revise, digest and publish the state laws. While the commission’s final report was not adopted by the state, some recommendations were adopted into law. Grimké’s research resulted in the publication of "Public Laws of the State of South Carolina" (Philadelphia, 1790), which served for several decades as a standard legal reference. The book contains information on the English statutes which extended to or were generally received in the American Colonies; and includes references to English cases and decisions on those statutes.

He also published "Revised Edition of the Laws of South Carolina to 1789," "Law of Executors for South Carolina," “Probate Directory,", and "Duty of Justices of the Peace" (2nd ed., 1796).

Family

Grimké was a member of Charleston’s upper class and was well known in society. His wife, Mary Smith Grimké, came from a wealthy Charleston family, and the couple maintained a large slave population at their plantation in Beaufort, South Carolina. Grimke was wealthy not only through his good marriage, but through a family inheritance and his personally successful plantation management, investment, and land acquisition. The Grimkés were religious and attended Episcopal services.

John and Mary Grimké had fourteen children, three of whom died in infancy. His children include attorney and reformer Thomas Smith Grimké and Sarah Moore Grimké and Angelina Grimké Weld, noted orators and abolitionists. His bi-racial grandchildren, through his son Henry, include journalist and diplomat Archibald Grimké, and Francis J. Grimké, a Presbyterian minister who graduated from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) and Princeton Theological Seminary.

Reference

* Lerner, Gerda, "The Grimke Sisters From South Carolina: Pioneers for Women's Rights and Abolition". New York, Schocken Books, 1971 and The University of North Carolina Press, Cary, North Carolina, 1998. ISBN 0195106032