Thomas A. McBride

McBride was born on November 15, 1847 in Yamhill County, Oregon near Lafayette, Oregon.[1] He was one of fourteen children Doctor James McBride and his wife Mahala Miller had together.[1] One of Thomas’ younger brothers George W. McBride served as a United States Senator, while an older brother John R. McBride served in the house and as Idaho’s territorial chief justice.[1] Thomas attended school in Vancouver, Washington where he also read law, and then spent some time at what is now Linfield College.[1] He was then admitted to the bar on October 6, 1870.[1]

Thomas then practiced law in Lafayette, Oregon City, and then St. Helens from 1872 to 1877.[2] In 1876, he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives as a Republican from Columbia County.[3] In 1877, he moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he lived until 1880.[2] He then returned to Oregon and practiced at Oregon City before becoming the district attorney (DA) for Clatsop County.[4] He served as the DA until 1892.[4]

In 1892, McBride became Clatsop County Circuit Court judge, serving until 1909.[4] While serving on the court he sentenced two people to death by hanging, including the first legal hanging in Clatsop County, Oregon, on December 1, 1893.[4]

On May 1, 1909, Oregon Governor Frank W. Benson appointed McBride to the state supreme court to fill the vacancy created when justice Robert S. Bean resigned.[5][6] McBride then won a full six year-term in the 1914 election.[6] He was re-elected in 1920 and again in 1926.[6] During his time on the bench he was chief justice of the court from 1913 to 1915, 1917 to 1921, and then from 1923 to 1927.[6] Justice Thomas McBride died in office on September 9, 1930.[6]

McBride first married on February 7, 1874, to Mary E. Merrill of Columbia County, Oregon.[1][2] They had two children together.[1] Then in 1927 he married Lottie May Chappell.[4]