Draft:William B. Griffith

William B. Griffith (17__ – 1827) was a Mississippi attorney and orator who was elected by the legislature as a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi in February 1827, but declined the office.

For a time in the 1820s, Griffith had a law partnership with a young John A. Quitman.

"William B. Griffith was a native of the State of Maryland. He was of a wealthy family, and possessed the advantages of early culture and a finished education. He had also studied law, and acquired a knowledge of the elements of that science prior to his removal to Mississippi. He located at Natchez about the year 1818, and began his professional career at that Temple Bar of the West, where he soon attained distinction; and having formed a co-partnership with John A. Quitman, the firm became one of the most celebrated in the State.

Griffith was "said to have been the most polished orator that had yet appeared in Mississippi"

Griffith died of yellow fever in the summer of 1829, leaving a young and accomplished wife, the daughter of Judge Edward Turner, afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Court."

Obituary has Griffith dead by November 10, 1827.

"[George Winchester] was a candidate for judge of the supreme court in February, 1827, to succeed Hampton, but the vote was 19 to 16, for William B. Griffith. When the latter declined, the governor appointed Judge Winchester."