Charles M. Thacker

Charles M. Thacker (1866–1918) was a justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court from 1915 to 1918.

Biography Charles M. Thacker was born January 17, 1866, and raised on his father's farm in Brunswick County, Virginia. He moved to Texas, settling first in Ennis, where he managed to find work as a scribe and general helper for an elderly man who was researching what he called "lost titles" to Texas lands. This job lasted about a year, long enough for Thacker to realize that he would never earn enough money to return to Virginia to settle down. He decided to learn bookkeeping, so that he could at least support himself with a regular salary. He took a few courses, but seized an opportunity to work in a law office and learn the subject while doing work for the owners of the practice. After about one year of "reading the law," he was admitted to the bar on June 20, 1888, by the District Court in Dallas. He soon got a job with a bookkeeping firm, but the firm went out of business before even paying his first month's salary. Besides, his health was suffering, so Thacker decided to move to a higher altitude and drier climate in northwestern Texas. A friend gave him five dollars and some charitable lawyers gave him some old law books so he could make the journey.

After visiting several towns, Thacker moved to Mangum, (Thoburn says that Magnum was just a village when Thacker arrived there, and that he had only fifty cents left in his pocket.) He was appointed as county attorney in August, 1889, then resigned to start publishing a newspaper, and was appointed as county judge on February 8, 1892.

Life in Oklahoma Thomas H. Doyle, a member of the Oklahoma Supreme court and a former colleague of Judge Thacker, described Thacker's political history in his memorial. While old Greer County was still part of Texas, Thacker had already served as county attorney and county judge. (On March 16, 1896, the U.S.) Supreme Court ruled that old Greer County belonged in Oklahoma Territory, and not in the state of Texas.