Francis T. Hord

Francis Triplett Hord Jr. (November 24, 1835 – March 8, 1912) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge who served as the thirteenth Indiana Attorney General from November 6, 1882, to November 22, 1886.

Biography Early life and education Hord was born in Maysville, Kentucky. His father, Francis Sr., was a lawyer, government surveyor of the lands of the Upper Mississippi River, judge of the Kentucky Circuit Court, director of the Bank of Northern Kentucky in Maysville, and a pro-Unionist during the Civil War. His wife, the mother of Francis Jr., Elizabeth Scott Hord, descended from a prominent family from York County, Virginia. The older brother of Francis Jr., Oscar B. Hord, also served as Indiana Attorney General from 1862 to 1864.

Hord was elected judge of Indiana's Ninth Circuit Court in 1892 after "hundreds of citizens" signed a petition to put his name on the ballot for the election. He served on the bench until 1904.

In 1897, following the death of William S. Holman (a U.S. Representative from Indiana), Governor Isaac P. Gray nominated Hord to assume his seat in Congress. Hord declined the nomination, just as he had when offered Kerr's seat.

Personal life and death Hord was a skilled public speaker and was called "the silver-tongued orator of the West."

Hord was a friend of Thomas A. Hendricks, Indiana Governor and U.S. Vice President under Grover Cleveland. In 1885, Hord traveled to Washington, D.C. as a personal guest of the Vice President.

Hord married Emma Banfield. Their son, William Banfield Hord, also became a lawyer, studying law with his father and becoming Deputy Indiana Attorney General from 1882 to 1887 (under his father and under Louis T. Michener). William B. was later hired as attorney and general counsel for a gasworks and waterworks corporation in Chicago and was then employed by a large banking-house in New York City to purchase the debt accrued by the U.S. Government to the Cherokee Nation following the government's purchase of the Cherokee Outlet.

Hord died in Indianapolis in 1912.