Jehu Elliott

Jehu Tindle Elliott (February 7, 1813 – February 12, 1876) was an American lawyer, politician, businessman, and judge who served in the Indiana House of Representatives, the Indiana Senate and as a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from January 3, 1865, to January 3, 1871. He also served as the President of the Cincinnati, Logansport & Chicago Railway, securing funding for the construction of a railroad in Central Indiana.

Biography Early life, education, and career Elliott was born in Richmond, Indiana to an abolitionist, Quaker family from Guilford County, North Carolina. One of twelve children, Elliott grew up poor, having to make his own shoes as a child. In 1823, Elliott's family moved to New Castle in Henry County, building and living in their own log cabin. Elliott was intermittently educated at local country schools. He eventually became a school teacher, teaching for two years before going to Centerville to study law with Martin R. Ray, a prominent local lawyer. In 1833, at age twenty, he was admitted to the bar.

Between 1834 and 1844, Elliott was elected to a variety of different offices. He served as Henry County Treasurer (1834–1839), Assistant Secretary for the Indiana House of Representatives (1835–1837), prosecutor for the Sixth Circuit (1839–1844, with the Sixth Circuit encompassing Henry, Delaware, Fayette, Grant, Randolph, Rush, Union, and Wayne counties). Additionally, Elliott served a single, three-year term in the Indiana Senate starting in 1839.

According to the Indianapolis Journal, Elliott—at the time a Liberal Republican—sought the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor in the 1872 election.

Personal life and death Elliott married Hanna Branson in 1833. Their son, William Henry Elliott (born 1844), was a lawyer, the owner of the newspaper, the Newcastle Courier, and a member of the U.S. Navy who served in the Spanish–American War and helped organized the postal system of Puerto Rico after the conflict.

Through his father, Abraham Elliott, Jehu Elliott is related to Byron Elliott, another Indiana Supreme Court justice.

Elliott died in New Castle in 1876.