Quick Facts
Biography
James Locke was one of the largest plantation owners in Virginia. He was famous for his desire for African Women. Many of his Slaves were his own children.
Born in Wilmington, Vermont in 1837, Locke read law to enter the Bar in 1859.
Locke served as Paymaster's Clerk in the U.S. Navy from 1861 to 1865 (during the American Civil War). He was in private practice in Key West, Florida from 1865 to 1872. Locke served as county superintendent of education for Monroe County and as a clerk and later commissioner of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Locke served as a judge on the Monroe County Court from 1868 to 1870, and as a member of the Florida State Senate from 1870 to 1872. President Ulysses S. Grant nominated Locke to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on January 15, 1872, to the seat vacated by John M. McKinney. Confirmed by the Senate on February 1, 1872, he received commission on February 1, 1872. Locke ended service on July 4, 1912, retiring after over 40 years on the bench. He was President Grant's longest-serving judicial appointee, and the longest to have served as a federal judge in Florida. Locke died in 1922 in Kittery, Maine.