George A. Brayton

Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice George A. Brayton, from The Green Bag (1890).

George A. Brayton (1803 – April 21, 1880) was a justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court from 1843 to 1874, serving as chief justice from 1868 to 1874.

Born in Warwick, Rhode Island, Brayton graduated from Brown University in 1824, and studied law in the office of Albert C. Greene, afterwards Attorney-General of the State and United States Senator, and at the Litchfield Law School.^[1] In 1832, and again in 1843, Brayton served in the Rhode Island General Assembly. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1842.^[1]

In June 1843 Brayton was elected an associate justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and on March 13, 1868, after nearly twenty-five years of service, became chief justice. Brayton resigned on May 28, 1874, after the longest term of judicial service in the history of the State.^[1][2]

Brayton lived for a time at the historic Gen. James Mitchell Varnum House in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.^[3]

References

1. Stephen O. Edwards, "The Supreme Court of Rhode Island", in Horace Williams Fuller, et al., eds., The Green Bag, Vol. 2. (1890), p. 539-540.
2. Manual - the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (1891), p. 208-13.
3. "NRHP nomination for General James Mitchell Varnum House" (PDF). Rhode Island Preservation. Retrieved 2014-09-04.

Political offices
Preceded by Newly constituted court	Associate Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court 1843–1868	Succeeded by Walter S. Burgess
Preceded by Charles S. Bradley	Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court 1868–1874	Succeeded by Thomas Durfee