Notes for Robert Trimble: Robert and his two brothers were educated by their McMillan uncles who gave them the best possible instruction to be had at that early day when school houses were almost unknown in that area of Kentucky. His portrait hangs in the Bourbon county courthouse, and Trimble County, Kentucky was named in his honor.
"Robert Trimble, judge of the court of appeals and of the United States district court of Kentucky and United States supreme court, was born in Berkeley County, Virginia, and when three years old was brought by his parents to Kentucky. He received but the imperfect rudiments of an education. He, however, improved himself by teaching for a few years and reading carefully the scanty libraries afforded by his neighborhood. He began the study of law under the direction of George Nicholas, later under James Brown, and in 1803 was licensed by the court of appeals to practice his profession.
He commenced his career in Paris, and the same year was elected a member of the legislature from Bourbon county; but, politics not being congenial to his disposition or taste, he ever afterward refused to be a candidate for office. He devoted himself exclusively to his profession, and rapidly rose to the first class of jurists. In 1808 he was commissioned second judge of the court of appeals. He retained that office only a short time, but long enough to greatly distinguish himself in it by his rectitude, learning and ability. He was appointed chief justice of Kentucky in 1810, but in consequence of his limited circumstances declined the first judicial station of the commonwealth. After retiring from the bench he resumed with great assiduity the practive of his profession, and in 1813 was appointed United States district attorney for the state, and in 1817 he was appointed by John Quincy Adams to the supreme court of the United States. He died August 25, 1828, in his fifty-second year and in the full vigor of his powers.
He was not only one of the first lawyers of the state but also one of the most able men of the nation. That eminent jurist, Judge Story, said of him: "Men might differ with respect to the rank of other lawyers, but all admitted that none was superior to Robert Trimble in talent, in learning, in acuteness, in sagacity."
His private life was marked by the same admirable traits that distinguished his public career, his simple habits and noble nature shedding a luster on his entire life.
His brother, John Trimble, was a lawyer of ability and judge of the "new" court of appeals of Kentucky."
Levin, H. editor, Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, p 149-50.
Children of Robert Trimble and Nancy Timberlake are:
Judge Robert Trimble (b. 1776, d. August 25, 1828)
Notes for Robert Trimble: