Frederick Nash

Who was Frederick Nash?

Frederick Nash was an American lawyer and jurist from Hillsborough, North Carolina. He served on the North Carolina Supreme Court and was its chief justice from 1852 until his death.

Frederick was the son of Governor Abner Nash and Mary Jones Nash, Abner's second wife. He was born in New Bern, and attended Princeton University, graduating in 1799. He returned home to read law, and set up a practice in New Bern.

Nash moved to Hillsborough in 1807, and was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly, serving from 1813 to 1817. He was a judge of Superior Court from 1818 to 1824 and again from 1836 until his election as an associate judge of the state's Supreme Court in 1844. When Justice Thomas Ruffin resigned in 1852 he was raised to Chief Justice and held that post until his death.

He died at home in Hillsborough. Nash was married twice: first to Mary Kollock, then after her death to Anna Maria MacLean. After Frederick died, his daughters, Sally and Maria, opened a school for young ladies in the family home at Hillsborough. His grandson, Francis "Frank" Nash, was for many years an assistant attorney general for North Carolina and clerk of the state Supreme Court.