Jesse Lynch Holman

Jesse Lynch Holman (October 24, 1784 – March 18, 1842) was an Indiana lawyer, politician, and jurist, as well as a novelist, poet, city planner, and preacher. Holman also helped found Indiana University, Franklin College, and the Indiana Historical Society. Most notably, Holman was one of the first three justices of the Indiana Supreme Court and later served as a U. S. federal district judge.

Born near Danville, Kentucky, on October 24, 1784, Holman grew up on the frontier. He read law and was admitted to the Kentucky bar on September 2, 1805. Holman established a private practice at Port William, now called Carrollton, Kentucky, and also practiced law at New Castle and later at Frankfort, Kentucky.

In 1808 Holman came to the Indiana Territory and acquired land in Dearborn County. That same year Holman wrote a novel, The Prisoners of Niagara; or, Errors of Education. In 1810 Holman married Elizabeth Masterson, the daughter of Judge Richard M. Masterson, a wealthy Kentucky landowner and jurist. Holman brought his wife and first child to Dearborn County in 1811 and built a home he named "Veraestau" on a bluff overlooking the Ohio River.

From 1811 to 1830 Holman maintained a private law practice in Aurora, Dearborn County, Indiana, and became a prominent politician and jurist. In 1811 Holman was appointed a district prosecuting attorney for Dearborn County, Indiana Territory. In 1814 he was elected to Indiana's territorial legislature and served as president of the Indiana Territorial Council. From 1814 to 1816 Holman was a judge for the Indiana Territory's Second Judicial Circuit Court. In 1816 he also served a judge for the Third Judicial Circuit Court.

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