July 4, 2016 / Joanne Yeck

EXTRA: Judge George Jefferson Hundley

George Jefferson Hundley, a key player in “The Famous Forbes Case,” was born near Mobile, Alabama on March 22, 1838. The son of Virginians Josiah and Cornelia Jefferson Hundley, he was educated at a private law school in Lexington, qualifying for the bar just as the War Between the States broke out. He served in the Confederate Army and, following the war, briefly taught school. He first made his home in Amelia County; later in life, he resided in Farmville, Prince Edward County. He was eighty-six years old when he died in March of 1924.

In 1870, he served as a State Senator for four years and was later elected to the House of Delegates for several terms. In 1909, in the capacity of Circuit Court Judge, Hundley presided over the cases concerning the murder of the Stewart brothers in Buckingham County. He was incensed when the venue was changed to the Hustings Court in Richmond.

Click here for the entire story: “The 1909 Buckingham Murders.”

His obituary in the Richmond Times-Dispatch closed with this comment:

An eloquent and forceful speaker, he rendered valuable service to the Democratic party in various State and national campaigns. Since 1898 when he was elected to the circuit bench, he was a member of the judiciary, and his record on the bench was a distinguished one.

Judge Hundley’s wife, who was Miss Lucy Waller Boyd, of Nelson County, preceded him to the grave many years ago.