George Moffett Harrison

Who was George Moffett Harrison?

George Moffett Harrison was born at Staunton, Virginia. He received his early education from his father. When he was sixteen, the war began and he enlisted in the Confederate Army. He served in the army during the entire war and returned home in 1865. For several years, he studied at home and, in 1869, entered the University of Virginia Law School. Finishing there in the summer of 1870, he was admitted to the bar and started practicing in Staunton. In 1890, he was a charter member of The Virginia Bar Association.

In 1894, the Virginia General Assembly elected judges to the Supreme Court of Appeals to succeed the Readjuster Party court, and Judge Harrison was one of the five chosen at that time. On November 16, 1916, he was elected president of the court but resigned March 6, 1917, after having served on the court for slightly over twenty-two years. He returned to private practice in Staunton.

He was the great-great-grandfather of Edward Norton.