Born on August 4, 1824, in Parkersburg, Virginia, Jackson's family included several generations of lawyers, politicians and judges. His grandfather, Judge John G. Jackson, who died shortly after young John J. Jackson Jr.'s birth, had been a U.S. Congressman as well as U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Virginia. Young John J. Jackson Jr. received a private education near home, then traveled north to attend the College of New Jersey, from which he graduated in 1845. He then read law and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1847.
Legal and political career
Jackson began his private legal practice in Wirt County, Virginia from 1847 to 1848. Local judges appointed Jackson as the first Wirt County commonwealth attorney in 1848, the year the county was established from portions of Wood County and Jackson County. The following year his father's friend Judge David A. McComas appointed Jackson Jr. as the commonwealth attorney for more populated Ritchie County, where he served 1849 until 1850. Residents of Wood county operated considerable businesses in both counties, as well as speculated in land and other resources; the Jackson family had bought land near Harrisville in connection with James B. Blair and in Wirt county near the Little Kanawha River in conjunction with William P. Rathbone and his son in law Peter G. Van Winkle. Probably Jackson continued to reside at home, helped his father attend the family's considerable business interests, and only traveled to the outlying counties when court was in session. Jackson Jr. was appointed the Commonwealth attorney for Wood County and served from 1850 to 1851, when the post became elective under the new state constitution. When Jackson resumed his private legal practice, Wood County voters elected him as one of their delegates in the Virginia House of Delegates. Jackson served part-time from 1852 to 1855, succeeding his cousin and business associate William Lowther Jackson and being succeeded by Arthur I. Boreman. After leaving the legislature as 1855 closed, Jackson Jr. concentrated on his family's real estate and other business interests, as well as his private legal practice in Parkersburg until 1861.
Jackson ruled in 1870 that West Virginia's ex-Confederates were eligible to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment, which had profound effects on the polity in West Virginia.
Tenure
Because Jackson had served from before the creation of the District of West Virginia until after its subdivision, Jackson was the only Judge to ever sit on the United States District Court for the District of West Virginia. Having served for nearly forty-four years, including over forty years in the federal courts in West Virginia, Jackson was known as "the Iron Judge". Jackson became the longest-serving judge appointed by Lincoln.
Jackson's father, General John Jay Jackson of Wood County attended the Wheeling Convention on West Virginia statehood. Jackson's brother Jacob B. Jackson served as Governor of West Virginia and his other brother was Circuit Judge and Congressman James M. Jackson. Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was a cousin. His grandfather, John G. Jackson, preceded him as Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. His great-grandfathers included George Jackson. The Jackson Memorial Fountain at Parkersburg is dedicated to the Jackson family.
