Samuel Augustus Merritt

Samuel Augustus Merritt (August 15, 1827 – September 8, 1910) was an American lawyer, legislator, territorial delegate to the United States Congress, and jurist who held public office in California, Idaho Territory, and Utah Territory. Over the course of a long career in the American West, he participated in the political development of several frontier jurisdictions and later served as chief justice of the supreme court of the Territory of Utah.

Merritt was born in Staunton, Augusta County, Virginia, on August 15, 1827. He pursued classical studies in his youth and attended Washington College in Lexington, Virginia—an institution that later became Washington and Lee University—from which he was graduated in 1848. His education prepared him for professional and public life at a time when the nation was expanding rapidly westward, and shortly after completing his studies he joined the migration to the Pacific Coast.

In 1849, during the California Gold Rush, Merritt moved to Mariposa County, California. There he quickly entered public service, becoming county clerk and public administrator in 1850. He was elected to the California State Assembly and served in 1851 and 1852, representing the district that included Mariposa and Tulare counties. While engaged in these early legislative duties, he studied law, and in 1852 he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in California. Merritt continued his political career in the state legislature, serving in the California State Senate from 1857 to 1862, a period that spanned the years immediately preceding and including the early part of the Civil War. In 1862 he left California and moved to the newly organized Territory of Idaho, reflecting his continuing involvement in the political life of emerging western territories.

In Idaho Territory, Merritt aligned with the Democratic Party and became active in territorial politics. He was elected as a Democrat to serve as the territorial delegate to the Forty-second Congress, holding office from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1873. As a delegate, he represented the interests of Idaho Territory in Washington, D.C., participating in debates and advocating for legislation affecting the territory, although, like other territorial delegates, he did not possess a vote on the final passage of bills. He sought renomination in 1872 but was an unsuccessful candidate, and his service in Congress concluded at the expiration of his term.

After leaving Congress, Merritt moved in 1873 to Salt Lake City in the Territory of Utah, where he resumed the practice of law and became involved in mining operations, a significant sector of the regional economy. He established himself in the legal and civic life of Salt Lake City and, in addition to his private practice, held municipal office. From 1888 to 1890 he served as city attorney of Salt Lake City, providing legal counsel to the municipal government during a period of growth and increasing federal attention to territorial affairs. His prominence within the Democratic Party continued, and in 1892 he served as a member of the Democratic National Committee, linking Utah’s territorial politics to the broader national party organization.

Merritt’s legal and political experience culminated in his appointment as chief justice of the supreme court of the Territory of Utah, a position he held from 1894 to 1896. In that capacity he presided over the territory’s highest court in the years immediately preceding Utah’s admission to the Union as a state in 1896, playing a role in the administration of justice during a transitional period in the territory’s legal and political history. His judicial service marked the final major public office of a career that had spanned several decades and multiple western jurisdictions.

Samuel Augustus Merritt remained in Salt Lake City during his later years. He died there on September 8, 1910, at the age of 83. He was interred in Salt Lake City Cemetery, where his burial reflected his long association with the city and the territory whose legal and political institutions he had helped to shape.