HARGIS, Thomas F., jurist, born in Breathitt county, Kentucky, 24 June, 1842. He removed with his parents to Rowan county in 1856, and received a scanty education. In 1861 he entered the Confederate service as a private in the 5th Kentucky infantry. He was promoted captain in 1863, and in November, 1864, was captured in Luray valley and held a prisoner until the termination of the war. Returning home penniless at the age of twenty-three, he devoted himself to the study and mastery of the English branches, and to the law. He was licensed to practise in 1866, and in 1868 removed to Carlisle, Kentucky. The year following he was elected judge of Nicholas county, and he was re-elected in 1870. He was chosen to the state senate in 1871, elected judge of the criminal court in 1878, and raised to the appellate bench of Kentucky in 1879. After serving as chief justice during the vacancy caused by the death of an associate judge, he served two years longer by his own succession. Declining a re-election, he retired from the supreme bench in 1884, and removed to Louisville, Kentucky, where he is now (1887) engaged in practice.