John McCourt

John McCourt was born on February 26, 1874, in Listowel, Ontario, Canada.[1] His parents, James McCourt and Emma Farnscomb, and the rest of the family moved to California when John was young.[1] There he received his primary education before he moved to Oregon in 1890.[1] In Oregon he attended Willamette University in the literary department.[2] He then switched to the law school where he graduated in 1896 and began practicing law in Salem, Oregon.[1] He passed the bar in June 1896.[2]

In 1898, McCourt was elected and served as a Republican from Marion County, Oregon, in the Oregon House of Representatives during a special session.[3] He returned the following year for the regular legislative assembly.[4] McCourt then moved to Eastern Oregon in 1900 where he practiced law in Pendleton until 1908.[1] On March 17, 1908, he was appointed as United States Attorney for the District of Oregon and served in Portland, Oregon until 1913 when he entered private practice.[2] In November 1918 he was appointed as circuit judge for Multnomah County, Oregon.[2]

On October 8, 1921, Oregon Governor Ben W. Olcott appointed him to the state supreme court to replace Charles A. Johns.[5][6] McCourt then won election to a full six-year term in 1922, but died in office on September 12, 1924.[6] He died in Salem of septic poisoning from an infection of the teeth and is buried at the Salem Pioneer Cemetery.[2]

His father was born in Scotland and his mother in Canada. John McCourt married on June 28, 1898, to Vera Boothby.[2] The couple had two boys together.[1] McCourt is buried in Salem’s Pioneer Cemetery.[2]