A record of the collected papers of Abraham Lincoln noted that "Lincoln's endorsement is written on a letter from Austin A. King and others, January 5, 1864, recommending Judge Solomon P. McCurdy of Missouri" for the Utah territorial supreme court.[3] Lincoln nominated McCurdy to the seat, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on April 21, 1864.[3][4] In 1868, President Andrew Johnson sought to elevate McCurdy to chief justice of the court, but the nomination was rejected by the Senate.[5]
McCurdy thereafter remained in Utah. In June 1874, a newspaper reported an altercation in which a drunken soldier attacked McCurdy, described in the report as "an elderly and very inoffensive gentleman", and threw him into a ditch. Locals interceded to apprehend the soldier and take him to be locked up, and McCurdy was not seriously injured.[6]
McCurdy had a son, William N. McCurdy, who was a star player for the Corinne Base Ball Club in 1869, and one of only a handful of non-Mormon players on the team.[7]
