Jude Driscoll is 40 years old and presides over the county court of Dawson's Landing. He is moderately wealthy, and, at the outset of the book, married, but has no children. Chief among Judge Driscoll's characteristics is that he is a descendant of the First Families of Virginia, the original colonists from England, and maintains the habits, traditions, and social customs of the Virginia Colony. "To be a gentleman—a gentleman without stain or blemish—was his only religion, Twain writes, “and to it he was always faithful." (7) This makes the Judge something of an outsider in Missouri, which is at the edge of the American expansion to the west.

For Twain, Judge Driscoll represents the "old world," the slave-owning society that clung to the customs and values of England and Europe. Tom's ungentlemanly behavior will stun Judge Driscoll and lead him to risk his life in a duel to maintain the family's honor, and Judge Driscoll's inability to see Tom for what he really is will ultimately lead to the Judge's death.

David Wilson is the hero of the story, and a new arrival to Dawson's Landing when the story opens. By virtue of having been born and educated on the East Coast, he is something of an enigma to the plain-spoken inhabitants of Dawson's Landing.