Thomas Emmerson (June 23, 1773 – July 22, 1837) was an American judge and newspaper editor, active in the early 19th century. He was a justice of the Tennessee Superior Court of Law and Equity (1807) and the Tennessee Court of Errors and Appeals (1819–1822), both of which were predecessors of the Tennessee Supreme Court, and served as the first Mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee (1816–1817). In his later years, he moved to Jonesborough, where he published an influential newsletter, The Washington Republican and Farmer's Journal.