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Term of service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: June 1837 - January 1839
Judge John Cummins Edwards was born June 24, 1806, in Frankfort, Kentucky.[i] His father moved his family, when Edwards was an infant, and relocated near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.[ii] In Tennessee, he was educated in law and eventually became licensed to practice.[iii]
Soon after having become licensed, Edwards moved in 1826 to Missouri, where he immediately began to pursue a career in politics.[iv] Edwards was nominated by Governor John Miller as secretary of state on December 8, 1830, and served in that capacity until 1835 and again briefly in 1837.[v] In June 1837, Edwards was appointed to fill Judge Robert Wash’s seat.[vi] Judge Edwards served two years on the Supreme Court of Missouri. He resigned January 13, 1839, to pursue a seat in the United States House of Representatives.[vii]
Edwards was successful in his bid and served one term, from 1841-1843, in the House of Representatives.[viii] Following this single term in Congress, he then ran for governor of Missouri. He was elected, holding the position from 1844 to 1848.[ix] After his term as governor ended, Edwards moved to the state of California.[x] There, he served as mayor of Stockton.[xi]
Edwards died in September 1888 in Stockton, California.[xii]
[i] Keith D. Swanson, Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, Gary Kremer, and Kenneth H. Winn eds. “John Edwards Cummins,” Dictionary of Missouri Biography (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri, 1999), 275.
[ii] Swanson, Dictionary of Missouri Biography, 275.
[iii] Swanson, Dictionary of Missouri Biography, 275.
[iv] Swanson, Dictionary of Missouri Biography, 275.
[v] Buel Leopard and Floyd C. Shoemaker, eds. the Message and Proclamations of the Governors of the State of Missouri Vol. I (Columbia, MO: That State Historical Society of Missouri, 1922), 203. See also LC. Krauthoff, “The Supreme Court of Missouri,” Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag Vol. III (Boston, MA: The Boston Book Company, 1891), 168. See also Swanson, Dictionary of Missouri Biography, 275.
[vi] Swanson, Dictionary of Missouri Biography, 275.
[vii] Swanson, Dictionary of Missouri Biography, 275.
[viii] Swanson, Dictionary of Missouri Biography, 275.
[ix] William E. Parrish, Charles T. Jones, Jr., and Lawrence O. Christensen, Missouri: The Heart of the Nation 3rd ed. (Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 2004), 104 and 131. See also Swanson, Dictionary of Missouri Biography, 275.
[x] Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag Vol. III, 169.
[xi] Swanson, Dictionary of Missouri Biography, 276.
[xii] Swanson, Dictionary of Missouri Biography, 276.
Biographical information authored by Mr. Matt Orf, 2017, University of Missouri-Columbia.