Home County: Monroe
Term of service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: April 1845 - March 1849
Judge Priestly Harvey McBride[i] was born in 1796 near Harrodsburg, Kentucky.[ii] In Kentucky, McBride was raised and was educated in law.[iii] McBride moved to Missouri as a young man, settling in Columbia, Missouri, around the year 1825.[iv] He was appointed secretary of state in 1829.[v] McBride was appointed November 20, 1830, by Governor John Miller to the position of circuit judge for the Second Judicial Circuit.[vi] He served as a circuit judge from 1830 to 1845.[vii]
In 1845, Judge McBride resigned from his position as circuit judge to accept an appointment to the Supreme Court of Missouri.[viii] Judge McBride’s appointment filled the vacancy left by Judge George Tompkins.[ix] Judge McBride was confirmed on the Supreme Court of Missouri on April 4, 1845.[x] Judge McBride held his post until March 7, 1849, due to the Amendment of 1848, which cleared the bench and limited the service of judges to 12-year terms.[xi]
After his service at the Court, Judge McBride did not seek any further position in public service.[xii] He retired to manage a large farm.[xiii] He devoted much of his time to his land near Paris in Monroe County.[xiv]
Judge McBride died May 21, 1869, in Columbia, Missouri.[xv]
[i] John D. Shane, interview with W.[illiam] McBride, "Historical Collection," Midway, Kentucky, date unknown, 259, Lyman Copeland Draper Manuscript Collection, 11CC257-263, Wisconsin Historical Society, accessed February 11, 2019. Information courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, available from; www.wisconsinhistory.org Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library. See also: "Priestly Harvey McCabe [Judge McBride's great grandson through daughter Eliza Jane McBride McCabe]," Missouri Death Certificates, 1910-1967, accessed February 11, 2019. Information courtesy of the Missouri Digital Heritage Website, Missouri State Archives, available from; https://www.sos.mo.gov Paper copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[ii] Howard L. Conard, ed., “Priestly H. McBride”, Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, Vol. IV (St. Louis, MO: The Southern History Company, 1901), 240.
[iii] Conard, Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 240.
[iv] Conard, Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 240.
[v] L.C. Krauthoff, “The Supreme Court of Missouri,” Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, Vol. III (Boston, MA: The Boston Book Company, 1891), 173.
[vi] Buel Leopard and Floyd Shoemaker, eds., The Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of the State of Missouri, Vol. I (Columbia, MO: The State Historical Society of Missouri, 1922), 198.
[vii] Horace W. Fuller, ed., “Priestly H. McBride,” The Green Bag, Vol. III, 173.
[viii] Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, Vol. III, 173.
[ix] Columbia Missouri Statesman, Friday, April 4, 1845, page 3, column 2. Information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia Newspaper Database, accessed June 2017, available from http://shsmo.org/newspaper/.
[x] Columbia Missouri Statesman, Friday, April 4, 1845, page 3, column 2. Information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia Newspaper Database, accessed June 2017, available from http://shsmo.org/newspaper/.
[xi] William A. Robards, Reports of Cases Argued and Decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol XII, (Jefferson City, MO: James Lusk, Public Prints, 1849), 2. See also Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 173. See also: Missouri Historical Review, no. 35, 1940-1941, 336. William Francis English, Pioneer Lawyer and Jurist in Missouri (Columbia, MO: The University of Missouri Studies, 1947), 85.
[xii] Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 173.
[xiii] Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 173.
[xiv] Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, 173.
[xv] Conard, Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 240.
Biographical information authored by Mr. Matt Orf, 2017, University of Missouri-Columbia.