County: Montgomery County
Term of service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: June 1865 - August 1866
Judge Walter L. Lovelace was born October 1, 1831, in Charlotte County, Virginia, to a family of humble means.[i] In 1833, when Lovelace was an infant, his father died and his mother moved the family to Missouri.[ii] The family settled in Montgomery County, where, as a child, Lovelace attended school during the winter and labored on the farm during the summer.[iii] Beginning in 1850, Lovelace worked at a district school in Montgomery County and saved up money to send himself to college.[iv]
He eventually saved up enough money to be able to attend the University of Missouri at Columbia.[v] After attending university, he opened a district school in 1853 in Danville.[vi] During this time, Lovelace also studied law under Ben Sharp, a prominent lawyer in the area.[vii] A year later, he was admitted to the bar.[viii] In 1862, he was elected to the state house of representatives and, the following term, in 1864, he was elected as the speaker of the house.[ix]
Governor Thomas Fletcher appointed Lovelace to the Supreme Court of Missouri on June 13, 1865, following the “Ousting Ordinance” that cleared the bench that year.[x] Judge Lovelace resigned from his term in the state house of representatives early to accept his appointment to the Court.[xi] He served effectively during his time on the bench, but its labors took their toll on him.[xii]
He died a year later, on August 5, 1866, at his home in Danville.[xiii] He was 34 years old.[xiv]
[i] L.C. Krauthoff, “The Supreme Court of Missouri,” Horace W. Fuller, ed. The Green Bag, Vol. III, (Boston, MA: Boston Book Co., 1891), 181.
[ii] William Van Ness Bay, “Walter L. Lovelace,” Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri, (St. Louis, MO: F.H. Thomas and Co., 1878), 573.
[iii] Howard L. Conard, “Lovelace, Walter L.,” Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, vol. 4, (St. Louis, MO: The Southern History Co., 1901), pg. 125.
[iv] William Van Ness Bay, Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri, 573.
[v] Howard L. Conard, ed. Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 125.
[vi] William Van Ness Bay, Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri, 573.
[vii] William Van Ness Bay, Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri, 573.
[viii] Howard L. Conard, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 125.
[ix] Howard L. Conard, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 125.
[x] Charles Whittelsey, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri Vol XXXV (St. Louis, MO: George Knapp & CO., 1865), iv-v. See also Howard L. Conard, ed. Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 125. See also: Walter B. Stevens, Missouri, the Center State, 1915, 336.
[xi] Howard L. Conard, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 125.
[xii] William Van Ness Bay, Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri, 573.
[xiii] William Van Ness Bay, Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri, 573.
[xiv] William Van Ness Bay, Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri, 574.
Biographical information by Mr. Matt Orf, 2017, University of Missouri-Columbia.