Home County: Buchanan County
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: January 1947 – October 1954
Judge Roscoe P. Conkling was born May 3, 1889, in Carrollton, Missouri.[i] He was educated in the Carrollton public schools before moving to Kansas City with his family in 1905.[ii] His father, Virgil M. Conkling, and his uncles Newlan, Frank and Marvin Conkling were all prominent attorneys who inspired him to pursue a career in law.[iii] He attended the University of Missouri School of Law and was a member of Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity.[iv] Before graduating from law school in the spring of 1912 with a LL.B, he was admitted to The Missouri Bar on January 27, 1912.[v]
While in law school, Conkling’s father was the Jackson County prosecuting attorney.[vi] His father died in office after Conkling’s graduation.[vii] In response, then-Governor Herbert S. Hadley appointed Conkling to serve his father’s unexpired, remaining term as prosecuting attorney.[viii] After he left the prosecuting attorney’s office, he engaged in the general practice of law for the next 10 years except during the time he served in the United States Army in World War I.[ix] For two years in Kansas City, he was a member of the firm Yates & Conkling, for four years with the firm of Gabriel & Conkling, and then he practiced alone for four years.[x]
Conkling moved to St. Joseph in 1924 to work as a trial attorney in the private practice of
Former Circuit Court Judge Chas. H. Mayer.[xi] In early January 1929, he established the partnership of Mayer, Conkling & Sprague which continued until Mayer’s retirement in early 1941.[xii] The firm then was renamed Conkling & Sprague.[xiii] He continued to practice there until his appointment to the Supreme Court of Missouri in 1947, after 22 years with these firms.[xiv]
Throughout his time in private practice, Conkling held various memberships and leadership roles in law and education. He was a member of the American Bar Association and was president of the Buchanan County Bar Association in St. Joseph.[xv] The Supreme Court of Missouri appointed him to the Missouri State Board of Bar Examiners, for which he served as president from 1926 to 1930.[xvi] The Court also appointed him as a special commissioner and to the bar discipline committee for his circuit.[xvii] In addition, he served as a former member of the board of curators of Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.[xviii] On May 31, 1954, William Jewell College awarded him an honorary doctor of laws degree.[xix]
Then-Governor Phil M. Donnelly appointed Conkling as judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri under the nonpartisan court plan January 1, 1947.[xx] In the 1948 general election, voters retained Conkling for a 12-year term.[xxi] From February 2, 1953, until October 11, 1954, he served as Chief Justice of the Court.[xxii]
A little more than two weeks later after completing his time as Chief Justice, Conkling died October 28, 1954, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Jefferson City at the age of 65.[xxiii]
[i] Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Walter H. Toberman, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1953-1954, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1954), 193.
[ii] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 2.
[iii] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 1.
[iv] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 2. See also: Post Tribune Staff, “R.P. Conkling, Supreme Court Justice, Dies.” Jefferson City Post-Tribune, (Jefferson City, Missouri), October 28, 1954.
[v] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 2. See also: Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Walter H. Toberman, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1953-1954, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1954), 193.
[vi] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 2.
[vii] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 2.
[viii] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 2.
[ix] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 2. See also: Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Esther Downs Bishop, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1949-1950, (Jefferson City, MO: Mid-State Printing, Company, 1950), 221.
[x] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 2.
[xi] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 2.
[xii] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 2.
[xiii] Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Esther Downs Bishop, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1949-1950, (Jefferson City, MO: Mid-State Printing, Company, 1950), 221.
[xiv] Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Walter H. Toberman, ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1953-1954, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1954), 193. See also: “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957); 4.
[xv] Post Tribune Staff, “R.P. Conkling, Supreme Court Justice, Dies.” Jefferson City Post-Tribune, (Jefferson City, Missouri), October 28, 1954.
[xvi] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957); 2 and 4.
[xvii] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 4.
[xviii] Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1953-1954, (Jefferson City, MO, 1954), 193.
[xix] Post Tribune Staff, “R.P. Conkling, Supreme Court Justice, Dies.” Jefferson City Post-Tribune, (Jefferson City, Missouri), October 28, 1954.
[xx] “Supreme Court of Missouri, Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 3. See also: Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Walter H. Toberman ed., Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1953-1954, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1954), 193.
[xxi] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 3.
[xxii] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957), 3.
[xxiii] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Memorial to Roscoe Powers Conkling,” Supreme Court of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: January 25, 1957, 3. See also: Post Tribune Staff, “R.P. Conkling, Supreme Court Justice, Dies.” Jefferson City Post-Tribune, (Jefferson City, Missouri), October 28, 1954. See also: “Roscoe P. Conkling Death Certificate,” Missouri Death Certificates, 1910-1968, accessed April 25, 2019, information courtesy of Missouri Death Certificates Database, Missouri Digital Heritage, Missouri State Archives. Copy on permanent file in the law library.
Biographical information by Chloe Shoemaker, 2019, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri.