Home County: Nodaway
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: January 1931 – April 1955
George Robb Ellison was born on July 22, 1881 in Canton, Lewis County, Missouri,[i] into a family of distinguished jurists.[ii] His grandfather was a Circuit Judge in Northeast Missouri, and three of his sons, which included Judge Ellison’s father who served with the Fourth Judicial Circuit from 1903 to 1913. All served as judges.[iii] Ellison attended elementary and high school at Maryville, Missouri, and St. Paul’s School, Garden City, NY.[iv] After high school, Judge Ellison attended Harvard University where he received his A.B. in 1904.[v] After he graduated from Harvard, Ellison studied law at the University of Missouri for a year,[vi] and was admitted to practice law in Nodaway County, Missouri.[vii] After he was admitted to practice law, Judge Ellison joined the firm of Sherman Shinabargar and Wesley Blagg, in Maryville.[viii] Ellison continued to practice law in Maryville until he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri as a Commissioner.[ix]
On April 11, 1927, he was appointed to the Court as a Commissioner for a four-year term.[x] On November 4, 1930, Ellison was elected Judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri for a ten-year term.[xi] He served another ten-year term on November 4, 1940, and was retained for a twelve-year term on November 7, 1950.[xii] Judge Ellison was Chief Justice of the Court for three terms: October 1935[xiii] to March 1937,[xiv] May 1942[xv] to October 1943,[xvi] and May 1951[xvii] to February 1953.[xviii] In conjunction with two other judges in Division No. 2, Judge Caleb A. Leedy Jr. and Judge Ernest M. Tipton, Ellison served one of the longer periods of uninterrupted tenure on the court bench in the state’s history (the three served together as judges for 22 years).[xix] On April 1, 1955, Judge Ellison ended his 28-year term of service with the Court as a Commissioner and Judge.[xx]
Ellison was involved with numerous legal organizations. He was a member of the American Law Institute, Missouri State Bar Association and American Bar Association.[xxi] He was especially known for his devotion to volunteer work and encouragement of young lawyers, and maintained membership in the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity.[xxii] In 1950, he received an honorary doctor of laws from Culver-Stockton in Canton.[xxiii]
Judge George Robb Ellison passed away in St. Louis on July 17, 1957.[xxiv]
[i] St. Louis Post-Dispatch Staff, “George R. Ellison, Retired Judge, Dies,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 17, 1957, information courtesy of Newspapers.com, accessed on July 16, 2019, available from https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18344531/george_robb_ellison_obit/ Copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[ii] Supreme Court of Missouri, Memorial to Judge George Robb Ellison, at the presentation of his portrait to the Supreme Court of Missouri, (Jefferson City, MO: West Publishing Co., 1959), March 12, 1959, 4-5. See also: Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Nine and Nineteen Forty, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing, Co., 1940), 131.
[iii] Supreme Court of Missouri, Memorial to Judge George Robb Ellison, at the presentation of his portrait to the Supreme Court of Missouri, (Jefferson City, MO: West Publishing Co., 1959), March 12, 1959, 5.
[iv] St. Louis Post-Dispatch Staff, “George R. Ellison, Retired Judge, Dies,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 17, 1957, information courtesy of Newspapers.com, accessed on July 16, 2019, available from https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18344531/george_robb_ellison_obit/ Copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library. Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Walter H. Toberman, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for the Years Nineteen Fifty-Three, Nineteen Fifty Four, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffman Press, Inc., 1954), 195.
[v] Harvard University, Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Harvard University, 1636-1905, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1905), 345, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed on July 16, 2019, available from https://books.google.com/books?id=byFOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA345&lpg=PA345&dq=George+Robb+Ellison&source=bl&ots=gvphqRnWF4&sig=ACfU3U3QCmFK7_adh41rUvRVlt-kDYYGUQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwigu72LiYDkAhXKGM0KHalQDV84ChDoATAAegQICRAB#v=onepage&q&f=false Copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library. See also: Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Walter H. Toberman, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for the Years Nineteen Fifty-Three, Nineteen Fifty Four, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffman Press, Inc., 1954), 195.
[vi] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Five and Nineteen Thirty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing, Co., 1936), 111.
[vii] Supreme Court of Missouri, Memorial to Judge George Robb Ellison, at the presentation of his portrait to the Supreme Court of Missouri, (Jefferson City, MO: West Publishing Co., 1959), March 12, 1959, 4.
[viii] Supreme Court of Missouri, Memorial to Judge George Robb Ellison, at the presentation of his portrait to the Supreme Court of Missouri, (Jefferson City, MO: West Publishing Co., 1959), March 12, 1959, 5.
[ix] Supreme Court of Missouri, Memorial to Judge George Robb Ellison, at the presentation of his portrait to the Supreme Court of Missouri, (Jefferson City, MO: West Publishing Co., 1959), March 12, 1959, 5.
[x] Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Walter H. Toberman, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for the Years Nineteen Fifty-Three, Nineteen Fifty-Four, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1954), 195.
[xi] Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Walter H. Toberman, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for the Years Nineteen Fifty-Three, Nineteen Fifty Four, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffman Press, Inc., 1954), 195.
[xii] Walter H. Toberman, Secretary of State, Walter H. Toberman, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, For the Years Nineteen Fifty-Three, Nineteen Fifty Four, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffman Press, Inc., 1954), 195. See also: Supreme Court of Missouri, Memorial to Judge George Robb Ellison, at the presentation of his portrait to the Supreme Court of Missouri, (Jefferson City, MO: West Publishing Co., 1959), March 12, 1959, 7.
[xiii] John Turner White, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 337, (Columbia, MO: E. W. Stephens Publishing Co., 1936), x.
[xiv] John Turner White, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 340, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing, Co., 1938), iii.
[xv] John M. Holmes, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 349, (Columbia, MO: E. W. Stephens Publishing Co., 1942), ix.
[xvi] John M. Holmes, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, (Columbia, MO: E. W. Stephens Publishing, Co., 1944), iii.
[xvii] John M. Holms, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 361, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing, Co., 1951), xiii.
[xviii] Supreme Court of Missouri, Memorial to Judge George Robb Ellison, at the presentation of his portrait to the Supreme Court of Missouri, (Jefferson City, MO: West Publishing Co., 1959), March 12, 1959, 7. See also: John M. Holmes, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 363, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens, 1953), iii.
[xix] Supreme Court of Missouri, Memorial to Judge George Robb Ellison, at the presentation of his portrait to the Supreme Court of Missouri, (Jefferson City, MO: West Publishing Co., 1959), March 12, 1959, 9.
[xx] Supreme Court of Missouri, Memorial to Judge George Robb Ellison, at the presentation of his portrait to the Supreme Court of Missouri, (Jefferson City, MO: West Publishing Co., 1959), March 12, 1959, 7. See also: John M. Holmes, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 365, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing, Co., 1957), xxi.
[xxi] The Mayflower Publishing Company, Inc., revisor, Who’s Who in the Central States, (Washington, D.C.: The Mayflower Publishing Company, Inc., 1929), 288, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed on July 16, 2019, available from https://books.google.com/books?id=XF9PAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA288&lpg=PA288&dq=City+Attorney+Maryville+MO+George+Robb+Ellison&source=bl&ots=nqb41ykqKF&sig=ACfU3U2UA0-D2fFY2pImOXEUrK0bE5XbEg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihuoaHl4DkAhWLG80KHbfmAggQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=City%20Attorney%20Maryville%20MO%20George%20Robb%20Ellison&f=false Copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xxii] Supreme Court of Missouri, Memorial to Judge George Robb Ellison, at the presentation of his portrait to the Supreme Court of Missouri, (Jefferson City, MO: West Publishing Co., 1959), March 12, 1959, 5.
[xxiii] St. Louis Post-Dispatch Staff, “George R. Ellison, Retired Judge, Dies,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 17, 1957, information courtesy of Newspapers.com, accessed on July 16, 2019, available from https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18344531/george_robb_ellison_obit/ Copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[xxiv] The Division of Health of Missouri, Standard Certificate of Death, filed July 31, 1957, information courtesy of Missouri Death Certificates, 1910-1968 Database, Missouri State Archives, accessed on July 16, 2019, available from https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1957/1957_00026076.PDF Copy of document filed at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
Biographical information authored by Ms. Anna Theroff, 2019, Washington University, St. Louis.