Home County: Boone
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: June 1928 – December 1928
North Todd Gentry was born on March 2, 1866, in Columbia, Missouri.[i] He was educated in the private and public schools of Columbia before studying at the University of Missouri, where he graduated from with his B.A. in 1884,[ii] and from the University of Missouri School of Law.[iii] While in law school, he was a member of Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity.[iv] He graduated with a L.L. B. degree in 1888.[v] After law school, Gentry served as City Attorney for Columbia, Assistant Attorney General,[vi] and as a member of the Statute Revision Commission in 1909.[vii]
Gentry had a private legal practice in Columbia, which focused predominately on corporations and real estate.[viii] Additionally, he was counsel for some Boone County railroads and later, represented clients in cases against railroads.[ix] He argued many cases that were heard in federal courts and the Supreme Court of Missouri.[x] One of the more famous cases that he argued before the Supreme Court of Missouri was Howell v. Hines, which involved shippers and damages.[xi]
Governor Sam A. Baker appointed Gentry Attorney General on November 17, 1925, to fill the vacancy created when Attorney General Robert William Otto was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri.[xii] He served as Attorney General until he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri.[xiii] On June 21, 1928, Gentry was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri by Governor Baker due to the death of Judge Waller Graves.[xiv] He served until the expiration of his term with the Court on December 31, 1928.[xv]
Gentry was involved in numerous legal organizations. He served as President of the County Bar Association, Vice President of the State Bar Association[xvi] and was a member of the Columbia Bar.[xvii] Judge Gentry also wrote extensively about history: the state judiciary and Boone County judicial history. In 1916, he authored a book entitled, The Bench and Bar of Boone County, Missouri.[xviii] In 2011, his writings which detailed the history of Columbia, Missouri, were published posthumously in a book titled, The Writings of North Todd Gentry: Stories from Columbia’s Colorful Past.[xix]
Judge North Todd Gentry passed away at his home in Columbia on September 18, 1944, at age 78.[xx]
[i] Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, For Years Nineteen Twenty-Seven and Nineteen Twenty-Eight, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stevens Press, 1928), 35.
[ii] N. T. Gentry, “Comments, Some Almost Forgotten Courts of Missouri,” Missouri Law Review, vol. IX, no. 2, (April 1944), 167.
[iii] Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, For Years Nineteen Twenty-Seven and Nineteen Twenty-Eight, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stevens Press, 1928), 35.
[iv] University of Missouri, Junior Class, publishers, “Fratres in Urbe,” The Savitar, vol. 21, (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri, 1915), 347, information courtesy of Missouri State Archives website, accessed on July 16, 2019. Copy on file in the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[v] N. T. Gentry, “Comments, Some Almost Forgotten Courts of Missouri,” Missouri Law Review, vol. IX, no. 2, (April 1944), 167.
[vi] John E. Swanger, Secretary of State, John E. Swanger, publisher, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years, 1907-1908, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1908), 80.
[vii] Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, For Years Nineteen Twenty-Seven and Nineteen Twenty-Eight, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stevens Press, 1928), 35.
[viii] Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, For Years Nineteen Twenty-Seven and Nineteen Twenty-Eight, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stevens Press, 1928), 35.
[ix] Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, For Years Nineteen Twenty-Seven and Nineteen Twenty-Eight, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stevens Press, 1928), 35.
[x] Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, For Years Nineteen Twenty-Seven and Nineteen Twenty-Eight, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stevens Press, 1928), 35.
[xi] Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, For Years Nineteen Twenty-Seven and Nineteen Twenty-Eight, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stevens Press, 1928), 35.
[xii] Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, For Years Nineteen Twenty-Seven and Nineteen Twenty-Eight, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stevens Press, 1928), 35. See also: Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Twenty-Nine and Nineteen Thirty, (Jefferson City, MO: Botz-Hugh Stephens Press, 1930), 133.
[xiii] Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Twenty-Nine and Nineteen Thirty, (Jefferson City, MO: Botz-Hugh Stephens Press, 1930), 133.
[xiv] Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Twenty-Nine and Nineteen Thirty, (Jefferson City, MO: Botz-Hugh Stephens Press, 1930), 133. See also:
Perry S. Rader, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 320, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1929), iii.
[xv] Perry S. Rader, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 321, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1930), iii.
[xvi] Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, Charles U. Becker, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, For Years Nineteen Twenty-Seven and Nineteen Twenty-Eight, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stevens Press, 1928), 35.
[xvii] North Todd Gentry, The Bench and Bar of Boone County, Missouri, (Columbia, MO: Published by the Author), 1916), title page, information courtesy of Archive.org, accessed on July 16, 2019.
[xviii] North Todd Gentry, The Bench and Bar of Boone County, Missouri, (Columbia, MO: Published by the Author), 1916), title page, information courtesy of Archive.org, accessed on July 16, 2019.
[xix] North Todd Gentry, Warren R. Dalton, Jr. and David A. James, eds., The Writings of North Todd Gentry: Stories from Columbia’s Colorful Past, (Columbia, MO: Show Me Cards, 2011, 1-361.
[xx] The State Board of Health of Missouri, Standard Certificate of Death, filed October 20, 1944, information courtesy of the Missouri State Archives website, Missouri Death Certificates, 1910-1968 database, accessed on July 16, 2019. Copy on file in Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
Biographical information authored by Anna Theroff, 2019, Washington University, St. Louis.