Home County: Platte
Term of service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: October 1876 - December 1888
Elijah Hise Norton was born November 21, 1821, in Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky.[i] His parents, William and Mary Norton, were from Pennsylvania, and later relocated their family to Kentucky.[ii] In Kentucky, Elijah Norton received a classical education from the Centre College, Danville, Kentucky,[iii] and graduated from the law department of Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, in 1843.[iv] On January 8, 1845, he arrived in Platte City, Missouri, and shortly after opened a law practice.[v] Norton also became a member of the Platte County Bar.[vi]
“In 1850 he was appointed attorney for Platte County.”[vii] Then he was elected, and then re-elected, judge of the then 12th judicial circuit, which Platte County was a part of.[viii] During his second term as circuit judge, he was elected to Congress.[ix] In February of 1861, he was elected as a delegate representing the 13th Senate District to the State Convention, to revise and amend, the 1865 state constitution.[x]
In October of 1876,[xi] he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri by Governor Hardin,[xii] to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Judge Henry Vories.[xiii] In 1878 he was elected by the people for a ten year term.”[xiv] In 1882, during his service with the Court, William Jewell College, of which he was a member of the Board of Trustees since 1871, conferred Judge Norton with an honorary degree of L.L.D.[xv] He was Chief Justice of the Court from January 1, 1887 until the end of his term on December 31, 1888.[xvi]
Judge Norton passed away August 5, 1914, near Platte City.[xvii]
[i] Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam,” Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 267, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co. 1916), xxix.
[ii] Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam,” Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 267, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co. 1916), xxix.
[iii] The Bench and Bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and Other Missouri Cities, (St. Louis, MO: H.C. Cooper Jr. & Co., 1884), 493. Paper copy of document in permanent file in the law library.
[iv] Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam,” Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 267, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co. 1916.), xxix-xxx.
[v] Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam,” Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 267, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co. 1916.), xxx.
[vi] Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam,” Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 267, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co. 1916.), xxx.
[vii] Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam,” Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 267, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co. 1916.), xxxi.
[viii] Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam,” Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 267, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co. 1916.), xxxi.
[ix] Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam,” Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 267, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co. 1916.), xxxi.
[x] Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam,” Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 267, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co. 1916.), xxxi.
[xi] Horace W. Fuller, ed., The Green Bag, Vol. III, (Boston, MA: The Boston Book Company, 1891), 160. See also: The Fair Play Staff, “Missouri State News,” The Fair Play (Ste. Genevieve, Missouri), October 26, 1876, information courtesy of The State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO, image courtesy of Chronicling America website, accessed on June 21, 2019, available from https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87052181/1876-10-26/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1876&index=7&rows=20&words=Henry+Judge&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=Missouri&date2=1876&proxtext=Judge+Henry&y=16&x=19&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1
[xii] The Bench and Bar of St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, and Other Missouri Cities, (St. Louis, MO: H.C. Cooper Jr. & Co., 1884), 494. Paper copy of document in permanent file in the law library.
[xiii] Horace W. Fuller, ed., The Green Bag, Vol. III, (Boston, MA: The Boston Book Company, 1891), 160.
[xiv] The Bench and Bar St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City and other Missouri Cities Biographical Sketches (St. Louis and Chicago, American Biographical Publishing Company, H.C. Cooper, Jr., & Co., Proprietors. 1884.), 494. See also: Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam,” Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 267, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co. 1916.), xxxi.
[xv] Perry S. Rader, reporter, “In Memoriam,” Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 267, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co. 1916.), xxxi.
[xvi] F.M. Brown, reporter, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 90, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens, Publishing Co., 1887), Judges of the Supreme Court, During the Time of These Reports page. See also: F.M. Brown, reporter, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, Vol. 97, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co., 1889), Judges of the Supreme Court, During the Time of These Reports page.
[xvii] “Elijah Hise Norton,” Missouri Death Certificates, 1910-1968 Database, information courtesy of Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed on June 26, 2019, available from https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1914/1914_00027098.PDF
Biographical information authored by Mr. Maxwell Beffa, 2019, University of Missouri-Columbia.