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Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: November 1919 – December 1920

Judge John I. Williamson was born March 16, 1857, in Carroll County, Missouri. He completed high school coursework at Carrollton, Missouri, then attended Kentucky University/University of Kentucky at Lexington for advanced education. After attending college, Williamson practiced law in Carlisle, Kentucky. Williamson was admitted to the bar September 30, 1891, in Chillicothe, Missouri. He was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Missouri on March 25, 1893. In 1903, he returned to Missouri permanently and resided in Kansas City. 

Williamson was a member of the American Bar Association and the Missouri Bar Association. He was also a member of the Kansas City Bar Association, serving as president in 1912. In 1914, he was appointed by then-Governor Elliot Woolfolk Major to a commission of attorneys and judges charged with revising Missouri’s criminal and civil codes of court procedure. For 10 years, Williamson was a lecturer and teacher at the Kansas City School of Law. Additionally, he practiced law in Kansas City for more than 15 years, before he was appointed to the state supreme court. 

Judge Williamson was appointed November 1, 1919, to the Supreme Court of Missouri to fill a vacancy created when Judge Charles B. Faris became a federal judge with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Williamson was sworn in November 3, 1919, as a judge of the Court, where he served until the completion of his term in December 1920.

Williamson then returned to Kansas City and continued to practice law. In 1921, he was a member of the Missouri Bar’s commission on constitutional revision. The following year, he served as chairman of the Missouri Bar Association’s Committee on Illegal Practice of Law by Laymen. He later returned to the Supreme Court of Missouri to argue the case of State ex rel. Lashly v. Becker, which involved state senatorial districts and gerrymandering. 

Judge Williamson died November 19, 1933, in Kansas City, Missouri. He was 76 years old.

Biographical information authored in 2022 by Michael Patton, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri. 

“Efficiency Records, Judge Williams and Williamson,” The Farmington Times, (Farmington, Missouri), June 25, 1920, information courtesy of Chronicling America website, accessed April 29, 2022.

James Lewis Parks, The University of Missouri Bulletin, Bar Bulletin, vol. 23, no. 28, (St. Louis, MO: Missouri Bar Association, 1922), information courtesy of Google Books, accessed April 29, 2022.

John L. Sullivan, compiler, John L. Sullivan, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years 1919-1920, (Jefferson City, MO: Missouri Secretary of State’s Office, 1920), 109, information courtesy of Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed April 28, 2022.

“(Judge) John I. Williamson,” Missouri State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificate of Death, Missouri State Death Certificates Database, 1910-1971, information courtesy of the Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed April 28, 2022. *There is a miscalculation noted on Judge Williamson’s death certificate. His age at the time of his death is listed on the document as 66 years old. The year of his death (1933) and year of birth (1857) also included, indicate that his age at the time of death was 76 years old.

“Named for Judge of Supreme Court,”  The Pineville Heard (Pineville, Missouri), October 31, 1919, information courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri’s Digital Newspaper Project, accessed on April 28, 2022.

“Names A Code Commission, Gov. Major Appoints Fifteen Lawyers and Judges to Revise Court Procedure,” The Hayti Herald, (Hayti, Missouri), June 4, 1914, information courtesy of Chronicling America website, accessed April 29, 2022.

“New Senatorial Districts Declared Illegal,” The El Dorado Springs Sun, (El Dorado Springs, Missouri), December 1, 1921, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri’s Digital Newspaper Project, accessed April 28, 2022.

“News from All Over Imperial Missouri,” The St. Joseph Observer, (St. Joseph, Missouri), February 26, 1921, information courtesy of Chronicling America website, accessed April 29, 2022.

“News of the State,” The Columbia Missourian, (Columbia, Missouri), January 3, 1921, information courtesy of Chronicling America website, accessed April 29, 2022.

Perry S. Rader, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 279, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co., 1919), iii. 

Perry S. Rader, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 286, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Co., 1922), iii. 

Perry S. Rader, reporter, Reports of Cases Determined by the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, vol. 290, (Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens Publishing Company, 1922), 560-650.

“Swear in New Supreme Judges,” The El Dorado Springs Sun, (El Dorado Springs, Missouri), November 6, 1919, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri’s Digital Newspaper Project, accessed April 28, 2022.

Walter Barlow Stevens, “Hon. John I. Williamson,” Centennial History of Missouri: (The Center State) One Hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, vol. iv, (St. Louis, MO: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1921) 247, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed April 29, 2022.