Home County: Mississippi
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: January 1913 – October 1919
Judge Charles Breckenridge Faris was born October 3, 1864, in Mississippi County, Missouri. Growing up, he attended the public schools in Mississippi County. He graduated from Missouri State University in 1889 with his first bachelor’s degree (bachelor of letters) and in 1890 with his second bachelor’s degree (a Pe.B., bachelor of pedagogy).
Faris then attended Washington University’s School of Law in 1891. He was admitted to the bar at Charleston, Missouri, where he began to practice law in 1891. In 1922, he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree, by the University of Missouri-Columbia.
In 1892, Faris served as the Caruthersville city attorney. He then became the prosecuting attorney for Pemiscot County from 1893 to 1899. After his service ended, he engaged again in the private practice of law and formed a law partnership, called Faris & Oliver, with Arthur L. Oliver in Caruthersville.
In November 1910, voters elected Faris as circuit judge for what was then the 28the Judicial Circuit, consisting of Cape Girardeau, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot and Scott counties. He resigned from the circuit court on October 4, 1912, when he was nominated for a judicial position on the Supreme Court of Missouri.
In November 1912, voters elected Faris to a 10-year term on the Supreme Court of Missouri. He served with the Court from January 1, 1913, until October 31, 1919, when then-President Woodrow Wilson appointed him as a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Faris served as a judge with the federal district court from November 3, 1919, until early 1935, when then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt nominated him to be a judge with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He was sworn into that position on February 6, 1935, serving in that capacity full-time until he retired, due to ill health, in November 1935.
Judge Charles Breckenridge Faris died December 18, 1938, in St. Louis. He was 74 years old.
Biographical information by Dylan Powers-Cody, 2024, Truman State University.
Sources used (a copy of each is on file at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library):
“Charles Breckenridge Faris,” Missouri State Board of Health, Certificate of Death, filed December 20, 1938, Missouri Death Certificates Database, 1910-1973, information courtesy of Missouri Death Certificates Database, Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed March 29, 2024.
Cornelius Roach, compiler, Cornelius Roach, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years 1911-1912, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1912), 82.
Cornelius Roach, compiler, Cornelius Roach, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years 1913-1914, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company, 1914), 85.
“Faris & Oliver,” Pemiscot Press, (Caruthersville, Missouri), June 13, 1901, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed March 29, 2024.
“Faris, Charles Breckenridge,” University of Missouri Honorary Degrees Database, University of Missouri System, accessed March 29, 2024.
H. H. Kinyon, Alumni Secretary, “Alumni Directory, 1843-1917,” The University of Missouri Bulletin, vol. 18, no. 33, General Series 1917, no. 14, (Columbia, MO: The University of Missouri Press, December 1917), 2 and 27, available from Google Books, accessed on March 29, 2024.
John L. Sullivan, compiler, John L. Sullivan, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years 1917-1918, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Printing Company), 93.
Judge C.B. Faris Dies at 74 After Long Illness,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, (St. Louis, Missouri), December 19, 1938, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed March 29, 2024.
“Judge Charles B. Faris Receives Commission,” Sedalia Weekly Democrat, (Sedalia, Missouri), February 8, 1935, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed March 29, 2024.
“Judge Faris to Appellate Court,” Caruthersville Journal, (Caruthersville, Missouri), January 17, 1935, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed March 29, 2024.
“Judge Faris Sworn in as a Member of Appeals Bench,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, (St. Louis, Missouri), SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed March 29, 2024.
United States District Court at St. Louis, Missouri, “Proceedings of the Memorial Ceremonies to Commemorate the Memory of Judge Charles B. Faris,” (St. Louis, MO: St. Louis Law Printing Company), May 12, 1939, 35.