Meredith Miles Marmaduke

Meredith Miles Marmaduke (August 28, 1791 – March 26, 1864) was Missouri's eighth Governor, serving in 1844. He was a Democrat. He was also Lieutenant Governor of Missouri 1840–1844.

Life and career

Meredith Miles Marmaduke was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on August 28, 1791. He was educated in the public schools, and at twenty-two years of age, was commissioned as colonel of the regiment that was raised in his county in the War of 1812. Returning to Virginia after the war, he was appointed United States Marshal for the eastern district of Virginia, served for several years in that office, and was subsequently elected clerk of the circuit court. He immigrated to Missouri for his health, was engaged in the Santa Fe Trail trade for six years in Howard County, and then settled near Arrow Rock, where he became a successful farmer.

In 1826 Marmaduke married Lavinia Sappington, the daughter of Dr. John Sappington, a prominent pioneer physician of Saline County, and for a brief time became a partner in his father-in-law's enterprises. Sappington was famous for his use of quinine to treat malaria fevers.

A Democrat, Marmaduke served as Saline County surveyor and county judge, was elected lieutenant governor of Missouri in 1840, assuming the duties of governor when Governor Thomas Reynolds committed suicide in 1844. Marmaduke was a member of the 1845 Missouri Constitutional Convention and in 1854, became president of the State Agricultural Society and of the district fair association.

During the Civil War Marmaduke was a fierce Union supporter. One son, Confederate General John Sappington Marmaduke, was Missouri's 25th governor (1885–1887) and another, Henry Hungerford Marmaduke, served as a gunner in the Confederate Navy aboard the ironclad Merrimac. The Marmadukes had ten children, two of whom died in battle during the Civil War.

Marmaduke died March 26, 1864 and is buried at Sappington Cemetery State Historic Site near Arrow Rock, Missouri.

External links

• "Meredith Miles Marmaduke". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11993. Retrieved 2009-05-24. 
• Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Columbia

Political offices
Preceded by Franklin Cannon	Lieutenant Governor of Missouri 1840–1844	Succeeded by James Young
Preceded by Thomas Reynolds	Governor of Missouri 1844	Succeeded by John C. Edwards

Persondata
Name	Marmaduke, Meredith Miles
Alternative names
Short description	American politician
Date of birth	August 28, 1791
Place of birth
Date of death	March 26, 1864
Place of death