BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF

THE DELEGATES

BY BUEL LEOPARD.

In 1843 he came to Missouri 1846 he was elected to the

WALDO P. JOHNSON (Democrat), president of the Convention, was born in Bridgeport, Virginia, September 16, 1817. He was educated at Rector College in Pruntytown, Virginia, graduating in 1839. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1842. and located in Osceola. In Missouri Legislature. He was made circuit attorney for the Seventh judicial district in 1848 and in 1851 was elected judge, but resigned in 1852. In 1854 he was nominated for Congress but was defeated by a small majority. In 1861 he was made a delegate from Missouri to the Peace Conference which met in Washington in February. He was later made United States Senator, taking his seat in July, 1861. He made an effort to have a convention called at Louisville to try to adjust the differences between the North and South but the resolution failed. On January 10, 1862, he was expelled for disloyalty. The following year he was appointed to the Senate of the Confederate States. Threatened with arrest by the United States Government at the close of the war, he made a residence in Canada until 1866. He was then paroled and returned to Osceola. From 1876 to 1884 he practiced law in St. Louis, after which he returned to Osceola, although he still maintained an office in St. Louis. He served in the Mexican War and, previous to his appointment to the Confederate Senate, had seen active service in the Southern Army. In 1847 he was married to Miss Emily Moore of Clarksburg, Virginia. He died in Osceola, August 14, 1885.

NATHANIEL WATKINS (Democrat), vice-president of the Convention, was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, January 28, 1796. He was a half-brother of Henry Clay.

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He served in the War of 1812. His early education was largely self-acquired. He studied law in Transylvania University, graduating with distinction.* He later studied law under the direction of Judge Henry Davidge of Gallatin county, Kentucky, and was licensed to practice in 1819. Coming to Missouri in 1820, he located in Jackson, where he practised for more than fifty years. The last few years of his life were spent on his farm in Scott county. He held a number of public offices: in 1834, 1846 and 1850 he was a member of the Missouri House of Representatives, and was elected Speaker in 1850. In 1856 he was elected to the State Senate. He was a member of the State Convention in 1861 but abandoned his seat after the capture of Camp Jackson. Governor Jackson appointed him brigadier-general in the First military district of the State which embraced Southeast Missouri. He organized the Missouri State Guards in that district but soon resigned his command. He married Miss Eliza M. Watson of New Madrid. He died in Cape Girardeau, March 20, 1876.

WASHINGTON ADAMS (Democrat) was born in Christian county, Kentucky, in 1814. He received an academic education and then read law in Boonville, Missouri, with Peyton R. Hayden. He was licensed to practice law in 1835, and except when serving in public office, practiced in Boonville until his death. In December, 1871, he was appointed by Governor Brown to fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court. At the November election in 1872 he was elected to the same office, but resigned in October, 1874. In 1840 he married Miss Eliza Brown of Cynthiana, Kentucky. He was a member of the Episcopal church. He died in Boonville, May 7,

1883.

ARMSTED M. ALEXANDER (Democrat) was born in Clark county, Kentucky, May 26, 1834, and died in Paris, Missouri, November 7, 1892. The family came to Monroe

*This statement is found in Bay, "Bench and Bar of Missouri" but is not found

in any of the other biographies of Mr. Watkins,

county, Missouri, in 1841. He received a public school education and attended the University of Virginia, studying two years in the classical department and one year in the School of Law. He completed his legal studies at home and was licensed to practice in 1862. He was prosecuting attorney of Monroe county for six or eight years, and was a member of the Forty-eighth Congress. His wife was a daughter of Thomas Vaughn of Paris. He was a member of the Christian church and of the Odd Fellow fraternity.

DEWITT C. ALLEN (Democrat) was born in Clay county, Missouri, November 11, 1835, and with the exception of about two years, spent all of his life in that county. He was graduated from William Jewell College in 1855 after which he was principal of the preparatory department of the Masonic College at Lexington. He then studied law under the direction of Col. Alexander W. Doniphan. He later studied with Richard M. Rees in Leavenworth, Kansas. He was admitted to the bar in 1860 and began to practice at Liberty. He was elected circuit attorney for the Fifth judicial district in 1860, but being a Southern sympathizer, he declined to take the test oath in 1861 and resigned. For a time he was an officer of the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad and aided in securing the construction of the branch from Cameron to Kansas City. In 1896 he was a presidential elector at large from Missouri. He was awarded the degree of LL. D. by the University of Missouri and was for many years a trustee of William Jewell College. He was the author of "Sketch of the Life and Character of Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan" and other historical and biographical articles. In 1864 he married Miss Emily E. Settle of Ray county. He was a member of the Masonic order. Mr. Allen died February 12, 1920.

FRANCIS M. BLACK (Democrat) was born in Champaign county, Ohio, July 24, 1836, and died in Kansas City, Missouri, May 24, 1902. He attended the common schools and then taught school until he reached the age of twenty-two.

At that time he entered the Farmers' College at New Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating three years later. He then read law with General John H. Young of Urbana, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1864. He located in Kansas City, Missouri, and made that city his home until his death, except when holding public office. In 1880 he was elected judge of the Twenty-fourth judicial circuit. He was elected to the Supreme Court of Missouri in 1884 and served as Chief Justice during 1893-94. He was a candidate for reelection in 1894, but, with the rest of the Democratic ticket, he was defeated. Mr. Black helped to establish the Kansas City School of Law, served as its president and gave his services as a lecturer free. For several years before his death he served as special attorney for the police board. In 1867 he married Miss Susie Geiger of Dayton, Ohio.

HENRY BOONE (Democrat) was born in West Virginia in 1831 and died in Eldorado Springs, Missouri, December 10, 1919. His father was a cousin of Daniel Boone. He studied law and was just beginning to practice when the Civil War began. During that struggle he served as a colonel in the Confederate army. After the close of the war, he went to Kansas where he taught school for a time. In 1868 he removed to DeKalb county, Missouri. For the next forty years he practiced law at Union Star. He also engaged in farming. About 1880 he was elected prosecuting attorney of DeKalb county. He lived in Eldorado Springs, Missouri, from 1914 until his death. In 1865 he married Miss Elizabeth Parsons. He was a member of the Christian church.

GEORGE W. BRADFIELD (Democrat) was born in Snickersville, Loudon county, Virginia, April 26, 1821. He received a common school education after which he studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1858 he went to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he had charge of the Knoxville Register until the Civil War. During that war he was appointed a district judge of the Confederate States in the Texas division. He later served as secretary to Postmaster

General Reagan in President Davis' cabinet. He came to Lebanon, Missouri, in 1867, where he spent the remainder of his life. He served several terms in the offices of prosecuting attorney and probate judge of Laclede county. On January 16, 1846, he married Miss Matilda Ellen Klein, who died in 1861. He was then married to Miss Mary J. Hudson in 1868. He was a member of the Congregational church. He died in Lebanon, January 20, 1904.

JAMES O. BROADHEAD (Democrat) was born in Charlottesville, Albermarle county, Virginia, May 29, 1819. He attended a classical school at Red Hills, Virginia. At the age of sixteen he entered the Un versity of Virginia where he remained for one year. After teaching for a year in a private school in Baltimore he came to Missouri in 1837. For three years he was tutor in the family of Edward Bates and read law with Mr. Bates. He was admitted to the bar in 1842. He practiced in Bowling Green until 1859 and then removed to St. Louis. Prior to the Civil War he was a member of the Whig party. He was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1845. In 1846 he was elected to the lower House of the Legislature and in 1850 became a member of the State Senate. He was again a delegate to the State Convention in 1861. In the same year he was appointed United States district attorney but soon resigned. When the Civil War broke out, Mr. Broadhead gave all his energy towards keeping Missouri in the Union. He was a member of the St. Louis Committee of Safety and was lieutenantcolonel of volunteers. He was then made provost-marshalgeneral of the Military Department of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Indian Territory and Southern Iowa. In 1876 he was the choice of the Missouri delegation of his party for president. He was elected to Congress in 1882. In 1885 he was appointed to make examination of the French Spoliation Claims. He was minister to Switzerland from 1893-1897. He was president of the American Bar Association in 1878. In 1847 he was married to Miss Mary S. Dorsey, a native of Maryland. He died in St. Louis, August 7, 1898.