Meredith Miles Marmaduke (1791-1864)

8th Governor of Missouri. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in this position from February 1844 until November 1844, finishing out the term of Governor Thomas Reynolds who had died in office. Following his local education, he worked as a civil engineer until the War of 1812, when he joined the US Army Volunteers and achieved the rank of colonel. Following the war, he became a US Marshall for the Tidewater district of Virginia and later was elected clerk of the circuit court. In 1823 he moved to Franklin, Missouri, where he held a variety of jobs, including a trader on the Santa Fe Trail. While serving as surveyor for Saline County, he platted the village of Arrow Rock in 1829 and by 1835, he had acquired a large plantation near there. In 1840 he was elected lieutenant governor of Missouri and when Governor Reynolds died, he assumed the role of governor. Following the end of his term, he was not nominated for governor in the 1844 election. However, he continued to be active in politics, serving as Saline County delegate to the Missouri Constitutional Convention. He ran unsuccessfully for governor again in 1848. Although a former slaveholder, he firmly supported the Union cause when the American Civil War broke out in April 1861. His family became divided on their political loyalties during the war, with four of his sons joining the Confederate Army. One of his sons, John Sappington Marmaduke, would become a Confederate general and was later elected as Missouri's 25th governor, serving from 1885 until 1887. He died prior to the end of the American Civil War, at the age of 72.

Bio by: William Bjornstad