Walter L. Lovelace (October 1, 1831 – August 5, 1866) was a Missouri lawyer and politician who served as Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives from 1864 to 1865, and as a justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri from 1865 to 1866.

Early life, education, and career

Lovelace was born in

Charlotte County, Virginia Charlotte County is a United States county located in the south central part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is the town of Charlotte Court House. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 11,529. Charlotte County is ...

. His parents were not wealthy and his father died in 1833. His mother moved to Montgomery County, Missouri, and Walter labored on a farm during his boyhood, attending school only during the winter months. He became a teacher and by his savings was able to attend

Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

. He also " studied law under Ben Sharp, a prominent lawyer in the area", and was admitted to the bar in 1855.

Political and judicial career

In 1862 and 1864 he was elected to the Missouri state legislature, serving as Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives during his second term. An oil painting of him adorns the walls of the Chamber, "a memorial placed by Legislative direction". On June 13, 1865, he was one of three justices appointed to the Supreme Court, which had been reconfigured by statute.That Little Affair Settled—The Last Rebellion Over
, ''The Kansas City Daily Journal of Commerce'' (June 17, 1865), p. 2. He died fifteen months later, at his home in

Danville, Missouri Danville is an unincorporated community, unincorporated, small, rural village in Montgomery County, Missouri, Montgomery County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is located just off Interstate 70 at a marked turnoff. There is a combined gas statio ...

, having suffered lung issues and diagnosed with consumption. He was not yet 35 years old. Described as an "industrious judge", it was further written that "his opinions indicate that with experience and good health he would have earned for himself a prominent rank".L. C. Krauthoff, ''The Supreme Court of Missouri'', in

Horace Williams Fuller Horace Williams Fuller (June 15, 1844 – October 26, 1901) was an American lawyer and editor who served as the first editor of ''The Green Bag'', a late-19th- and early-20th century legal news and humor magazine. Life and career Born in Aug ...

, ed., '' The Green Bag'' (1891), Vol. 3, p. 181-82.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovelace, Walter L. 1831 births 1866 deaths Missouri State University alumni U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Speakers of the Missouri House of Representatives Judges of the Supreme Court of Missouri Tuberculosis deaths in Missouri Missouri Republicans