The Lawyers Involved in the Mormons' Legal Defence

Jackson, Clay and Caldwell Counties

    Col. Alexander William Doniphan, orator, jurist, statesman, soldier and Christian gentleman, was born in Mason County, Kentucky, July 9, 1808, and died in Richmond, Missouri, August 8, 1887. He was of immense stature, noble appearance, brilliant parts, fearless, of great moral courage, sanguine, faithful, just, poetic in temperament, the champion of the down-trodden, eloquent beyond description.
    He took up the practice of law in Liberty in 1833 and at once began his active support of every progressive movement. In 1837 he married Elizabeth Jane Thornton, who was born in Clay County December 21, 1820, a daughter of Col. John Thornton, one of the county's first settlers. During his residence of thirty years, he held his place as leading citizen, giving the best of his powers to Clay County's development, being absent only during his famous expedition to Old Mexico in 1846-1847 - one of the longest marches ever made by a military organization - when he was Commander of the First Regiment Missouri Mounted Volunteers, and when representing his County in the Legislature. Alexander Doniphan was a strong supporter of all educational endeavors. His name appears on lists of trustees of a number of early schools, he was instrumental in securing William Jewell College for Liberty, and in 1853 he became the first county school commissioner. In 1861 he was a member of the Peace Commission which met Lincoln in Washington, and during the Civil War his sympathies were with the Union.
    On June 5, 1875, Col Doniphan was one of the guests of honor and first speaker of the day at Clay County's Semi-Centennial celebration. In 1909 a chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was organized in Liberty and in his honor was named the Alexander Doniphan Chapter. On July 29, 1918, the State of Missouri dedicated a magnificent monument of bronze and granite at Richmond, to his memory.
    The death of his two sons early in life prevented the direct continuance of Alexander Doniphan's brilliant qualities but Clay County is the heir of his achievements.
    - [1922 Ethel Massie Withers, Regent of Alexander Doniphan Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution. Clay County Missouri Sesquicentennial Souvenir, 1822-1972 by Alexander Doniphan Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Liberty Tribune, 1922, with supplement 1972, 10].

    David Rice Atchison, US senator, born in Frog-town, Kentucky, 11 August 1807. He received a liberal education, studied law, and began practice in Liberty County, Mo. In 1834 and 1838 he sat in the Missouri legislature, in 1841 he was appointed judge of the Platte county circuit court, and in 1843 appointed United States senator in the place of Lewis F. Linn, deceased, and was subsequently elected and reelected, sitting until 1855. He was prominent in the legislation on the organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and was a leader of the pro-slavery faction in the Kansas troubles of 1856-'57.
    David R. Atchison has the singular honor of having served as U.S. President for one day when General Zachary Taylor refused to be inaugurated on March 4, 1849, because it was a Sunday. Born in Fayette County, Kentucky, he became the first senator from western Missouri and the youngest Missourian at that time to enter the U.S. Senate. He served 16 terms in this body as President Pro Tem. By right of succession, he also was U.S. Vice President from April 18, 1853, until December 4, 1854, by virtue of the death of President Franklin Pierce's vice president, William R. King. He is buried in his home of Plattsburg, Missouri, where a statue honors him in front of the Clinton County Courthouse. jurist and United States senator, was born in Fayette county, Ky., Aug. 11, 1807. His father was an industrious farmer of influence in the neighborhood. At an early age David was put in a grammar school, but left it to enter Transylvania University, where he graduated. In 1828 he began to study law at the Lexington Law School, where he remained two years. He then went to Clay county, at that time the extreme border of Missouri. He quickly adapted himself to the life and society of the frontier; took part in politics, and soon became a prominent figure in the life of the country. In 1834 he was elected to the state house of representatives of Missouri and in 1838 was reëlected. During this session he was chosen major-general of the state militia to operate against the Indians, but never saw any active service, in 1840 he was defeated as a candidate for the state legislature, and in 1841, was elected to the bench of the Platte judicial circuit. Two years later he was chosen by Gov. Reynolds to fill the vacancy in the United States senate, occasioned by the death of Dr. Lewis Lynn; was elected in 1844 to the position by the state legislature, and reëlected in 1849.
    At the time of the death of William R. King, the vice-president elect, Mr. Atchison, being president of the senate, became ex-officio vice-president of the United States. When the question of the organization of the Nebraska Territory came before the senate, Mr. Atchison opposed it, but at the next session favored it, and though the validity of the Missouri Compromise had not then been questioned, he proposed, regardless of restrictions, to introduce slavery into the territory. In the summer of 1853, he announced himself in favor of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the following winter was a warm supporter of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. He aspired to the presidency and for some time his name appeared in the border papers as a candidate. He ran for the United States senate in 1855 but was defeated. The following year he spent the most of his time in Kansas leading the Platte County Rifle company, but after the defeat of slavery in Kansas he retired to his farm. At the beginning of the Civil war he entered the Confederate service, but soon retired because of dissatisfaction with the management. After the war he lived in retirement until his death, Jan. 26, 1886. [Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. ..., volume 1, with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence (Chicago, IL: Standard Pub. Co. 1912), 115-116].
    David R. Atchison, John Long and Howard Everett were appointed commissioners for the purpose of selecting a seat of justice for said county of Clinton...under the law entitled an act for the organization of counties hereafter established approved January 14, 1825. The act took effect January 2, 1833.
    On January 15, the commissioners made their report: The east half of the northwest quarter of Section 27, Township 55 N, Range 32 W, containing 80 acres... also another tract... containing 80 acres... also another tract... containing six acres.
    One of the commissioners, Gen. David R. Atchison, afterward stated that it was the intention of the commissioners to locate the county seat on the 80 acres of land lying just east of the proposed site of Plattsburg, and upon a more elevated spot of ground... A man named Walker hastened to Lexington to the Land Office and entered the 80 acres, believing by so doing a chance was open for speculation. The act of Walker caused the commissioners to locate the county seat where it now is...
    On the second Monday of March, 1833, the first county court met in the county of Clinton at the houes of Laban Garrett, and there organized and set in motion the machinery necessary to its civil government... (--History of Clinton and Caldwell Counties, 1922, pp. 75, 76.)
    It should be remembered that Clinton County was established before the Platte Purchase, in June, 1836, and that Clay County was formed from Ray County and that Ray County was organized out of the territory of Howard County, November 16, 1820. (--Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 1901, Conard, Vol. 5, pp. 151, 304; Vol. 2, p. 19.)
    The report of the commissioners (see above) was approved, and the name of the town to be laid off was Concord. In the following January, 1834, it was changed to Springfield, and in 1835, it was again changed to Plattsburg, in honor of Plattsburg in Clinton County, New York... (-- History of Clinton and Caldwell Counties , 1922, p. 93; Conard, Vol. 2, p. 33.)