Henry M. Vories
Henry M. Vories (May 25, 1810 – October 29, 1876)[1] was a justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri from 1873 to 1876.[2]
Born in Henry County, Kentucky, of German descent, Vories served as a soldier in the Black Hawk War,[3] and attempted to make a living as a storekeeper in Indiana, at which he fared poorly, going broke several times.[4] Vories began reading law at the age of thirty-one in the office of Oliver H. Smith,[1] and in 1844 moved to Missouri, "poor to the point of grinding poverty, but of indomitable energy".[3] He soon became one of the leaders of the St. Joseph Bar.[3] He moved to San Jose, California, in 1855, remaining for two years, before returning to Missouri.[1]
On November 5, 1872, Vories was elected to a six-year term in one of several newly-established seats on the Supreme Court of Missouri, but "deteriorating health plagued most of his years on the bench", ultimately forcing his resignation on October 2, 1876.[1] He was described as "a diligent practitioner", and "an industrious judge", though one who was "prone to set out the pleadings, evidence, and instructions at great length, — a fault that has created the impression that he lacked the faculty of expressing himself concisely".[3]
Vories died at his home in St. Joseph, Missouri, at the age of 66.[5]
References
- "Judge Henry M. Vories". www.courts.mo.gov.
- "Former Judges of the Supreme Court". www.courts.mo.gov.
- L. C. Krauthoff, The Supreme Court of Missouri, in Horace Williams Fuller, ed., The Green Bag (1891), Vol. 3, p. 184-85.
- Walter Barlow Stevens, Centennial History of Missouri: (the Center State) One Hundred Years in the Union, 1821–1921 (1921), p. 792.
- "Judge Vories Dead", Liberty Tribune (November 3, 1876), page 2.