Caius Tacitus Ryland

As printed in 1910

CAIUS TACITUS RYLAND, M. D.

The medical profession of Lafayette county has an able representative in the person of Dr. Caius Tacitus Ryland, who has won a place in the front rank of medical men in this part of the state by his indomitable energy and perseverance, having spared no pains in the preparation for his chosen calling, and while laboring to advance himself he has not neglected his general duties of citizenship, but has always been found ready to assist in furthering any movement looking to the general good of his county and state, and he has so lived as to keep untarnished the honored escutcheon of the family name.

Doctor Ryland was born April 20, 1874, in Lexington, Missouri, the son of Judge John E. and Nancy (Palmer) Ryland, and he enjoyed the advantages of a good education, having been graduated from the Lexington high school in 1893, later attended the Wentworth Military Academy for two years. Deciding upon a medical course, he entered Beaumont Hospital Medical College, from which institution he was graduated in 1897, he had one year at St. Mary's Infirmary in St. Louis. Thus well equipped for his life work, he opened an office in Lexington in 1898 and has enjoyed a large and growing practice ever since, and takes a high rank among the medical men of the state, being not only a profound student of this great science and keeping abreast of the times in all matters pertaining to the same, but he is also well equipped temperamentally and wins and retains, without effort, the confidence and esteem of all classes.

Fraternally, the Doctor has attained the Royal Arch degree in the Masonic order, and he is popular in this and social circles.

Doctor Ryland was married on September 2, 1903, to Bettie Belle Perrie, of Mayview, this county, a lady of refinement, and the daughter of a prominent family there, Dr. John Perrie and wife. She was born September 25,

Owing to the prominence of the Doctor's family, considerable space will be devoted to some of its members, especially his distinguished father, Judge John Edwin Ryland, who was for many years one of the leading members of the bar of northern Missouri. He was born in Howard county, this state, July 8, 1830, the son of John Furguson and Martha (Barnett) Ryland, and in 1831 he was brought by his parents from Howard to Lafayette county, and he spent almost his entire life in Lafayette county and vicinity, and died at his residence in Lexington, December 15, 1905, when past seventy-five years of age. He was educated in the schools of Lexington, principally in the old Masonic College, from which he was graduated on July 2, 1852. That year and the next he taught school in Kansas City, Missouri, after which he returned to Lexington and became first assistant in the primary department of the Masonic College, which position he held until October, 1855, when he was elected principal of that department, the duties of which office he performed for two and one-half years.

Having chosen the legal profession, for which his calm, peaceful and dignified manhood, literary attainments, judicial mind, early training and association so eminently fitted him, Mr. Ryland commenced the study of law under the supervision of his father, Missouri's distinguished jurist, Judge John Furguson Ryland, and was admitted to the bar in 1857, He was associated in the practice of law with his father under the firm name of Ryland & Son, until the death of his father, in 1873, at which time he entered into partnership with his brother, Xenophon Ryland, under the firm name of Ryland & Ryland. He was enrolled in the Missouri Militia in 1862 and served more than a year in the Seventy-first Regiment with the rank of major. During the year 1862 he was elected to the office of circuit attorney for the sixth judicial circuit of Missouri, which position he filled with much credit and satisfaction until 1865. In 1863 he was elected a member of the board of education of Lexington, and served as such for ten consecutive years. He was also a member of the city council of Lexington in 1866, and in 1868 was chosen mayor of the city of Lexington, serving one term and declining re-election. In 1876 Judge Ryland was chosen as Democratic presidential elector for the eleventh district, and cast his vote for Samuel J. Tilden. He was throughout life a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school, active and zealous in the councils of his party. At the general election in 1880 he was elected judge of the criminal court of the sixth judicial circuit and county of Johnson, and was twice re-elected without opposition, holding the office for eighteen consecutive years. His judicial record was characterized by a determination to permit no one, however humble, to submit to injustice. Like his father, he was a warm friend of the younger members of the bar. The universal esteem in which he was held as a judge, demonstrated by the repeated re-elections without opposition, speaks louder than language of the faithful, conscientious and satisfactory manner in which he discharged his trust. He always kept a Bible in court by which witnesses were sworn. He had no patience with petty violations of the Sunday and liquor laws, neither had he any patience with mob violence. He was a charitable man and many acts of kindness might be related of him.

In addition to the manifold duties devolved upon him, Judge Ryland was for years closely identified with the educational interests of both county and state. In addition to ten years' service as a member of the board of education of the city of Lexington, he was a member of the board of regents of the State Normal School at Warrensburg for a number of years, and trustee of Central College at Fayette, Howard county, Missouri. Mainly through his personal efforts the old Masonic College and its appurtenances were donated to Central Female College, a Southern Methodist institution at Lexington, of which college he was one of the original organizers and in which he served as curator until his death. He was also at the time of his death trustee in the Scarritt Bible Training School at Kansas City.

Judge Ryland was made a Mason in 1852, by Heroine Lodge, No. 104, at Kansas City, and later served as junior grand warden and deputy grand master of the Masonic fraternity of the state. In 1900 he was chosen as president of the Old Men's Club of Lafayette county, and filled the position three years. For more than half a century he was an active, earnest and zealous member and official of the Methodist Episcopal church South, at Lexington, in which church he made profession of faith in the Christ, January 20, 1850, and held membership in the church until his death.

Judge Ryland was married December 10, 1860, to Nancy Pettice Palmer, a lady of beautiful Christian character, who, with the following six children, survives: Isaac Palmer, a prominent attorney of Kansas City, Missouri; Martha Clintona Griswold, of New York City; Edwin Piggott, a prominent minister in the Methodist Episcopal church South, at Los Angeles, California; Lillian Ryland Wallace, of Lexington, Missouri; Caius Tacitus, the immediate subject of this sketch; and John Reid, a successful business man of Montgomery, Alabama.

In the death of Judge John E. Ryland the state of Missouri lost one of its most estimable citizens; the bench and bar an able, fearless, conscientious, justice-loving and merciful jurist; the educational interests an active and earnest co-laborer; the church a devout, zealous, sincere Christian; the family a kind, unselfish, devoted husband and father.

The biographical record could not be consistently closed without proper tribute to Judge John E. Ryland's distinguished father. Judge John Furguson Ryland, who, at the time of his death, mentioned in a preceding paragraph, at his home in Lexington, in his seventy-sixth year, was the oldest member of the Lafayette county bar, and was conceded to be one of the most able, eminent, learned and honorable members of the Missouri bar. Throughout a long and arduous life, few men in this vicinity have occupied

SO high and impregnable a position in the estimation of their fellow men as he. The birth of this well-remembered jurist occurred on November 2, 1797, in Essex county, Virginia, and he was the oldest son of Joseph and Rosannah (Motley) Ryland. He grew to maturity and was educated in the Old Dominion, and emigrated with the family in 181 1 to Madison county, Kentucky. During the same year his father died, leaving the widow and seven children, the charge of the family falling upon the oldest boy, John Furguson, who bravely did his duty in this respect. He began life by teaching school in Madison and Jessamine counties, at the same time studying law, learned Latin and ancient history at Forest Hill Academy under the noted linguist, Samuel Wilson, later read law under Judge Hardin, and was licensed to practice in Kentucky, but in 1819 he emigrated to Missouri, and entered upon the practice of his profession at Old Franklin, Howard county. He was one of the organizers of the Jackson county bar, in March, 1827, and 'm July, 1833, when judge of the fifth judicial circuit in Pettis county, the bar association of that county was organized. He finally became one of the supreme judges of the state, and made a great record on the bench, his clear, graceful, forcible opinions being characteristic of the able lawyer and judge, classical scholar and logician, as many examples could be cited. He moved from Old Franklin to Fayette, where he resided until 1831, when he moved to Lexington, where he passed the remainder of his life. He enjoyed a large practice, and in 1832 Governor Miller appointed him judge of the sixth judicial circuit of Missouri, which embraced Chariton, Carroll, Ray, Clay, Lafayette and other counties. He was appointed judge of the supreme court of Missouri in March, 1849, by Governor King, a station which he adorned by his scholarly attainments, liberal culture and masterful intellect until 1857, greatly to the satisfaction of the people and members of the bar, — in fact, he was a universal favorite. He was not only an able and learned jurist, but a man of highest sense of honor, with noble and generous impulses.

Politically, he was a Democrat, and was active and prominent in the councils of his party. After the close of the war he was a member of the twenty-fourth General Assembly of Missouri, in which he further distinguished himself. He was a prominent Mason for years, having served as grand master, and was one of the founders and early patrons of the old Masonic College at Lexington. He was a devout Christian, and a worker in the Old School Presbyterian church.

Judge Ryland was first married to Martha M. Barnett, of Madison county, Kentucky, who died in 1833, of which marriage there were born six children. Afterwards he married Elizabeth G. Buford, of Lafayette county, Missouri, and to this union twelve children were born.

Possessed of a remarkable memory, he was one of the finest historians of his day. He was a finished scholar, profound jurist, able advocate, eloquent orator, incorruptible judge, polite and polished gentleman. In all the relations of life, as citizen, husband, father, Mason and friend, he was true to his duties and obligations and was esteemed, honored and beloved by all with whom he was associated. He filled well his stewardship in life, died the death of the Christian, and his memory should be cherished and his virtues emulated.

As printed in Young's history of Lafayette County, Missouri (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.