Christopher Trigg Garner

As printed in 1881

CHRISTOPHER T. GARNER.

Christopher Trigg Garner, son of Colonel Jesse W. and Docia (Trigg) Garner, was born March 25, 1825, in Fayette, Howard county, Missouri. Colonel Jesse W. Garner, a native of Virginia, was born in Northumberland county in 1791, and when a boy removed to Winchester, Clark county, Kentucky. He married Docia Trigg January 15, 1810. In 1819 he moved to Missouri, and settled in Old Franklin, Howard county. About a year afterward he removed to Fayette, and from 1820 to 1841 lived in that town and in the vicinity thereof. In the year last mentioned he moved to Ray county, and in 1848 to near Liberty, Clay county, where, in June, 1850, he died. He was one of the Missouri pioneers, a carpenter by trade, and built the first court house and college buildings at Fayette. He was a leading Mason, and was present at the organization of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Missouri. He was a man of integrity of character, decision, energy and enterprise, good judgment, and strong, practical, common sense, highly esteemed and universally respected, kind any affectionate in his family relations, generous and philanthropic. Docia Garner was the daughter of Gen. Stephen Trigg, and was born January 21, 1782, in Bedford county, Virginia. She was a descendant of the Trigg family that emigrated from England and settled in Spottsylvania county, Virginia, the sons of which distinguished themselves as soldiers in the revolutionary war, in the war of 1812, and in the Indian wars of a later period. They were in the siege of Yorktown, the battle of King's Mountain, and in the Indian battle at the Blue Licks, Kentucky. C. T. Garner, the subject of this sketch, until he attained his majority, worked at daily labor for his father, attending school irregularly, for short intervals, in the log school-houses of that day. His education was obtained mainly by his own exertion. He taught school about a year, then went into a store as clerk for a few months. Desiring to study the law, he entered the law office of Honorable George W. Dunn, of Richmond, Missouri, in 1845, and read law continuously for nearly three years. In May, 1848, he received license to practice his profession from Judge Austin A. King, afterward governor of Missouri. The judge, on handing him his license, advised him to locate permanently at Richmond and engage in the practice of his profession. He yielded to the suggestion with great reluctance, as the bar of Richmond was then composed of such eminent lawyers as Philip L. Edwards, George W. Dunn, Ephraim B. Ewing, Charles E. Bowman, Mordecai Oliver, and E. A. Lewis. Without any money, library books, or office furniture, he was allowed the privilege of occupying a table in a drug store for his office; a copy of the revised statutes of Missouri, kindly lent him by a friend, was the extent of his library. The first earnings of his profession were applied to paying his legal preceptor for board and instruction while studying his profession. Afterward he purchased such books as his limited means would allow. Sympathizing friends gathered around him, and his prospects for a living practice began to brighten. He soon acquired a remunerative practice, which he has retained at the same bar for a period of thirty-two years. He has traveled his own circuit and practiced in the courts of ten counties. On the 5th day of November, 1850, in Callaway county, Missouri, he was married to Miss Elizabeth B. Mosby, an estimable and accomplished lady, the daughter of Major James Mosby. Mr. Garner was a whig. His judicial circuit, during the existence of that party, was composed of the counties of Ray, Clay, Carroll, Clinton, DeKalb, Harrison, Daviess, and Caldwell, which were then, by a large majority, democratic in politics. In 1852 he became a candidate for circuit attorney, and was elected by a handsome majority over his opponent, who was a good lawyer, a popular man, and a democrat. He discharged the duties of the office until the expiration of his term, in 1856, with success and ability, when he declined a candidacy for re-election. In his prosecution he met such distinguished lawyers as Colonel A. W. Doniphan, Colonel James H. Moss, Governor Willard P. Hall, and Honorable H. M. Vories. Mr. Garner was chosen to draw up the charter for the city of Richmond and secure its incorporation. In 1858 he advocated, by a thorough and energetic canvass, the proposition submitted to the people of his county for voting $200,000 to aid in building a railroad through the county. In 1861 he was strongly and decidedly for the Union, doing all he could to resist the wave of secession, which threatened to involve his native state in civil war. With unfaltering firmness he remained loyal to the government until the end of that memorable struggle. In 1864 he organized a company for the purpose of defending the town and people against the depredations of bushwhackers, by whom they were threatened. In 1862 he was elected a member of the general assembly from Ray county, and became a wise, prudent legislator, a prominent leader of the conservative element of that body, and exerted a propitious influence over its deliberations. In 1866 he assisted in procuring the stock and organizing the Ray County Savings Bank, was elected a director, and has been annually re-elected to the present time. Upon the organization of the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railroad Company and the St. Joseph & St. Louis Railroad Company, he was retained as one of their attorneys, and is still so employed. There is not a public enterprise in his section to which he has not contributed by his talents and influence, having been, and still being, a liberal contributor to the building of churches and institutions of learning, and to the support of churches, schools, and all movements for the public good. Though not a member of any church, his life has been exemplary, temperate, and moral. He is a Mason, but belongs to no other charitable organization. He is identified with the democratic party, though originally a strong whig. Mr. Garner has an interesting family of seven children: James W., Christopher T., Jr., Elizabeth B., William H., Sarah J., Mary V., and Jessie C. His three eldest children are well educated, being graduates of Richmond College. His wife, Elizabeth B., was born February 6, 1832, in Callaway county, Missouri, and is a most excellent Christian lady, having united with the Christian Church before her marriage.

As printed in History of Ray County, Mo. (1881). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.