Slover, James H., lawyer and jurist, was born December 31, 1838, in Towanda, Pennsylvania. His parents were Jacob J. and Christiana A. (Potter) Slover. The father was descended from a Holland family which settled in the Mohawk Valley in the State of New York, and contributed of its members to the patriot army during the Revolutionary War. He removed to Pennsylvania and was a soldier in the War of 1812. The son, James H. Slover, began his education in the public schools in his native town, and continued it in Chicago, Illinois. He then became a student in the Union College of Law at Chicago, and was graduated from that institution in June, 1866. In September following, having made his residence in Jackson County, Missouri, he was admitted to the bar by Judge Tutt. He at once entered upon practice, in which he continued until his elevation to the bench in 1885. For some time he was a member of the firm of Comingo & Slover; later, John F. Philips (afterward United States Judge) was admitted to the partnership, and the firm name became Philips, Comingo & Slover. Mr. Slover was called to public service immediately upon completing his legal education, being elected a justice of the peace in Independence in 1866 and occupying the position for four years. During the same period he served as a member and as treasurer of the school board, and for two terms as mayor. In 1885 he was appointed Judge of Division 2 of the circuit court of Jackson County. In 1886 he was elected to the same position and he was successively re-elected in 1892 and in 1898. As a lawyer, his attainments are of a high order, and on the bench he displays the qualifications of an accomplished jurist; well read in the literature of his profession, and quick to discern the relations of fact and law, he is at the same time a patient listener, and is held in high regard by practitioners for his unfailing consideration and courtesy. In poli

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tics he is a Democrat, and he was for many years chairman of the Jackson County Democratic committee, and an aggressive opponent of the severely proscriptive Drake constitution. Judge Slover was married in 1866 to Miss Mary A. Howe, daughter of William Howe, of Independence, an early merchant who figured prominently in the Santa Fe and Indian trade.

Small, George H., merchant and public official, was born in Mason County, Kentucky, April 10, 1843. He was reared in Missouri, and during the Civil War served with Bledsoe's battery in the Confederate Army. In 1867 he came to St. Louis and engaged in business as a commission merchant, continuing to devote the larger share of his time and attention to that business for nearly thirty years thereafter. In 1889 he' was appointed police commissioner of St. Louis by Governor David R. Francis to fill out an unexpired term of two years, and at the end of that time was reappointed for a full term of four years. In 1895 he was appointed Assistant United States Treasurer at St. Louis by President Cleveland. He was first vice president of the Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis in 1894. Politically he has been identified with the Democratic party ever since he became a citizen of Missouri. He was married, in 1877, to Miss Ida M. Wetmore, a daughter of Dr. A. Wetmore, a leading physician of Clinton, Iowa.

Smith, Alvin Jay, lawyer, and vice president of the Adrian Banking Company, of Adrian, Bates County, was born in a log cabin in Delaware County, Ohio, May 23, 1855, son of John J. and Deborah H. (Blue) Smith. His father, who was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, June 6, 1816, in boyhood moved with his parents to Delaware County, Ohio, where he taught school until he was thirty years of age. In 1869

he removed to Bates County, Missouri, where the remainder of his life was spent on a farm. His first wife, a native of Virginia, died when the subject of this sketch was an infant. His second wife was Martha Livingston, daughter of Judge Livingston, of Franklin County, Ohio. The children of the first union were Dr. Norman P. Smith, of Paris, Illinois; Mary E., widow of William H. Walter, of Warrensburg, Missouri; Dr. Harvey B. Smith, who died at Shelbyville, Illinois, January 6, 1894; John C., a merchant at Adrian, Missouri; Alvin J., and a daughter who died in infancy. John J. Smith was a careful business man. When he came to Missouri he was in debt, but when he died he left valuable property. He always followed the golden rule, and if he ever did an injustice to a fellow man it was through an error of judgment. The education of Alvin J. Smith, his youngest son, was begun in the public schools of Ohio. In 1869 he accompanied his father to Bates County, Missouri, where his education was continued, principally at the Butler Academy. After leaving the last named institution he began the study of law under the direction of Judge William Page, of Butler, teaching school in the meantime for the purpose of earning money enough to complete his legal education. The end sought was finally accomplished and he entered the law department of the State University at Columbia, graduating in the class of 1881, of which he was valedictorian. In the same year he was admitted to the bar before Judge James B. Gantt, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri, after a most rigid examination. After the conclusion of the examination, Judge Gantt descended from the bench. and grasping the hand of the applicant of the applicant warmly congratulated him on the unusually successful issue of the test to which he had been subjected, an incident rarely witnessed. Upon receiving his coveted certificate Mr. Smith began practice in the office of his preceptor, Judge Page, at Butler, and was successful from the start. About a year later he went to Ohio to visit his brother, John C. Smith, remaining there for seven months and spending all the money he had earned while engaged in professional work in Butler. Returning home he went to Yates Centre, Kansas, and made arrangements to engage in practice there, but in deference to the wishes of his father, then residing in Adrian, he de

cided to locate there, where he has had a successful career since May 23, 1883. Mr. Smith has always been devoted to the principles of the Republican party, in the success of which he has been actively interested. Even before he was of age he was ardent in his support of the cause of Republicanism, as an incident in his college career will show. The law class of which he was a member contained only half a dozen young Republicans, and of these he was recognized as the leader, by reason of his forcefulness and oratorical ability. The city of Columbia was strongly Democratic, but the young men determined to show their colors during the campaign. They congregated on one of the streets and were addressing the assembled crowd, when the meeting was broken up by a crowd of roughs. Adjournment was taken to the courthouse, and while young Smith was speaking to a crowd that filled the room, a missile was thrown upon the platform. Determined to stand upon his rights, he stepped to the front of the platform and in tones whose meaning was unmistakable, announced that the next assault of that kind would be followed by the adoption of measures that would put an end to the trouble. This announcement was sufficiently corrective and the meeting proceeded without further disorder. Its result was the organization of the first Republican club of that campaign in Boone County. Mr. Smith's first vote was cast for Grant. For fifteen years he has been city attorney at Adrian, the only public office he has ever held. He has never asked for political preferment, nor cared for it, but has accepted nominations to office only upon the demand of his party. He has been the Republican nominee for school commissioner, prosecuting attorney and Representative in the State Legislature from Bates County, and on each occasion ran ahead of his ticket, though not elected, the Democratic majority of 1,500 in that county being too large to be overcome. For fifteen years he has been attorney for the Adrian Banking Company, and since 1899 has been vice president of that corporation. His other interests include 300 acres of fine farming land and several valuable lots in Adrian. Fraternally he is a charter member of Adrian Lodge No. 13, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has passed all the chairs, and a member of the