No, I'm not talking about Archie Bunker of the 1970s. I'm talking about politics. It isn't every man who can boast that four of his seven daughters married a future governor.
Lavinia Sappington, the daughter of Dr. John S. and Jane Breathitt Sappington, was born Sept. 22, 1802. In 1826, she married Meredith Miles Marmaduke. For a while, Marmaduke went into business with his father-in-law. Later he got involved in politics. On Nov. 16, 1840, Marmaduke took office as the sixth lieutenant governor of Missouri. His term, however, was cut short when Gov. Thomas Reynolds died by suicide on Feb. 9, 1844. Marmaduke was sworn in as the eighth governor of Missouri the same day, and Lavinia became Missouri's first lady. Marmaduke served out the rest of that term until Nov. 20, 1844.
Jane Breathitt Sappington was born in 1813. She married Claiborne Fox Jackson in early 1831. Unfortunately, she died on July 21, 1831, and didn't live to become Missouri's first lady.
Louisa Catherine Sappington was born in 1814. She married her sister's widower in 1833. Like Marmaduke, Claiborne Fox Jackson also went into business with his father-in-law. Dr. Sappington had developed and began manufacturing quinine pills which were effective in the treatment malaria. In 1836, Jackson was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives. Louisa died May 9, 1838, and, like her sister Jane, never had the honor of being Missouri's first lady.
This time Jackson didn't wait two years to remarry. By the end of 1838, he had married Dr. Sappington's remaining daughter, Elizabeth (Eliza) Whitsett Sappington. Eliza had been born on March 4, 1806, and previously been married to a man who neglected to mention he was already married. By the time that piece of news became public knowledge, Eliza was a mother and her husband had taken off, never to be seen again.
Jackson continued to be re-elected to the Missouri House until his election to the state Senate in 1848. Again, he continued to be re-elected, this time until he became Missouri's 15th governor in 1861. Eliza was now the first lady of Missouri.
However, Eliza was not to enjoy the title for long. The War Between the States was upon them. Not only did Jackson refuse to answer President Lincoln's call for troops, he tried to get Missouri to secede from the Union. After Union Gen. Lyon captured Missouri at Boonville in June, Gov. Jackson and the pro-Confederate members of the Missouri Legislature became a government in exile. The office of governor was declared vacant on July 23, 1861, and shortly thereafter, Provisional Gov. Hamilton Rowen Gamble had replaced him.
Elizabeth Davis was born and raised in Cooper County, Missouri, and has written Historically Yours for the Boonville Daily News since April 2008. In celebration of Missouri's upcoming Bicentennial, she has syndicated her column statewide and encourages readers all over the Show Me State to submit topic suggestions for future columns to [email protected].