JUDGE ROBERT A. SHORT

From the 1887 History of Vernon County, Missouri, p. 688-689:

Judge Robert A. Short

(Presiding Judge of Vernon County, Nevada).

   On this page of the present volume is found briefly chronicled the life record of a man whose career has been as honorable as that of any man mentioned in the history of this community.  Like other representative citizens of the county, he is of Kentucky nativity, born in Allen county December 13, 1822, being the sixth of 10 children in his parents' family, seven of whom were sons.  His father, Lanmon Short, came originally from North Carolina, and as an occupation in life devoted himself to tilling the soil.  The maiden name of his mother was Elizabeth Carpenter, her birthplace having been in the Blue Grass State.  Young Robert accompanied the family to Cole county , Mo., in 1830, and there he learned thoroughly the different branches of agriculture, adapting that as his occupation when the time became necessary for him to start for himself.  Up to 1867 he was numbered with the citizens of Cole county, but since then he has been a resident of this county, his time for 15 years having been employed in the management and cultivation of the farm which he purchased nearly 20 years ago.  This he still owns and it is an excellent homestead of 415 acres.  In 1873 Mr. Short was called to the official bench of Vernon county as one of its associate judges, and his duties while in this capacity were discharged with singular care and fidelity.  He was elected in 1886 by his party -- the Democratic -- to the position of presiding judge of the county court by a handsome majority, and, referring to his past career, it is plain to be seen that his future official conduct will be characterized with the same ability and honesty that have attended him in the past.  September 28, 1848, Judge Short was married to Miss Phebe Coffelt, of the same State as himself.  This union was blessed with six children:  Elizabeth, William H., Luella, Robert A., Tapha and DeWitt C.  One son, John A., died in 1881, aged 26 years.  He was a young man of much promise and a graduate of the State University at Columbia.

[Transcribed by Marty Patton]

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