John F. Ryland

John Ferguson Ryland was born in King and Queen County, Virginia on November 2, 1797, and moved to Kentucky in 1811. Not long after his family moved to Kentucky his father died, and he took to working his father's farm although he was only Twelve. His mother soon learnt that he was not suited to farming, and was fond of books. That being so she sent him to school. He attended Forest Hill Academy in Washington Co. (later in Marion Co.). Upon reaching adulthood most of his siblings left Kentucky. He married Martha Barnett on October 29, 1818, and after her death in 1833, married Elizabeth Gabriella Buford on September 21, 1835. By his first wife he had Caius Tacitus Ryland, Juliet Virginia Ryland, and John Erwin Ryland. And by his second wife he had Zenophon Ryland, Elizabeth Twyman Ryland, Simeon Buford Ryland, Rosanna Motley Ryland, Margaret Ryland, Catherine Ianthe Ryland, Joseph Addison Ryland, Richard Ryland, Manville Cass Ryland, and Carrie G. Ryland.

While in Kentucky he taught school. One of his students was James S. Rollins, future United States Representative. He came to Missouri in 1819, and settled in Old Franklin where he took up the pracice of law in 1821. He had studied law in Kentucky under Judge Hardin, and obtained a license there, but decided to relocate. He continued to work as an attorney until 1830. He moved to Randolph County in 1829,. In 1830 he was appointed Judge of the Sixth Judicial District by Governor Miller, and in 1831 relocated to Lexington, Missouri. In 1835, while Circuit Court Judge he received his first high profile case. He had to rule on violence against Mormons in Jackson County, Missouri. In the process he attempted a compromise between Jackson County officials and the Mormons, but in the end no compromise was achieved. In 1848 was appointed to the State of Missouri Supreme Court by Governor Austin A. King. He was a Supreme Court Justice from 1848 to 1857. During this time, he and the other Supreme Court Justices had to rule on the case of Dred Scott, a slave suing for his freedom on the grounds that he had resided in a free state for a while, and that emancipated him. Ryland was against ruling in favor of Scott, basing his choice on laws at the time. His opinion swayed the other judges, and Scott wound up appealing his case to the United States Supreme Court. In 1859, Ryland returned to active practice as an attorney in Lexington, Missouri. Ryland was a Mason and achieved Grand Master of the Grand Lodge. Following the Civil War he served as a State Representative in the Twentieth-Fourth General Assembly, but served only one term, not returning due to unhappiness with the Legislature. John Ferguson Ryland passed away on September 11, 1873 in Lexington, Missouri. He was interred in Machpelah Cemetery in Lexington.