Hamilton Rowan Gamble
American jurist and politician (1798–1864)
Hamilton Rowan Gamble (November 29, 1798 – January 31, 1864) was an American jurist and politician who served as the Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court at the time of the Dred Scott case in 1852. Although his colleagues voted to overturn the 28-year precedent in Missouri of "once free always free," Gamble wrote a dissenting opinion. During the American Civil War, he was appointed as the 16th governor of Missouri by a Constitutional Convention after Union forces captured the state capital at Jefferson City and deposed the elected governor, Claiborne Jackson.
Early life and education
Hamilton Gamble was born in 1798 in Winchester, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, the youngest of seven children of Joseph and Anne Hamilton Gamble. His parents were Scots-Irish immigrants who had reached Virginia in 1784 from northern Ireland. Gamble first studied locally and at age 13 went to Hampden-Sydney College, a Presbyterian seminary or secondary academy. In the practice of the time, he read the law to practice with an established firm, and by 1817 was accepted to the bar in Virginia.
Move to Missouri and career
In 1818 as a young man of 20, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri to join his older brother Archibald Gamble, an attorney who had moved there earlier and was established as a clerk of the St. Louis Circuit Court.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q968837. VIAF identifies the subject as 60829614. The Library of Congress control number is n97057102. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1798, 1864, 1852 and 1784.
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