The Author
George Graham Vest was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, in December 1830 and received a law degree from Transylvania University. He began practicing law in Missouri in the early 1850s and served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 1860 to 1861. During the Civil War he served in the Confederate Congress. Following the war he established a law practice in Sedalia, Missouri, with John F. Philips as his partner. He was first elected to the U. S. Senate in 1879; re-elected in 1885, 1891, and 1897, he served until retiring in 1903. He died in Sweet Springs, Missouri, in 1904.