Robert Chatham Donnen (he never used Donnell) Ewing went with his father to New Lebanon in 1820. He always maintained a warm spot for his boyhood days in that place as may be gleaned from the book which he wrote (anonymously) in 1876 about his mother. That volume was entitled "Aunt Peggy: Being A Memoir of Mrs. Margaret Davidson Ewing, Wife of the Late Rev, Finis Ewing." Robert C. Ewing also published, in 1874, another book whose title was "Historical Memoirs: Containing A Brief History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Missouri." Ewing's life indicates that more than a bit of wanderlust circulated in his veins. After being admitted to the bar in December of 1840, he opened a law office in Richmond, Mo. In 1842 he sailed for South America and the West Indies. In 1843 he resumed his practice, moving, in 1844, to Lexington, Mo. He served as U. S. Marshal for the state of Missouri and then the territory of Kansas. In 1852 he went to New Mexico and in the following year to California via Panama. In 1856 he was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Missouri (against Trusten Polk). After about a year in law practice, Ewing "crossed the plains in charge of government freight for General Johnson's army, then encamped at Salt Lake." In 1859 he made another trip to Utah on a business venture and lost considerable money. From 1863 to 1868 Ewing was in Montana territory where he served as president of a constitutional convention working towards state government. He returned to Missouri (Jackson Co.) in 1869 and was elected judge of the 24th Judicial Circuit, which office he held for four years. In September of 1874 he resigned "to accept a law Professorship in Lincoln University, Illinois" where he served five months. Judge Ewing then went from Missouri to Texas and in the fall of 1875 accepted a Law Professorship at Trinity University. - [1]
[1] - http://www.rootsweb.com/~mocooper/Historical/HNLCCM_Chapter_III.htm |