position of so much responsibility attracted no small amount of attention. The statutes of Missouri required that a deputy should have all the qualifications of a clerk, and the opinion of the attorney-general
ANNIE WHITE BAXTER.
of the State was necessary before the county court would approve the appointment. The duties of this office are by far the most complicated and laborious of any office in the county, embracing the entire tax levy and extension, in a county of more than 50.000 people, the custody, computation and collection of interest on a public school fund of over $225,000 loaned out to citizens of the county, and keeping accounts and making settlements with the state treasurer, state auditor, county treasurer, county collector and all County and township officers entrusted with the collection and custody of state and county revenues, as well as writing the records and executing the acts and orders of the county court. Miss White shrank from no duty, and her keen perception, intuitive acumen, mathematical precision, untiring application, energy and directness, and her pleasing address and manners w on for her the esteem and Confidence of the entire population. She was found equal to every occasion and served so well that under the next incumbent of the clerkship she was again appointed and qualified as principal deputy. She w as married to C. W. Baxter, of Carthage, Mo.. 14th January. 1888, and withdrew from official duty to attend to the more pleasant tastes of domestic life, but, the county clerk becoming partly disabled by paralysis, she was induced again to take charge of the office. In 1890, she was placed in nomination for county clerk by the regular Democratic county convention for county clerk. Jasper County bad for years polled a large Republican majority, but, although her rival was regarded as a popular and competent man, Mrs. Baxter received a majority of 463 votes at the polls. She took charge of the office as clerk under a commission signed by Gov. D. K. Francis. She is the first woman in the United States elected by the people and qualified under the law to (ill the office of clerk of a court of record. Mrs. Baxter retains all her womanly refinement and modesty, maintains a popular position in social life, and bears her honors and responsibilities with unconcious ease and natural grace.
MARION BABCOCK BAXTER.
BAXTER, Mrs. Marion Babcock, lecturer and author, born on a farm in Litchfield. Hillsdale county, Mich., 12th April, 1850. Her father, Abel E. Babcock, was an Adventist minister in the times when it required courage to preach an unpopular doctrine. Her mother, Mary Balxrock, was a gracious woman, to whose love and tender teaching Mrs. Baxter owes all that she is. Mrs. Baxter tract’s her lineage hack to the Reformation in England. Her early childhood was spent in poverty and self-denial, and she was familiar with work, for which she has ever been thankful. In childhood she had few companions, for the Adventist doctrine was so unpopular and the persecution so pointed that even the children caught the spirit and were accustomed to tease her. Many a time she has climbed a tree to avoid their persecution. In her girlhood she developed a very fine voice and was much in demand for concert singing, but she lost her voice suddenly, and turned to the lecture platform. Her first lecture was given in Jonesville, Mich., where she had lived since she was five years old. Her subject was "The Follies of Fashion," quite appropriate for one whose life had been spent in comparative poverty. On that occasion the opera-house was packed, a band furnished music, and all the world of Jonesville was there. Her first effort was a success in every way, and she eventually became widely known as a lecturer. She was married at the age of twenty-two years to C. K. K. Baxter, a son of Levi Baxter, the head of one of the oldest and most respected families in the state. She is at present the State president of the White
