Rufus Pettibone (May 26, 1784 – July 31, 1825)[1] was a justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri from 1823 to 1825, appointed from St. Louis County.
[3] In 1817, Pettibone decided to move to St. Louis, then in the territory of Missouri, and joined a group of pioneers, arriving there with his wife and three children in May, 1818.
Upon his arrival, he was offered a partnership in the practice of law by Colonel Rufus Easton, one of the most experienced lawyers then at the St. Louis bar.
[3] When Missouri was admitted to the union, Pettibone ran for political office on an anti-slavery ticket along with Easton, John B. C. Lucas, Robert Simpson, and Caleb Bowles.
[3] Pettibone was not elected, but Governor Alexander McNair appointed him judge of the Second Judicial Circuit, which was then composed of the counties of Ralls, Pike, Lincoln, St. Charles, Montgomery, and Callaway on the north side of the Missouri River, and Gasconade County on the south side.