Meredith Miles Marmaduke (August 28, 1791 – March 26, 1864) was an American politician who served as the 8th governor of Missouri in 1844, to fill out the term of Governor Thomas Reynolds, who had committed suicide. A member of the Democratic Party, he had been elected and served as the 6th lieutenant governor.
Marmaduke had a large family. He had married well, to Lavinia, a daughter of Dr. John Sappington, a pioneering physician in Saline County, Missouri, and his wife Jane, sister of a Kentucky governor. The two men were affiliated in Sappington's business for a time, working with traders on the Santa Fe Trail. Marmaduke later acquired and operated a successful plantation in Saline County, becoming a large slaveholder as well. He and his wife reared their ten children here.
Marmaduke changed his opinions and developed Unionist leanings by mid-century, but four of his sons served the Confederacy during the American Civil War, and two died. His son John Sappington Marmaduke was promoted during the American Civil War to become a senior officer of the Confederate States Army. He commanded cavalry in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. After the war, the younger Marmaduke became active in the Democratic Party politician. He was elected in 1884 as the 25th Governor of Missouri, serving one term from 1885 to 1887.
