Every once in a while, I like to peruse the U. S. Library of Congress's photo collection just to have a sense of history and how it's been recorded, mostly in images. Recently I can across a daguerrotype of a guy named David Rice Atchison. Who was this man, I wondered. Although the image isn't of the highest quality, he looks reasonably well to do and officious. A little research online told me this: Atchison was born in what is now Lexington, Kentucky in 1807. He was educated at Transylvania University in Lexington and became a member of the bar in 1829. A year later, he moved to Clay County, Missouri in the western part of the state. His law practice there thrived and one of his best known clients was Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saints. He was first elected to office in 1834, the Missouri House of Representatives. He was reelected four years later. Three years after that, he was appointed circuit co