Judge Volney Jean Tidball, judge of the second judicial district of Wyoming, while not a native of this state, has been numbered among its residents from infancy and has been closely associated with its development and upbuilding, especially in the matter of upholding its legal status.
    He was born April 7, 1883, in Bozeman, Montana, a son of Lewis C. and Jennie E. (Kelly) Tidball. The father was a native of southeast Ohio, while the mother was born in southwestern Iowa, where her parents were early settlers. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis C. Tidball removed with their family from Montana to Sheridan, Wyoming, in 1884, and although the father was admitted to the bar of this state, he never engaged in practice. His death occurred in Bellingham, Washington, in 1917, and his widow now resides in that city.
    Judge Tidball was reared and acquired his preliminary education in Sheridan, Wyoming, being graduated from the high school there with the class of 1901. He next entered the University of Wyoming and won his Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation with the class of 1905. He further continued his studies in the University of Michigan, where he pursued a law course and received the LL. B. degree in 1908. He began the active practice of law in Laramie as a partner in the firm of Downey & Tidball in 1908 and so continued until 1912. During this period he was also secretary of the Albany Mutual Building Association from 1910 until 1912 and he served as a member of the board of trustees of the University of Wyoming from 1909 until 1913. On the 6^th of January of the latter year he was appointed by Governor Carey to his present position on the district court bench as the successor of Judge Carpenter and in 1915 was elected to the office for the full term, which expires in 1921. He's proving himself the peer of the ablest members who have sat on the bench of the district courts in Wyoming, his decisions being characterized by marked fidelity to duty and a masterful grasp of every problem presented for solution.
    On the 15^th of July, 1913, Judge Tidball was united in marriage in Laramie to Miss Gertrude Pouting, a daughter of James and Mary Pouting, of an old and highly respected Laramie family. Mrs. Tidball was graduated from the University of Wyoming as a member of the class of 1908 and for four years was a successful teacher in the University Training School. They have become the parents of a son, Volney Jean, Jr., who was born June 28, 1917.
    In politics Judge Tidball maintains an independent course but is deeply interested in all matters of progressive citizenship and served as chairman of the Second Liberty Loan drive for Albany county in 1917. He is one of the youngest men that has ever been called to the district court bench, notwithstanding which fact there have been few representatives of the district court judiciary who have displayed higher qualifications, and he is regarded as one of the eminent judges of Wyoming, recognizing fully the obligations that devolve upon him in his efforts to dispense justice between man and man. Personally he has always occupied a very high position in the estimation of his fellow townsmen from the time when he first came to Laramie as a university student. A young man of exemplary character, of upright life and high ideals, his record reflects credit and honor upon an untarnished family name.