WILLIAM P. WHIPPLE, for a number of
years a figure in the Iowa legislature, and by many regarded as the
leading lawyer in the senate, is a native of the county he so ably
represented — Benton county. He is a son of Cyrenius T. Whipple, whose
sketch also appears in this history.
Senator Whipple was born on his father's farm near Vinton, in Benton
county, Iowa, December 26, 1856, and here passed his boyhood and youth,
receiving his early education in the public schools. In 1873 he entered
the State University of Iowa, where he completed the full collegiate
course in 1877 and graduated from the university law department in
1878. In August, 1878, he engaged in the practice of law in his home
town, Vinton, where he has since continued, at present being associated
with Judge E. P. Brown, under the firm name of Whipple & Brown.
Judge Brown is a brother of Leon Brown of the Register and
Leader and of United States Senator Norris Brown of
Nebraska. Mr. Whipple's first law partner was Hon. Cato Sells, now a
resident of Texas; and for a number of years he was associated in
practice with Judge G. M. Gilchrist under the firm name of Gilchrist
& Whipple. An able advocate and a wise and safe counsellor, with
years of experience and success, when he was honored with a seat in the
state legislature he was prepared to give good service. He served as a
member of the state senate during the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth,
Thirty-first, Thirty-second, and Thirty-third general assemblies, and
many of the measures now on the statute books bear the impress of his
strong personality. Throughout the whole of his senatorial career he
was a member of the judiciary committee. In this connection we are
pleased to quote from a recent copy of the Vinton
Eagle.
"During his first session Senator Whipple was chairman of the laborious
committee on penitentiaries and pardons. The committee gave careful and
painstaking consideration to each case coming before it, including the
disposal of the noted Wesley Elkins case.
"Senator Whipple was one of the two members of the senate appointed on
the first supplement of the code commission in 1902. In the Thirtieth
general assembly he was chairman of the senate insurance committee, a
position he held in the succeeding general
assemblies. He has greatly assisted in the enactment of many important
measures pertaining to insurance. The Twenty-seventh general assembly
enacted a law placing the several charitable and penal institutions of
the state under a single board of control. This law has proved so
satisfactory that many have concluded that the three state educational
institutions, the State University, the State College of Agriculture
and Mechanic Arts and the State Normal School, could be more
efficiently and economically administered under a single board of
education than under separate boards for each of the three educational
institutions. Senator Whipple was one of the first members of the
legislature to advocate such a plan.
"The Thirtieth general assembly appointed a committee of six members,
of which committee Senator Whipple was chairman, to inquire into the
management and affairs of the three state educational institutions,
their business management and educational policies, with power to
investigate methods of similar institutions outside the state, and to
make a report to the Thirty-first general assembly of its conclusions
and findings. The committee after full investigation made an elaborate
report to the Thirty-first general assembly, recommending a single
board of control for the three state educational institutions. The
drawing and tabulating of the report was largely the painstaking work
of the chairman.
"In the Thirty-first and Thirty-second general assemblies Senator
Whipple prepared and introduced a bill providing for a board of control
to have full management of the State University, the State College of
Agriculture and Mechanic Arts and the State Normal School. In both
sessions this measure passed the senate but was defeated in the house.
But Senator Whipple's faith in the proposed measure was undaunted by
defeats. He had the courage of his convictions and resolutely and
confidently introduced a revised and perfected measure in the
Thirty-third general assembly, providing for a board of education to
have full control and management of the three state educational
institutions, which measure, after due consideration, passed both
houses of the legislature by an overwhelming vote. Thus after six years
of earnest and persistent labor, success crowned the efforts of the
Senator from Benton."
Senator Whipple has been twice married. In September, 1881, he married
Miss Katherine Joyce, assistant principal of the Vinton schools. Two
sons were born to them: Cyrenius J., who met a tragic death by drowning
in 1898, and Milo R., engaged in business in Vinton. After the death of
his first wife, Mr. Whipple married Miss Jennie Keith, a primary
teacher in the Vinton schools, in October, 1887. They have one child,
Virginia, six years of age.
Senator Whipple is still in the prime of life. In addition to his
extensive law practice he supervises a large farm just west of Vinton,
a portion of which was his father's old homestead, He and his family
occupy a beautiful home in Vinton, where contentment and hospitality
reign, and he enjoys without stint the confidence and esteem of the
people of his home town and county.
Picture of William P. Whipple
