JOHN CHAMBERS was the second Governor of Iowa Territory. He was born October 6, 1780, at Bromley Bridge, Somerset County, New Jersey. His father, Rowland Chambers, was born in Pennsylvania, of Irish parentage. According to a tradition in the family, their remote ancestors were Scotch, and belonged to the clan Cameron. Having refused to join in the rebellion of 1645, they migrated to Ireland, where, by an act of Parliament, on their own petition, they took the name of Chambers. Rowland Chambers espoused with enthusiasm the cause of American independence, and was commissioned a Colonel of New Jersey militia. At the close of the war, reduced in circumstances, he immigrated to Kentucky and settled in Washington, then the seat of Mason County. John, the youngest of seven children, was then fourteen years old. A few days after the family settled in their new home he found employment in a dry-goods store, and the following spring was sent to Transylvania Seminary, at Lexington. He returned home in less than a year. In 1797 he became deputy under Francis Taylor, Clerk of the District Court. His duties being light, he applied himself to the study of law. In the spring of 1800 he assumed all the duties of the office in which he had been employed, and in November following he was licensed to practice law.

     In 1803 Mr. Chambers, who had now entered upon a career of uninterrupted professional prosperity, was married to Miss Margaret Taylor, of Hagerstown, Maryland. She lived but about three years, and in 1807 he married Miss Hannah Taylor, a sister of his first wife. Not long after he engaged in the manufacture of bale rope and bagging for the Southern market. In this he incurred heavy losses.

     In the campaign of 1812 he served as aid-de-camp to General Harrison, with the rank of Major. In 1815 Mr. Chambers was sent to the Legislature, and in 1828 he went to Congress to fill the unexpired term of General Thomas Metcalfe. In 1830 and 1831 he was again in the State Legislature. In 1832 he lost his wife. She was a lady of cultivated mind and elegant manners, and had made his home a happy and attractive one. The same year he was offered a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of Kentucky, but this he declined. The same office was tendered him in 1835, but before the time for taking his seat, he was obliged to resign, out of consideration for his health. From 1835 to 1839 he was in Congress, making for himself a high reputation.

     Between 1815 and 1828 Mr. Chambers was, for several years, the commonwealth’s attorney for the judicial district in which he lived. He was during that period at the zenith of his reputation as a lawyer and advocate. He met the giants of the Kentucky bar in important civil and criminal trials. His well-known high sense of honor, and his contempt for professional chicanery, commanded the respect of his legal compeers. His appearance and manner were dignified, his tone calm and impressive, and his language singularly direct and vigorous.

     He closed his congressional career in 1839 with the purpose of resuming the practice of law, but his old friend General Harrison was nominated for the Presidency and induced him to aid in the personal canvass General Harrison made through the country. He was urged by President Harrison to accept some office requiring his residence in Washington, but this he declined, though he afterward accepted the appointment of Governor of Iowa. He entered upon the duties of this office May 13, 1841. His success in his administration of the affairs of the Territory was well attested by the approbation of the people, and by the hearty commendation of those in authority at Washington, especially for his management of Indian affairs. During his term of office he found it necessary on several occasions to suppress the feuds of the red men, which he did with such firmness and decision that quiet was promptly restored where war seemed imminent. Governor Chambers was repeatedly called on to treat with the Indian tribes for the purchase of their lands. In October, 1841, he was commissioned jointly with Hon. T. H. Crawford, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and Governor Doty, of Wisconsin, to hold a treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, which, however, did not result in a purchase. In September, 1842, being appointed sole Commissioner for the same purpose, he succeeded fully in carrying out the wishes of the Government. In 1843 he held a treaty with the Winnebagoes, but in this instance no result was reached.

     In 1844, his term of office having expired, he was re-appointed by President Tyler, but was removed in 1845 by President Polk. Shortly afterward, with greatly impaired health, he returned to Kentucky, where, with skillful medical treatment and entire relief from official cares, he partially recovered. During the few remaining years of his life Governor Chambers’s recollection of Iowa were of the most agreeable character. He spoke gratefully of the reception extended to him by her people, and often referred with great kindness to his neighbors in Des Moines County.

     His infirm health forbade his engaging in any regular employment after his return to Kentucky, but in 1849, at the solicitation of the Commission of Indian Affairs, he negotiated jointly with Governor Ramsey, of Minnesota, a successful treaty with the Sioux Indians for the purchase of lands. The latter years of Governor Chambers’s life were spent mostly with his children, whose affection and respect were the chief conditions of his happiness. During a visit to his daughter in Paris, Kentucky, he was taken sick at the house of his son-in-law, C. S. Brent, and after a few weeks breathed his last, September 21, 1852, in his seventy-second year.

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