Trimble

Henry Hoffman Trimble, during his boyhood, his father, who was a carpenter in early life, and afterward a farmer and merchant, lived in succession in Rush, Decatur and Shelby counties, Indiana; his son farming until sixteen years of age. He received his literary education in the preparatory department of Franklin College, and in the State University at Bloomington and Asbury University at Greencastle, all in his native state, graduating from the last named institution on the 21st of July, 1847. He taught more or less while pursuing his studies, and did other kinds of work, defraying his entire expenses. From college Mr. Trimble went directly into the Mexican war, serving one year in the 5th Indiana Volunteers, James H. Lane, colonel. On his return from the war, Mr. Trimble read law, at first with Eden H. Davis, of Shelbyville, Indiana, and afterward with the Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, teaching during this period the Shelbyville Academy for one year. His father removed to Iowa in 1848, and he followed the next year, continued his law studies, and was admitted to the practice by Hon. J. F. Kinney, of the supreme bench at Keosauqua, on the 29th of April, 1850, taking in a very few years a high position at the bar. He was county attorney from 1851 to 1855, and state senator from 1855 to 1859. In July 1861, Mr. Trimble entered the service as lieutenant colonel of the 3d Iowa Cavalry; served in that position until the 9th of September 1862, when he was discharged on account of a wound he received in the face at the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, on the 7th of March 1862. The ball entered his right cheek, passed through his face, and came out at the bottom of his right ear. It was years before this wound healed, externally; it still discharges slightly, and he suffers from it more or less at all times. At the October election in 1862 Colonel Trimble was elected district judge of the second district and served four years. In 1866 a corporation was organized by the citizens of southern Iowa called the Saint Louis and Cedar Rapids Railway Company, the purpose of which was to extend the North Missouri railway, then being constructed, into Iowa. Judge Trimble was chosen one of the directors, and remained such till September, 1868, when the directors, becoming dissatisfied with the then president, procured his resignation, and the judge was chosen to take his place. The judge remained president of that company until the sale of the road in 1875. He also assisted in building the Burlington and Southwestern railway, and has always taken an active interest in all public enterprises. He is president of the State Bar Association. He is a member of the commandery in the Masonic order. His wife was Miss Emma M. Carruthers, a native of Wheeling, West Virginia; married at Shelbyville, Indiana, on the 5th of April 1849. She is the mother of five children. The eldest son, Palmer Trimble, is married and an attorney-at-law in the firm of Trimble, Carruthers and Trimble, the middle member being Samuel S. Carruthers, a brother-in-law of the judge, and his law partner since 1867. The second son of Judge Trimble, Frank K., is studying with this firm.