Iowa History Project
_____________________________________
HARVEY INGHAM, journalist,
was born at Algona, Iowa, September 8, 1858, and was educated in the public
schools and the State University of Iowa. He graduated from the Law
Department in 1881, and returning to Algona in 1882 he purchased an interest in
the Upper Des Moines. Taking editorial charge of the paper he
developed into an able journalist. He served as postmaster of Algona from
1898 to 1902. In 1892 he was elected regent of the State University,
serving until 1902. Upon the consolidation of the Iowa State Register
and the Des Moines Leader at the Capital, Mr. Ingham was selected by the
owners as the managing editor and at once entered the duties of the position.
WILLIAM H. INGHAM was one of the pioneer settlers in northwestern Iowa,
having lived in Kossuth County nearly fifty years. He was born at
Ingham's Mills in the State of New York, November 27, 1827. He received a
liberal education in the schools of that section. In 1849 he made a trip
through the eastern part of Iowa, and was so charmed with the new country that
in 1851 he located at Cedar Rapids where he engaged in surveying and locating
lands for incoming settlers. In 1854 he traveled through a portion of
northwestern Iowa, which was then almost entirely unsettled. He
determined to make his home in Kossuth County and in January, 1855, selected a
claim near where Algona stands. As soon as the business of the new town
would support a banking house he began to do business in that line. In
1870, in company with Lewis H. Smith (another pioneer), a bank was organized
which three years later became the Kossuth County Bank. In 1862, after
the Minnesota massacre by the Sioux Indians had begun, Governor Kirkwood
authorized Mr. Ingham to organize a military company for the protection of that
part of the State, and sent him a commission as captain. Other companies
were raised and all were united in the Northern Border Brigade, which
effectually checked the incursion of the Sioux into northern Iowa.
Captain Ingham has been an active force in the development of northwest
Iowa for nearly half a century.
JOHN P. IRISH was born in Iowa City on the 1st of January, 1843.
He received a common school education but at the early age of seventeen had
made such progress as to become a teacher. When he had reached the age of
twenty-one he assumed the editorial management of the Iowa City Press and
developed such ability both as a writer and public speaker that he was soon
recognized as one of the leaders of the Democratic party of the State. In
1867 he was elected to represent Johnson County in the House of the Eleventh
General Assembly and was twice reelected, serving six years. He had, as a
teacher, seen the harm of electing members of the school boards on a partisan
ticket, and was the author of the law changing the time of electing school
officers from the general to a special election, thus taking their election out
of partisan politics. His bill also authorized the directors to choose a
president outside of their own number. This salutary change in the law
destroyed the partisan character of school boards. The reform was
commended by the National Commissioner of Education and is referred to at
length by Professor Parker in his "History of the Public School System of
Iowa." While a member of the Legislature Mr. Irish secured an
addition to the endowment fund of the State University and having been elected
one of the regents of that institution, was largely instrumental in securing the
establishment of the Law and Medical Departments. In 1868 Mr. Irish was
the Democratic candidate for Congress in the Fourth District but the Republican
majority was too large to be overcome. In 1877 he was nominated by the
Democratic State Convention for Governor and made a vigorous campaign but was
defeated by Governor Gear. Mr. Irish was long one of the trustees of the
Soldiers' Orphans' Home. He removed to California, where he was for many
years president of the board of directors of the State Home of the Adult Blind
of which institution he was one of the founders. In 1896 Mr. Irish was
one of the National leaders in organizing the political movement which resulted
in the formation of the "Gold Standard" Democracy, which separated
from the regular, or Bryan Democratic party, and supported another candidate
for President. He was actively engaged in the campaign as a public
speaker in several Stares and was a member of the executive committee of the
Monetary, Congress organized in 1897 to promote the permanent establishment of
the gold standard. In 1894 Mr. Irish was appointed Naval Officer of
Customs at San Francisco, which position he held at the close of the Nineteenth
Century.
JOHN N. IRWIN was born in Ohio, in 1847. His early education was
secured in the public schools of that State, and later he attended the Miami
University. After the close of the Civil War he went to Dartmouth College
where he graduated in the class of 1867. He came with his father's family
to Iowa, making his home in Keokuk where they engaged in mercantile business.
At seventeen years of age he enlisted in the Union army. In 1875 he
was elected Representative in the House of the Sixteenth General Assembly,
serving one term. In 1883 Mr. Irwin was appointed by President Arthur,
Governor of Idaho Territory. After returning to Keokuk he was elected
mayor. In 1890 he was appointed by President Harrison Governor of the
Territory of Arizona. In 1899 President McKinley tendered him the
position of American minister to Portugal which he accepted, resigning after
about a year's service, returning to his home in Keokuk.
NORMAN W. ISBELL, lawyer and
jurist, was a native of Ohio, born in about the year 1818. He received
but a common school education, before entering upon the study of law. He
came to Iowa in 1842 when it was a Territory, locating at Marion, in Linn
County, where he opened a law office. He served as a county judge at the
period when that officer had almost supreme financial power in conducting the
business of his county; a ;most efficient system, when the judge was competent
and honest, but a most dangerous system when occupied by an unscrupulous man
clothed with despotic powers by law. Judge Isbell was of the best class
and rendered most excellent service. He belonged to the old Whig party in
early days but when the slavery issue sent that neutral party out of existence,
Mr. Isbell became a Republican. In 1854 he was a law partner of N. M.
Hubbard and from 1857 to 1860 the partnership was renewed. Under the old
Constitution, he was in January, 1855, elected by the Fifth General Assembly
Supreme Judge, resigning in 1856 on account of failing health. In
September, 1862, upon the resignation of Judge Wm. E. Miller of the Eighth
Judicial District, Governor Kirkwood appointed Judge Isbell to fill the
vacancy. He was elected at the expiration of the term but after serving
until August 31, 1864, resigned and removed to California, where he died of
consumption the same year. Judge Hubbard, his former partner, pronounced
Judge Isbell to have been an able jurist, thoroughly equipped in all that makes
an excellent judge.
CHARLES J. IVES of Cedar Rapids is an illustration of a class of citizens
of Iowa, starting in boyhood with only an inheritance of intellect, energy and
a laudable ambition to accomplish something worth living for, has attained a
high position in one of the great industries of the age. He was born in
Rutland County, Vermont, October 4, 1831. He had but a limited school
education, working on his father's farm until grown when he went with the
crowds of gold seekers to the mining region of Pike's Peak. Returning to
Iowa he obtained a subordinate position in a local office of the Burlington
Railroad Company. Obtaining a knowledge of the business, in 1871 he was
appointed freight agent of the first division of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids
& Minnesota Railway Company. From this position he gained more
knowledge of the growing railroad system and business then in the process of
rapid development and developed the qualities required by that great industry
and arose rapidly and steadily from one position to another until he had
mastered the exacting problems of successful management and attained the
control of the complicated business, holding the positions of president and
general superintendent of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway.
When he first entered its service, the entire length of the road was
forty miles. Largely owing to his executive management and enterprise the
system now has lines over the State aggregating 1,5000 miles in length.
FRANK D. JACKSON, fourteenth Governor of Iowa, was born at Areade,
Wyoming County, New York, January 26, 1854. In 1867 he came with his
parents to Jesup, in Buchanan County, Iowa, where he attended the public schools.
He also attended the State Agricultural College, afterward entering the
Law Department of the State University where he graduated in 1874. He
removed to Butler County in 1880, settling at Greene, where he engaged in the
practice of law. He was chosen secretary of the State Senate in the
winter of 1882 and reelected in 1884. At the Republican Stare Convention
of 1884 he was nominated for Secretary of Stare and elected, serving by
successive elections for three terms. In 1893 he was nominated by the Republican
State Convention for Governor. For four years the Democratic party had
secured the chief executive in the election of Governor Boies. The
campaign was conducted with great vigor on both sides and resulted in the
election of Frank D. Jackson by a plurality of more than 32,000. Governor
Jackson served but one term, declining to be a candidate for reelection.
BERRYMAN JENNINGS, Iowa's first
school-master, was born in Kentucky in 1807. Nothing is known of his
boyhood or early education. In 1826 he removed to Commerce, a small town
in Illinois, on the east bank of the Mississippi River which became famous as
the Mormon city of Nauvoo. There was a settlement on the west side of the
river in the "Half Breed" tract where Dr. Isaac Galland, an educated
man, lived with his family, where the town of Nashville stands. It was
here in 1830 that Berryman Jennings, then a young man, opened a school in a log
cabin. Very little is known of this first school more than that it was
small and that among its pupils were Washington Galland (who was afterwards a
member of the Legislature), his sisters and Captain J. W. Campbell. Mr.
Jennings later studied medicine with Dr. Galland and at one time was a merchant
in Burlington. In 1847 he joined an emigrant train and made the journey
to Oregon by wagon. He settled in Oregon City, built a steamboat on the
Columbia River and engaged in trade with San Francisco. He was a member
of the Oregon Legislature and also served as Register of United States Land Office.
He died on the 22d of December, 1888.
EDWARD JOHNSTON was born in
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1815. He studied law, was
admitted to the bar and in 1837 went west, stopping at Burlington, then in
Wisconsin Territory. He was one of the clerks of the Legislature and at
the session of 1837-8 was elected one of the commissioners to take testimony in
the legal controversy over the titles to the "Half Breed" lands in
Lee County. Soon after he located at Fort Madison and was employed as
counsel by the St. Louis claimants to these lands to secure a division, which
resulted in a decree to title. In 1839 he was elected to the House of the
Second Legislative Assembly of the new Territory of Iowa and was chosen
Speaker, serving at the regular and special sessions. He was elected a
member of the Council of the Third Legislative Assembly and served through the
Fourth also. As a lawyer and legislator he ranked high and had great
influence in framing laws and shaping the policy of the Territory. When
James K. Polk became President he appointed Mr. Johnson United States District
Attorney for Iowa. He was chosen a member of the convention which framed
the present Constitution of the State and was one of the most influential of
the delegates in that body. The last public position held by him was
President of the "Pioneer Lawmakers' Association." Judge
Johnston was a lifelong Democrat. After his death, Hon. S. M. Clark, a
Republican member of Congress, and long editor of the Gate City, wrote
of Judge Johnston:
"He was one of the best as well as one of
the greatest men we have ever known. No man in Iowa had more to do with
the making and shaping of the Commonwealth than he. He had a hand in
making both statutes and Constitution. In the first quarter century of
the Territory and Stare there was not an act of public importance done that he
was not consulted, and his judgment used in fashioning it."
He died on the 27th of May, 1891. Two of
his brothers were Governors; one of Pennsylvania and another of California.
GEORGE W. JONES was born in Vincennes, Indiana, April 12, 1804. His
father, John R. Jones, was a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri.
The son, George W., was educated in Transylvania University in Kentucky.
When a small boy he served as a drummer in a volunteer company in the war
with Great Britain. In 1823 he made the acquaintance of Jefferson Davis
who was a young officer in the military service on the frontier. They met
again in the Black Hawk War and later served long together in the United States
Senate and were warm friends. George W. studied law and in 1827 removed
to Michigan Territory where he engaged in mining. During the Black Hawk
War he served on the staff of General Henry Dodge. In 1835 he was elected
delegate from Michigan Territory to Congress. Michigan at that time
embraced that region of the northwest which was divided into the States of
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and the Dakotas. He secured the
organization of the Territory of Wisconsin, in 1837, was the first delegate in
Congress from that Territory and procured the establishment of Iowa Territory.
In 1845 he was appointed Surveyor-General of Iowa and removed to Dubuque.
In 1848 he was chosen one of the first United States Senators from the
State of Iowa. He was thoroughly devoted to the interests of the new
State and during his long term of service in the Senate worked untiringly for
its material prosperity. His intimate knowledge of needs of the
northwest, derived from long residence on the frontier and his wide
acquaintance with the public men of that period, enabled him to secure such
legislation as was required for the rapid development of the great natural
resources of the new State. In 1852 he was reelected for a term of six
years but before its expiration the State passed under the control of the
Republican party. As General Jones was a lifelong Democrat he could not
hope for a third election and President Buchanan appointed him United States
Minister to New Grenada in South America. After his return from that
mission in 1861 General Jones was arrested by a United States marshal and
confined in Fort Lafayette for about two months on a charge of disloyalty.
He had written a private letter to his old friend, Jefferson Davis, which
had been intercepted by a Government official. In the letter were found
indiscreet if not disloyal expressions and in that time of great public
excitement over secession and Rebellion he arrest followed. He was never
indicted or placed on trial and President Lincoln soon ordered his release.
In 1892 General Jones was granted a pension by special act of Congress
for services in the Black Hawk War. In April, 1894, Governor Jackson and
the General Assembly of Iowa then in session, tendered to General Jones a
public reception in recognition of his valuable services in the formative
periods of the Territory and State. General Jones died at his home in
Dubuque July 22, 1896, at the age of ninety-two.
EDMUND L. JOY was born at Albany, New York, October 1, 1835, and was educated
at Anthony's Classical Institute, Albany Academy and the University of
Rochester. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1857 and
immediately thereafter removed to Iowa, making his home at Keokuk where he
entered upon practice. Later he settled in Ottumwa where he was chosen
city attorney in 1860. At the beginning of the Civil War he was active in
raising troops and upon the organization of the Thirty-sixth Regiment of Iowa
Volunteers he was elected captain of Company B. He participated in the
campaigns in Tennessee, the siege of Vicksburg and the Yazoo Pass expedition,
taking part in the engagement at Fort Pemberton. At the Battle of Helena
he commanded the left wing of the regiment and was in the Little Rock campaign.
In 1864 he was appointed by President Lincoln Judge Advocate, with the
rank of major, and assigned to the Seventh Army Corps, serving in the
Department of Arkansas. He assisted in the organization of the judicial
system of the State under reconstruction and sided in the reestablishment of
the State government after the close of the war, under a new Constitution.
After retiring from the service he removed to Newark, New Jersey, where
he served in the Legislature of that State in 1871-2. He was a delegate
to the Republican National Convention in 1880 and in 1884-5 he was a Government
director of the Union Pacific Railroad Company by appointment of President
Arthur. Mr. Joy died at Newark, New Jersey, February 14, 1892.
WILLIAM L. JOY was one of the sturdy pioneers of Sioux City and for a
quarter of a century one of the foremost lawyers of northwestern Iowa. He
was born in Townshend, Vermont, August 17, 1830. After graduating at
Amherst College in 1855, he read law and was admitted to the bar. In the
spring of 1857 he traveled westward until he reached the then little frontier
town of Sioux City where he decided to make his home. He became a partner
of N. C. Hudson in the practice of law, and some years later became a partner
with Graig L. Wright, and for twenty years the law firm of Joy & Wright was
the leading one in Sioux City. They were attorneys for the Illinois
Railway Company, the Sioux City and Pacific, the Dakota Southern, Columbus and
Black Hills Railway companies and the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad Land
Company. In 1865 Mr. Joy was elected Representative for the district
composed of the counties of Plymouth, Woodbury, Cherokee and Sioux, in the
Eleventh General Assembly, where he ranked high as a legislator. He was
one of the organizers of the Sioux National Bank, and served as president up to
1896. He was also deeply interested in the public schools serving for
twenty years as a director and president of the board. He died in
California, July 1, 1899.
JOSEPH M. JUNKIN was a native of Iowa, having been born at Fairfield in
1854. He was educated in the schools of Fairfield and Red Oak, taking the
law course at the State University at Iowa City, graduating in 1879. Soon
after he entered into partnership with Horace E. Deemer, who became a judge of
the Supreme Court of the State. In 1895 Mr. Junkin was nominated by the
Republicans of the district composed of the counties of Mills and Montgomery
for State Senator. He was elected and served in the Twenty-sixth and
Twenty-seventh General Assemblies, attaining high rank as a legislator.
At the close of his term he was reelected serving in the Twenty-eight and
Twenty-ninth General Assemblies, taking an active part in the important work of
the two sessions.
WILLIAM W. JUNKIN, veteran
journalist, was born at Wheeling, Virginia, January 25, 1831. He attended
the common schools in boyhood and at eleven years of age set type in the office
of the Wheeling Argus. In 1845 on removing to Fairfield in
Jefferson County, he became an apprentice in the office of the Iowa Sentinel,
a weekly paper established that year by A. R. Sparks. In the summer of
1849 he went to Fort Des Moines where Barlow Granger was about to issue the
first number of the Iowa Star, the first newspaper published at the
future capital of the State. He procured work in the office and assisted
on the first issue of the paper, continuing in the office for some months.
Returning to Fairfield, on the 26th of May, 1853, he became the half
owner and publisher of the Fairfield Ledger which had been established
about a year before. Mr. Junkin in August, 1854, purchased Mr. Fulton's
interest and became sole editor and proprietor. He was a Whig and then a
Republican. Few men have worked more intelligently for the development of
a town and State that this pioneer journalist. Mr. Junkin held many local
offices but never sought higher positions, preferring to give his best energies
to his chosen profession. During General Harrison's administration he
served as United States Indian Inspector. Mr. Junkin died at his home in
Fairfield on the 21st of February, 1903, at the age of seventy-three, after
service as a journalist continuously for more than half a century on the Fairfield
Ledger.
JOHN L. KAMRER has long been one of the prominent lawyers and
Republicans of north central Iowa. He was born in Union County,
Pennsylvania, October 12, 1842, secured a liberal education and was at one time
principal of the public schools of Savannah, Illinois. He was a
lieutenant in the One Hundred Forty-sixth Illinois Volunteers in 1864. In
1869 Mr. Kamrer removed to Iowa, locating in Webster City, where he soon after
began the practice of law and has attained high rank in the profession.
In 1881 he was elected to the State Senate from the district composed of
the counties of Hamilton and Hardin, serving in the Nineteenth and Twentieth
General Assemblies. He was the author of a number of important laws which
remain on the statute books. At the Republican State Convention of 1895
Mr. Kamrer was one of the prominent candidates for nomination for Governor.
JOHN A. KASSON was born at Charlotte, Vermont, January 11, 1822.
His father died when he was but six years old and his boyhood days were a
struggle to support himself and secure an education. He finally graduated
at the State University in 1842, taught school and studied law. In 1851
he went to St. Louis and practiced his profession for six years. In 1857
he removed to Des Moines and in 1858 was appointed by Governor Lowe to examine
and report upon the condition of the State offices. The same year he was
chosen chairman of the Republican State Committee and effected a strong
organization of the new party. He was a delegate from Iowa to the famous
National Republican Convention held at Chicago in May, 1860, which nominated
Abraham Lincoln for President and was selected by the Iowa delegation to act on
the committee on resolutions which at that critical time was to frame a
platform for the party in the campaign. The committee was made up with
great care in view of the momentous issues involved and among its members were
some of the most eminent men of the Nation. It consisted of one from each
State and upon its organization and comparison of views it was evident that the
drafting of a platform must be delegated in a few men to expedite the work.
On motion of Mr. Kasson a subcommittee of vie was chosen for this
purpose. It consisted of Horace Greeley, Carl Schurz, John A. Kasson,
Austin Blair and William Jessup. This subcommittee received all
resolutions submitted and then proceeded to consider them and agree upon the
essential topics to be embraced in the platform. It unanimously endorsed
Mr. Kasson's declaration "that the normal condition of all the territory
of the United States is that of freedom." At midnight three of the
members retired exhausted, leaving Kasson and Greeley to complete the work.
As daylight approached, Mr. Greeley went to the telegraph office to send
the substance of the resolutions to the Tribune, while Kasson finished
and revised the platform. At nine in the morning Mr. Kasson reported the
platform to the general committee and it was approved by a unanimous vote.
There was a diversity of opinions on the tariff, which was difficult to
reconcile. Mr. Kasson finally drafted a resolution on the subject which
all accepted. The New York Tribune, on the 18th, published the
following from Mr. Greeley:
"The platform gives great satisfaction and
the demonstrations of applause on its adoption were most enthusiastic, lasting
several minutes. When the tariff resolution was read there was great
rejoicing, more than over any other. Such a platform, so adopted, is a
new era in American party politics."
On the 22d the Tribune said editorially:
"The platform presented, so generally
satisfactory as it has proved, is eminently due to John A. Kasson of Iowa,
whose efforts t reconcile differences, and to secure the largest liberty of
sentiment consistent with fidelity to Republican principles, were most
effective and untiring. I think no former platform ever reflected more
fairly and fully the average convictions of a great National party."
This platform, as will be remembered, was made
the pretext for the inauguration of the Rebellion, which resulted in the
emancipation of 4,000,000 of slaves. Never since Jefferson's immortal
Declaration of Independence has a document been framed, fraught with such
momentous results as this famous Chicago Platform of 1860, penned by an Iowa
statesman. It was with this platform that the Republican party won its
first national victory. Mr. Kasson took an active part in that eventful
campaign and upon the election of Mr. Lincoln was appointed First Assistant
Postmaster General. In the summer of 1863 he was nominated by the
Republicans of the Des Moines district for Representative in Congress and
elected. The most important measures originated by him in that body, were
securing an amendment to the bankrupt laws, saving to the head of the family of
the debtor a homestead. He formulated a plan while in the post-office
department for securing uniform and cheaper postage with foreign countries.
He negotiated postal treaties with the chief nations of Europe. He
served in Congress six terms in all, taking rank among its ablest members.
He afterwards, as a member of the Iowa Legislature, secured the building
of the permanent State House. In diplomacy he has attained the highest
rank in the Nation, having served as minister to Austria-Hungary and Germany.
He was chairman of the United States Commission at the Samoan Conference
at Berlin in 1889. During McKinley's administration he negotiated
important reciprocal treaties with many foreign nations in the interest of our
commerce. During the forty years of arduous and most valuable public
services rendered to the State and Nation Mr. Kasson has found time to
contribute to the highest grade of American periodicals and has written a
History of Diplomacy, which will have world-wide interest. Among the
eminent statesmen who for fifty years have reflected credit upon our State, none
have ranked higher in notable achievements and intellectual endowment than John
A. Kasson.
BENJAMIN F. KEABLES was born in Genesee County, New York, November 30, 1828.
He came to Iowa in 1850, entering the medical department of the State
University which was then located at Keokuk and from which he graduated in
1852. He located at Pella where he began to practice medicine. The
following year he was president of the school board and was influential in
securing the building of the first brick schoolhouse in that part of the State.
At the beginning of the Civil War Dr. Keables was appointed by Governor
Kirkwood assistant surgeon of the Third Iowa Infantry. At the Battle of
Hatchie the doctor was conspicuous for bravery and upon recommendation of his
superior officers was promoted to regimental surgeon. In 1869 he was
elected on the Republican ticket Representative in the House of the Thirteenth
General Assembly and was a member at the extra session which adopted the Code
of 1873. In 1871 he was reelected, serving in the Fourteenth General
Assembly. He was appointed a member of the Pension Examining Board under
President Harrison; and is a member of the Army of the Tennessee, of the Grand
Army of the Republic and the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association.
JOHN H. KEATLEY was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, December 1,
1838. He secured his early education by his own exertions, working on a
farm to earn money to pursue his studies until able to teach school.
While preparing for his chosen profession in the law, he earned his
living by working on a farm during the summers and teaching winters. He
was admitted to the bar in 1862, Mr. Keatley enlisted in the One Hundred
Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Regiment which was soon after engaged in the second
Battle of Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and in the
Gettysburg campaign he was assistant Adjutant-General on the staff of General
Higgins. In 1864-5 he was actively engaged in the last battles under
General Grant which resulted in the capture of General Lee and his army.
Before his return home Colonel Keatley was elected District Attorney of
Blair County. After the close of the war he was detailed by General Terry
to take charge of the Freedman's Bureau for five counties in southeastern Virginia,
and was a judge of the military court at Norfolk. He served as District
Attorney of Blair County until 1867, when he decided to remove to Iowa,
locating at Cedar Falls. In 1868 he went to Council Bluffs and soon after
became editor of the Daily Nonpareil, serving until April, 1870, when he
accepted the position of assistant assessor of Internal Revenue. In 1872
he united with the Liberal Republicans and was made chairman of the State
Central Committee, conducting the campaign on behalf of Horace Greeley for
President against General Grant. In 1874 he was nominated for
Attorney-General by the Antimonopoly party and the Democrats, but was defeated.
In 1876 he was elected mayor of Council Bluffs, and in 1878 he was the
Democratic candidate for Congress in the Eighth District.
RACINE D. KELLOGG was born in Fayetteville, Onondaga County, New York, on
the 9th of March, 1828. He removed to Iowa in 1854, locating at Garden
Grove in Decatur County, where he engaged in farming and dealing in real
estate. He was a Democrat in politics and an eloquent public speaker.
In 1859 he was elected to the House of the Eighth General Assembly of
which he was one of the youngest members. He soon formed an intimate
friendship with Ex-Governor N. B. Baker who was a member from Clinton County.
Mr. Kellogg acted with the Democratic party during the regular session
but when the Rebellion began and his party divided upon the question of
sustaining the National administration in crushing armed resistance to the
enforcement of the laws, he did not hesitate to stand by the administration.
At the extra session called by Governor Kirkwood in May, 1861, to
organize the military forces of the State, Mr. Kellogg became one of the
leaders of the ";War Democrats" and with Governor Baker, Senator
Bussey and others, declared for the preservation of the Union at all hazards.
At the opening of the session he introduced resolutions (found in another
place) pledging unqualified support to the Government, State and National, in
suppressing the Rebellion. Governor Kirkwood recognized his patriotism by
appointing him major of the Thirty-fourth Iowa Volunteers where he rendered
good service in the Union army. He became a Republican during the war
when his party passed under control of men not in sympathy with the war for the
Union and has often been urged to become a candidate for some of the highest
offices in the State but was unwilling to resort to modern methods to secure a
nomination. He has long been an honored member of the Pioneer Lawmakers'
Association, before which he has delivered several interesting addresses.
JOHN C. KELLY is a native of the State of New York, having been born in
Cortland County on the 26th of February, 1852. His education was acquired
through much effort but finally securing a position in the Government Printing
Office at Washington, he acquired a thorough knowledge of printing and
electrotyping. In 1873 he was delegated by Mills & Company, then
State Printers at Des Moines, Iowa, to purchase their outfit and act as
superintendent of their establishment. While in that position he divided
and numbered the streets of Des Moines on the Philadelphia plan, and was the
pioneer in organizing the first building association in Iowa. After a few
years he purchased an interest in the Daily State Leader, of which he
became one of the editors. After three years he disposed of his interest
and purchased the Sioux City Tribune which in 1884 he converted into a
daily. He was the founder of the Sioux City Printing Company which
furnishes auxiliary sheets for country papers. In 1893 he was appointed
by President Cleveland Collector of Internal Revenue and was also disbursing
agent of the Treasury Department. He was for many years an active member
of the Reform Club of New York, and has long been an advocate of tariff reform
and civil service. He was a delegate to the National Democratic
Convention which nominated Cleveland for President, and has written many of the
platforms of the Democratic party of Iowa.
DANIEL KERR was born at Ayrshire, Scotland, June 18, 1836. He
graduated at McKendree College in 1858, and came to America with his father's
family in 1841, locating in Madison County, Illinois. In 1860 he was a
teacher in a high school. He read law with Governor A. C. French and was
admitted to the bar in 1862. When the War of the Rebellion began he
enlisted as a private in Company G, of the One Hundred Seventeenth Illinois
Volunteers, serving through the war and winning promotion to first lieutenant.
He was in the battles of Pleasant Hill, Nashville and Fort Blakely.
After the war he again taught in the schools of Alton. In 1868 he
was elected to the Illinois Legislature, serving until 1870. At the close
of his term he removed to Iowa, becoming a resident of Grundy Center where he
engaged in farming and the practice of law. In 1883 he was elected
Representative to the House of the Twentieth General Assembly. In 1886 he
was elected a Representative in Congress from the Fifth District, serving two
terms.
HARRIET A. KETCHAM was born in New Market, Ohio, July 12, 1846. Her
parents removed to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, when she was but five years old where
she graduated from the Wesleyan University of that place. While quite
young she was married to William B. Ketcham, a manufacturer, of Mount Pleasant.
It was eight years after her marriage that she turned her attention to
the art in which she became known throughout the State. Beginning to
model in clay she soon discovered her skill in shaping figures. She was
fascinated with the work and soon began a course of instruction with noted
sculptors. Mrs. Ketcham finally determined to devote her time and talent
to the profession and placed herself under the guidance of the famous Clark
Mill. After ten years of work and instruction in this country she went to
Italy and in Rome pursued her studies under the instruction of the most noted
sculptors of that city. While there she executed the figure of "Peri
at the Gates of Paradise," which was taken to the Columbian Exposition and
afterward placed in the Library of the State House at Des Moines. When
designs were sought for the Iowa Soldiers' Monument there were forty-seven
submitted. The one made by Mrs. Ketcham was accepted by the commissioners
and the structure erected after that model. She made busts of President
Lincoln, Senators Harlan and Allison and Judge Samuel F. Miller. Mrs.
Ketcham was stricken with paralysis while in the midst of her work, and died on
the 20th of October, 1890.
CHARLES R. KEYES was born in Des Moines, Iowa, December 24, 1864.
His education was begun in the public schools of his native city and
continued in Callanan College. Later he entered the State University from
which he was graduated in 1887. The following two years were devoted to
study with Professor Wachsmith of Burlington. During 1889 and 1890, Mr.
Keyes was an assistant on the United States Geological Survey and in the latter
year received the degree of A. M. from the State University. Continuing
his geological studies at John Hopkins University at Baltimore, he received
from that institution the degree of Ph. D. in 1892. Dr. Keyes then
returned to Des Moines and became Assistant State Geologist of Iowa. In
1894 he was appointed Director of the Bureau of Geology and Mines of Missouri,
which position he held until 1897 when he returned to Des Moines. In 1902
he was elected president of the New Mexico School of Mines at Socorro.
Dr. Keyes is a prolific writer; among his best known works may be cited
"Origin and Relation of Central Maryland Granites," "Coal
Deposits of Iowa" (Iowas Geological Survey Vol. II) and "Paleontology
of Missouri" (Missouri Geological Survey Vol. IV, Pts. 1-2).
LUCIEN M. KILBURN was born at Boscawen, New Hampshire, January 20, 1842.
He spent his youthful days on his father's farm and in securing a public
school education. Early in the Civil War he enlisted in the Sixteenth New
Hampshire Volunteers, serving in the Department of the Gulf under General Banks.
In 1868 he emigrated to Iowa, and after a few months purchased a fine
farm in Adair County and has been extensively engaged in stock raising and
general farming. He was one of the founders and for nine years president
of the Adair County Mutual Insurance Company. In 1893 he was elected on
the Republican ticket State Senator from the district composed of the counties
of Madison and Adair, serving in the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth and
Twenty-seventh General Assemblies. He was an active supporter of woman
suffrage, free text books and the reduction of official salaries.
JOHN KING, founder and
editor of the first newspaper published within the limits of Iowa, was born at
Shepardstown, Virginia, January 10, 1803. He was educated in the public
schools of his native State and at Chillicothe, Ohio, to which place he removed
in 1829. In 1833 he went to the frontier town of Dubuque, then in
Michigan Territory, to engage in lead mining. Stephen T. Mason, then
acting-Governor of Michigan Territory, appointed Mr. King Chief Justice of the
Court of Dubuque County during the first year of his residence there. In
the fall of 1835 Judge King decided to establish a newspaper in the new town
and made a trip to Cincinnati by river where he purchased a Washington hand
press and a small printing outfit, returning as soon as navigation was resumed
in the spring of 1836. He issued the first number of the Dubuque
Visitor on the 11th of May of that year. It was the first and only
newspaper in the vast region north of St. Louis and west of the Mississippi
River. Judge King was an able writer and judge, an enterprising pioneer
and a citizen of the highest character. His foreman was Andrew Keesecker,
an accomplished printer, who set the first type in Iowa. He was also a native
of Shepardstown, born there in 1810 and who came to Galena, Illinois, when a
young man and worked on the first paper established there. He died in
Dubuque April 15, 1870. Judge King died in that city February 13, 1871.
WILLIAM F. KING was born near Zanesville, Ohio, December 20, 1830.
He graduated at the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, in 1857, and
became tutor in that institution, where he remained five years. In 1852
he was called to the chair of ancient languages at Cornell College, Iowa, and
since that time has been closely identified with the educational interests of
that institution and the State. Upon the death of President Fellows in
1863, he was made acting president and was formally president in 1865, which
position he has held continuously since. He is the senior college
president in Iowa, and probably in the United States. Mr. King has been
president of the State Teachers' Association and for years served on the most
important committees; he has long been a member of the educational council of
the National Teachers' Association. In 1870 the Illinois Wesleyan
University conferred upon President King the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and
in 1887 he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from his alma mater and from
the Iowa State University. In 1890 Dr. King was appointed by President
Harrison member of the National Commission of the World's Fair. He was a
member of the executive committee and vice-chairman of the committee on awards.
Dr. King has been prominent in the councils of the Methodist Episcopal
church, has been three times elected to the General Conference, and in the
conference of 1896 was chairman of the committee on education. He is also
a member of the Board of Education of the Methodist Episcopal church. Cornell
College has grown during Dr. King's administration from an enrollment of two
hundred thirteen students in 1863 to seven hundred twenty-six in 1902. In
1863 one student was graduated, while the average of late years had been over
fifty annually. The alumni number nine hundred forty-four. Cornell
has, under Dr. King, become one of the strong and useful colleges of the church
in this country.
LA VEGA G. KINNE is a native of Syracuse, New York, where he was born on
the 5th of November, 1846. He graduated at the high school then, taking
the law course in the Michigan University, graduated in 1868 and was admitted
to the bar at Ottawa, Illinois. In September, 1869, he removed to Iowa,
locating at Toledo, in Tama County where he entered upon the practice of his
profession. In the summer of 1881 he was nominated for Governor by the
Democratic State Convention and made a vigorous canvass of the State but the
Republican majority was too large to be overcome. In 1883 he was again
nominated by his party for the same position, again meeting with defeat by his
former competitor, Governor Buren R. Sherman. At various times he has
been the Democratic candidate for United States Senator, District Attorney and
Circuit Judge. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in
1876 and again in 1884. In 1886 he was elected judge of the District
Court and reelected in 1890. In 1891 he was nominated by his party for
judge of the Supreme Court and was elected for a full term of six years.
Judge Kinne has the distinction of being the first and only Democrat ever
elected to that position by the people of Iowa since it became a State.
In 1894 Judge Kinne was one of the commissioners from Iowa, upon uniform
legislation in the several States. In 1896 he was president of the Iowa
Bar Association. For ten years he has been law lecturer at the State
University and lecturer before the Iowa College of Law at Des Moines. He
is the author of "Kinne's Pleadings and Practice." When the
State Board of Control was established by act of the General Assembly, Judge
Kinne was appointed one of the three members and has served as president of the
board.
JOHN F. KINNEY was born in Oswego County, New York, April 2, 1816.
He received a liberal education for that time and studied law. In
August, 1844, he located at Fort Madison, Iowa, and the following year was
elected Secretary of the Council of the Legislative Assembly, serving two
sessions. In 1846 he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney and in June,
1847, when but thirty-one years of age, was appointed by the Governor Judge of
the Supreme Court. In 1848 he was elected to the same office by the
General Assembly for a term of six years. In 1853 he gave a dissenting
opinion in a case before the Supreme Court involving the right of counties to
issue bonds to aid in building railroads. Judge Kinney held that under
the Constitution counties had no right to permit a majority of the voters to
impose a tax upon the people to build railroads. A few years later Judge
Samuel F. Miller of the United States Supreme Court gave a similar dissenting
opinion. He referred to the opinion of Judge Kinney as a correct
rendition of the law on the subject before the Iowa Supreme Court. Had
these opinions prevailed hundreds of thousands of dollars would have been saved
to the people of several Iowa counties for which no value was ever received.
In August, 1853, Judge Kinney was appointed by President Pierce Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of Utah. Accepting the position he made the
journey of 1,500 miles with his family in an emigrant wagon over the plains
then infested with hostile Indians. In 1860 he was reappointed by
President Buchanan and in 1863 was removed by the Republican administration.
Returning to Nebraska, he was chosen to Congress and gave his support to
the war measures of that body. In 1867 he was a member of a commission to
report upon the condition of the Sioux Indians. He was appointed by
President Arthur agent for the Yankton Sioux Indians of Dakota, serving until 1889,
when he removed to California where he died August 16, 1902.
WILLIAM H. KINSMAN was a native of Nova Scotia where he was born in 1832.
He was a sailor in early life and later entered the Columbia, New York,
Academy. After attending law school in Cleveland,, Ohio, in 1858 he went
to Council Bluffs where he entered the law office of Clinton & Baldwin.
He was admitted to the bar of Pottawattamie County and was employed on
one of the city papers. When the Civil War began he assisted in raising
the first military company organized in that county and was chosen second
lieutenant. The company was assigned to the Fourth Iowa Infantry and
became Company B. Kinsman was soon promoted to captain of the company
which he led in the Battle of Pea Ridge. In July, 1863, he was placed on
the staff of General Dodge and in August was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of
the Twenty-third Iowa Volunteers. In December he was promoted to colonel
and commanded the regiment in the early battles of Grant's Vicksburg campaign. While
gallantly leading a charge at the Battle of Black River Bridge he fell mortally
wounded and died upon the field.
SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD, fifth
Governor of the State, was born in Hartford County, Maryland, December 20,
1813. He was educated in Washington, D. C., and employed in a drug store.
In 1835 his father removed to Richland County, Ohio, where for several
years the son assisted him in clearing a new farm in the heavy forest. He
finally studied law and in 1843 was admitted to the bar. From 1845 to
1849 he was Prosecuting Attorney and was then elected to the convention which
framed the present Constitution of the State of Ohio. Up to 1854 Mr.
Kirkwood was a Democrat but when that party attempted to force slavery into
Kansas he became alienated and favored the free soil movement. In 1855 he
removed to Iowa and purchased an interest in a mill near Iowa City. In
February, 1856, he served as a delegate in the state Convention which organized
the Republican party of Iowa. In the fall of that year he was elected to
the State Senate from the district consisting of Iowa and Johnson counties,
serving in the Sixth and Seventh General Assemblies. He won such
reputation as a legislator that at the Republican State Convention in 1859 he
was nominated for Governor and was elected over General A. C. Dodge the
Democratic candidate by over 3,000 majority. During his two terms as
Governor it devolved upon him to organize and send to the seat of war more than
60,000 citizen soldiers. How ably he met and performed the arduous duties
which a great war thrust upon him is recorded in the most stirring chapters of
Iowa history. He won a place with the greatest "War Governors"
of the Nation. In 1866 he was elected to the United States Senate to fill
a vacancy of two years. In 1875 he was again chosen Governor; but the
General Assembly of 1876 elected him to the Senate for a full term of six years
and he resigned the office of Governor and returned to the Senate in March,
1877. Upon the inauguration of President Garfield, Governor Kirkwood was
invited to a seat in the Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior which he
accepted, resigning his position in the Senate. The death of the
President terminated his service in the Cabinet after thirteen months and he
retired to private life. During the quarter of a century that Governor
Kirkwood was almost continually in public life, he possessed the confidence and
esteem of the people of Iowa in as great a degree as any citizen who ever
served the State. On the 28th of September, 1892, ten years after
Governor Kirkwood retired to private life, at the suggestion of Governor
Sherman, more than thirty of the old associates of Governor Kirkwood in
official positions living in different parts of the State, assembled at his
home at Iowa City to pay their respects to the "War Governor" who was
then about eighty years of age. It was a remarkable gathering of
distinguished men of both political parties, after time had obliterated the
bitterness of a score of partisan conflicts. All met as old friends and
joined in honoring the man who had earned undying fame in the most critical
period of our State and National history. Governor Kirkwood died at his
home near Iowa City, September 1, 1894.
CHARLES W. KITTREDGE was born in Portland, Maine, on the 16th of January,
1826. He received a liberal education and in 1839 joined his father's
family in Adams County, Illinois. He came to Iowa in about the year 1857,
first locating at Mount Pleasant and later at Ottumwa. Early in the
summer of 1861, he raised a comp[any of volunteers which was assigned to the
Seventh Iowa Infantry, becoming Company F. of which Kittredge was appointed
captain. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Belmont, where he was
severely wounded and taken prisoner. His wound disabled him for active
service and he resigned. In August, 1862, having recovered, he was
appointed colonel of the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry. He commanded the
regiment in the Battle of Helens and in Steele's expedition against Little Rock
he commanded a brigade. The regiment was captured at the Battle of Mark's
Mills, but Colonel Kittredge being sick was not with it. He continued in
the service to the close of the war.
JOSEPH C. KNAPP was born at Berlin, Vermont, June 27, 1813. He
received a liberal education, studied law and became a resident of Keosauqua,
Iowa, in 1843. He became a member of the noted law firm of Wright, Knapp
& Caldwell all of whom became eminent lawyers and distinguished judges.
In 1850 Mr. Knapp was appointed judge of the Third District and in 1853
was appointed United States District Attorney for Iowa by President Pierce.
He was reappointed by President Buchanan, serving eight years.
Judge Knapp was a Democrat and one of the leaders of that party.
Living in a Republican State, he has been a candidate for its highest
offices, but could not overcome the great majorities of his political
opponents. He was a Democratic candidate for Supreme Judge in 1869, for
Governor in 1871 and for United States Senator in 1872.
JOHN B. KNOEPFLER was born at Neukirch, Germany, February 13, 1852, and
came to America with his father in 1854. He grew to manhood in Oakland,
Michigan, where his father settled on a farm. Acquiring sufficient
education by the time he was nineteen to teach school, with hid earnings he
pursued studies in the higher institutions of learning. He removed to
Iowa in 1876 where he became principal of a public school in Fayette County.
In 1882 he was chosen superintendent of the city schools of West Union,
serving seven years, when he removed to Lansing where he became superintendent
of the schools of that city. In 1900 he was elected professor of German
in the State Normal School at Cedar Falls. He has done a large amount of
institute work in the counties of northern Iowa. In 1891 he was nominated
by the Democratic State Convention for Superintendent of Public Instruction and
elected, being the first Democrat to hold that office since 1863. He was
defeated with his party in 1893 and returned to his former position at Lansing.
FREDERICK M. KNOLL of Dubuque is one
of the veteran lawmakers of Iowa, having served fourteen years in the General
Assembly of the State. He was born March 8, 1833, in Alsace, then a
French province. He attended the schools of his native country and in
August, 1853, when twenty years of age, emigrated to America, locating in
Dubuque County which has since been his home. For forty-eight years he
has lived on the farm he selected for his home upon his arrival in America.
During that time he has served ten years as a member of the board of
supervisors, was forty-three years a member of the school board, and
thirty-three years a justice of the peace. In 1861 he was first elected a
Representative in the House of the Ninth General Assembly, was a member of the
Senate in the Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth General Assemblies.
In 1877 Mr. Knoll was again elected to the House of the Seventeenth
General Assembly, and in 1890 his county returned him to the House of the
Twenty-third General Assembly, twenty-eight years from the time he first
entered the Legislature as one of its youngest members. Few citizens of
Iowa have served so long as a public official, and in every position Mr. Knoll
has proved faithful, efficient and worthy. He has been a Democrat from
the time he landed in America and has many times represented his party in State
conventions.
________________________________________