Iowa History
Project
_____________________________________
JOHN F. LACEY was born at New Martinsville, West Virginia, on the 30th of
May, 1841. In 1855 he came with his father to Oskaloosa, near which they
located on a farm. His education was limited by lack of means and he
learned the trade of bricklaying. When the Civil War began he enlisted in
Company H, Third Iowa Infantry, was captured at the Battle of Blue Mills but
was soon released on parole. He returned home and began to read law with
Samuel A. Rice, then Attorney-General of Iowa. After being exchanged in
1862, he enlisted in Company D, Thirty-third Iowa Volunteers, of which Mr. Rice
was appointed colonel. He was soon promoted to first lieutenant of
Company C and later was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General on the staff of
General Steele, serving in that position to the end of the war. He
participated in the battles of Helena, Little Rock, Elkin's Ford, Prairie
d'Ann, Camden, Jenkin's Ferry and Blakely. Upon his return home he
entered upon the practice of law. In 1869 he was elected on the
Republican ticket to the House of the Thirteenth General Assembly, serving one
term. He was city solicitor and is the author of Lacey's Railway Digest
in two volumes and also of the Third Iowa Digest. He was first elected to
Congress from the Sixth District in 1888 and has been repeatedly reelected,
serving to the close of the Nineteenth Century. He has taken a deep
interest in the preservation of the forests and animals of the country and is
the author of numerous important laws on the subject.
SCOTT M. LADD was born at Sharon in the State of Wisconsin on the 22d of
June, 1855. His early education was acquired in Sharon Academy after
which he entered Beloit College, remaining two years, then entered Carthage
College where he graduated in 1879. He took the law course in the Iowa
State University, finishing in 1881. Locating at Sheldon in O'Brien
County, Iowa, in that year, he entered upon the practice of his profession and
in 1886 was nominated on the Republican ticket for District Judge of the Fourth
Judicial District and elected, entering upon the duties of that office in
January following. He was twice reelected, serving until January 1, 1897.
At the Republican State Convention of 1896 he was nominated for Judge of
the Supreme Court and was elected over Lemuel R. Bolter, the Fusion candidate,
by a plurality of 64,377. The same year, the degree of LL.D. was
conferred upon Judge Ladd by Carthage College. He entered upon the duties
of Supreme Judge on the 1st of January, 1897.
JED LAKE was a native of Cortland County, New York, where he was born
November 18, 1830. He attended district school winters, assisting at farm
work during the summers until seventeen years old. His education was
continued in New York Central College and a manual training school at
McGrawville. He continued his studies at Cortland Academy, supporting
himself by teaching. He came to Iowa in 1855, locating at Independence
where he studied law and in 1858 was admitted to the bar. In 1861 he was
elected Representative in the House of the Ninth General Assembly and in 1862
entered the Union army during the extra session. He was tendered the
position of Collector of Internal Revenue, but preferred the military service
and soon after was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-seventh Iowa
Volunteers. He participated in the capture of Little Rock, the Red River
expedition, Battle of Nashville, and capture of Mobile besides many minor
engagements. In 1865 he succeeded to the command of the regiment upon the
promotion of Colonel Gilbert. After the war closed Colonel Lake resumed
practice at Independence. In another place is given an account of his
services in successfully defeating the drive well monopoly, for which the
General Assembly of Iowa by passage of joint resolutions tendered to him the
thanks of the people for the great service rendered the country in saving
millions of dollars in unjust attempts to collect royalties. Colonel Lake
was appointed by President Harrison one of the commissioners to appraise 60,000
acres of land in California. He was also one of the commissioners having
in charge the building of the Hospital for the Insane at Cherokee.
JAMES T. LANE was born at Freeport, Pennsylvania, on the 16th of March,
1830. He was educated at the University of Lewisburg in that State,
studied law, was admitted to the bar, and came west in 1854 in search of a
location. He stopped in Davenport, then a flourishing little city on the
upper Mississippi River. Here he located on the 23d of February, 1854,
and opened a law office, making it his permanent home. He soon acquired a
good practice and upon the organization of the Republican party on the 22d of
February, 1856, Mr. Lane took an active part, serving as a delegate from Scott
County in the first State Convention which met at Iowa City and was one of the
secretaries of that gathering which brought a new party into existence.
He entered into partnership with Abner Davisson, upon the death of D. S.
True, and Davisson & Lane was for many years one of the leading law firms
of Davenport. In 1861 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the
House of the Ninth General Assembly and took rank among the leading members;
was made chairman of the committee on military affairs, then the most important
of the standing committees, as the country was in the midst of the great Civil
War. In 1873 Mr. Lane was appointed by President Grant United States
District Attorney for Iowa, serving with distinction until 1882. He died
on the 19th of March, 1890.
JOSEPH R. LANE was born in Davenport, Iowa, on the 6th of May, 1858, and
was the son of Hon. James T. Lane. He was educated at Knox College,
Galesburg, Illinois, attended the Law Department of the State University and
began to practice law in Davenport in 1880. In 1898 he was elected to
Congress on the Republican ticket in the Second District, serving but one term,
as he declined a reelection. He has long been one of the active
Republican leaders in the Second Congressional district, but prefers the line
of his profession to official positions.
JAMES L. LANGWORTHY, one of the
pioneers of Dubuque, was born in Windsor, Vermont, January 20, 1800.
While a boy his father removed successively to New York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio and Illinois, always keeping in the frontier settlements. In 1821
James made his way to the Galena lead mines on foot and engaged in mining.
Having acquired great influence with the Sac, Fox and Winnebago Indians,
in 1827 Mr. Langworthy was employed by the Government to accompany General
Henry Dodge to negotiate a treaty with these tribes by which they were induced
to move to the west side of the Mississippi River. In 1830 Mr. Langworthy
and his brother, Lucius, obtained permission to engage in lead mining on the
west side of the river in the old Dubuque mines. Several other white men
crossed the river, made a settlement in the vicinity of the mines and made
rules and regulations as to taking and holding claims on the mineral lands.
The Indians made complaint against the invaders and the Federal officials
ordered them to leave the Indian country. When the Black Hawk War began,
Mr. Langworthy became a scout for General Dodge and served to the end of the
war. He returned to Dubuque and again engaged in mining, securing rich
veins of ore. Mr. Langworthy and his brother increased their mining enterprises
and in 1833 were among the leading citizens of Dubuque. They were
foremost in all public enterprises, liberally aiding the schools, churches and
railroads. No citizens contributed more to build up Dubuque for a quarter
of a century than the Langworthy brothers. James died in March, 1865, and
his brother Lucius died in the following July.
WILLIAM LARRABEE, twelfth Governor of
Iowa, was born in Ledyard, Connecticut, January 20, 1832. His father Adam
Larrabee was a graduate of West Point Military Academy and an officer in the
War of 1812. The boyhood years of the son were passed on his father's
farm. His education was acquired in the common schools and at the age of
nineteen he became a teacher. In 1853 he started west, stopping first in
Clayton County, Iowa, where he resumed teaching. For three years he was
employed as foreman on a large farm belonging to Judge Williams. In 1857
he purchased an interest in the Clermont mills, Fayette County, and eventually
became the sole owner of the property. Later he became engaged
extensively in farming and banking. In 1867 he was nominated by the
Republicans of Fayette County for State Senator and elected. He remained
in the Senate for eighteen years by successive reelections, serving the longest
continuously of any member of the Iowa Legislature since the admission of the
State. He was an able practical legislator and acquired by long service
an intimate knowledge of public affairs, giving him great influence in shaping
the laws and general State policy. During most of this period he was
chairman of the committee of ways and means. In 1881 he was a candidate
before the Republican State Convention for Governor but was not successful.
In 1885 he received the nomination and was elected. His administration
was noted for the firm stand he took in securing legislation to regulate the
rates of railroad transportation and his rigid adherence to the principle of
prohibition of the liquor traffic. At the close of his second term there
was a formidable movement on part of the people to elect Governor Larrabee to
the United States Senate. In 1893 he published a book on the
"Railroad Question," which was an able historical and practical
treatise on railroads and remedies for their abuses. It is an exceedingly
valuable work on a subject that has long engaged the attention of Congress and
State Legislatures. Upon the creation of the State Board of Control for
the management of the business of the various State institutions, Governor
Larrabee was appointed one of its members and was chosen president of the
board. His son, William Larrabee, Jr., was a member of the House of the
Twenty-ninth General Assembly.
HENRY W. LATHROP was born at Hawley, Massachusetts, October 28, 1819.
His parents removed to Augusta, New York, where the son grew to manhood.
He studied law at Albany and in 1847 removed to Iowa, locating at Iowa
City where he engaged in teaching school. He became the editor of the Iowa
City Republican. He was a delegate to the convention of 1856 which
organized the Republican party of Iowa. He was one of the first regents
of the State University, helped to organize that institution and was chairman
of the committee which selected the faculty. He served for seven years as
treasurer of the University. In 1856 Mr. Lathrop sold the Republican
and moving onto a farm began to experiment in fruit raising. He was one
of the founders of the State Horticultural Society and for more than half a
century was a contributor to its work. He was for many years librarian of
the State Historical Society and the author of many valuable historical
articles for the Annals of Iowa and the Historical Record.
Mr. Lathrop's most enduring work in history and biography is the
"Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood," a book of four hundred and
seventy-four pages, published in 1893. It is an exceedingly valuable
contribution to the annals of the most important and exciting period of our
State's history.
JACOB G. LAUMAN was born in Tarrytown, Maryland, on the 20th of January,
1813. He came to Iowa in 1844, locating at Burlington where he engaged in
mercantile business. At the beginning of the Rebellion he was active in
raising military companies and on July 7, 1861, was commissioned colonel of the
Seventh Regiment of Volunteer Infantry. His first battle was at Belmont
where the Seventh Regiment was greatly distinguished for gallant conduct and
suffered greater loss than any other regiment taking part in the engagement,
amounting to more than four hundred in killed, wounded and missing.
Colonel Lauman was among the wounded. At the Battle of Fort
Donelson he was placed in command of a brigade and again greatly distinguished
himself, receiving promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General. He
commanded a brigade at Shiloh and at the Hatchie. At the Battle of
Jackson he commanded a division and through a misunderstanding of orders it met
with very heavy loss. At the close of the engagement General Lauman was
relieved of his command and this closed his military career.
ALBERT M. LEA, who gave the name to
Iowa before it had an organized existence as a Territory or State, was born in
east Tennessee in 1807. With a common school education he entered the
Military Academy at West Point in 1827 from which he graduated in 1831.
He was appointed second lieutenant in the artillery service. In
1832 he was detached on topographic work and in 1834 was transferred to the
First Dragoons, in the company commanded by Captain Jesse B. Browne. The
regiment was sent to the upper Mississippi with headquarters at old Fort Des
Moines (now Montrose) in Lee County, Iowa. It was from here in 1835 that
Lieutenant Lea accompanied the exploring expedition under Captain Boone which
marched through the wild regions bordering on the upper Des Moines, Boone and
Iowa rivers. Lieutenant Lea wrote the first description of that part of
the county ever published, from notes and maps made while on the march.
After his return, he published a book of forty-five pages to which he
gave the title "Notes on the Iowa District of Wisconsin Territory."
This is believed to have been the first time the name "Iowa"
was applied to the country which two years later became the Territory of Iowa.
While in camp on the shores of a beautiful lake in southern Minnesota,
Lieutenant Lea made a plat and sketch which was sent to the War Department,
where the name "Albert Lea" was given it. He soon after
resigned his commission and purchased claims at the mouth of Pine Creek on the
west side of the Mississippi, eighteen miles below Rock Island, where he laid
out a town which he named Ellenborough. He expected this to be an
important city as the country became settled but the founding of Davenport on
one side and Muscatine on the other, ruined his hopes and the plat became in
time a farm. Lieutenant Lea was employed as a civil engineer to assist in
establishing the disputed boundary between Iowa and Missouri. In 1841 he
was chief clerk in the War Department and in 1843 was Professor of Mechanics in
the University of Tennessee. During the Civil War he was an officer in
the Confederate army. He died at Corsicana, Texas, on the 30th of January
1891.
JOSEPH B. LEAKE was born in Cumberland County, New Jersey, April 1, 1828.
In 1836 he removed with his parents to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he received
his early education. He entered the Miami University, Oxford, Ohio,
graduating in the class of 1846. After leaving college he studied law in
Cincinnati and was admitted to the bar in 1850. Coming to Iowa in 1856,
Mr. Leake opened a law office at Davenport. In 1861 he was elected to
fill a vacancy in the House of Representatives at the extra session of the
Eighth General Assembly in 1861. He was elected to the Senate of the
Ninth General Assembly, serving at the regular and extra sessions, when he resigned
to enter the army. Mr. Leake was commissioned captain of Company G, and
was soon promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the Twentieth Regiment of
Volunteers. He participated in the Battle of Prairie Grove, where he
commanded the regiment. Soon after his command was transferred to the
Army of the Tennessee, and after the fall of Vicksburg the Twentieth Regiment
joined the Army of the Gulf in the Mobile campaign. Colonel Leake was
taken prisoner at the Battle of Bayou Fordoche, remaining in a Confederate
prison until July, 1864. In 1865 he was brevetted Brigadier-General for
conspicuous service and was mustered out in July of the same year. Upon
his return to Iowa, General Leake was again elected to the State Senate of the
Eleventh General Assembly where he was chairman of the judiciary committee.
Later he occupied several positions of trust in his home city and county.
Early in the seventies General Leake removed to Chicago, where in 1879 he
was appointed by the President, United States Attorney for the District of
Northern Illinois, serving until 1884. From 1887 to 1891 he was the
attorney for the Chicago Board of Education; and he has filled the position of
Commander of the Legion of Honor of Illinois.
ANTOINE LE CLAIRE was born at St. Joseph, Michigan, in 1797. His father
was a French trader and his mother was the daughter of a chief of the
Pottawattamie Indians. He was conversant with many Indian dialects and
acted as interpreter for Colonel Davenport in his intercourse with the Indians,
while stationed at Fort Armstrong. In 1820 Le Claire married the
granddaughter of a Sac chief. In the treaty of 1832 between the Sac and
Fox Indians and the United States, in which Le Claire was the interpreter, a
grant of two sections of land was made to him by these tribes. One
section is now embraced in the limits of Davenport and the other was where the
town of Le Claire has been built. The Pottawattamies gave him two
sections of land now embraced in the city of Moline. Mr. Le Claire was
one of the founders of the cities of Davenport and Le Claire and a liberal
promoter of many public enterprises in the two places in early days. He
died at Davenport in September 1861.
HENRY W. LEE, the first Episcopal
Bishop of Iowa, was born in Hamden, Connecticut, on the 29th of July, 1815.
A few months later his father removed to Springfield, Massachusetts,
where the son spent his youthful days and received his education. In
October, 1839, he was ordained to the ministry of the Episcopal church by
Bishop Griswold. He was called to be Rector of Christ Church at
Springfield in April 1840, where he remained three years. He then
accepted a call to St. Luke's church, at Rochester, New York, where he remained
eleven years. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Hobart
College in 1850 and by the University of Rochester in 1852. In 1867 the
degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by the University of Cambridge, England.
On the 1st of June, 1854, Dr. Henry W. Lee was elected Bishop of the
Diocese of Iowa and on the 18th of October was consecrated at Rochester in the
presence of the Bishops of New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan and
Illinois, Bishop Eastman of Vermont, presiding. Bishop Lee made a visit
to the principal churches of Iowa in the fall of that year and in January,
1855, removed to Davenport. He immediately entered upon the work of
raising a permanent fund for the diocese which was wisely invested in more than
6,000 acres of land which as the years went by became valuable, yielding a
large income. He was instrumental in founding Griswold College at
Davenport which was opened in 1860. In 1867 he made a visit to the
principal countries of Europe, preaching in some of the largest churches of
England, France and Ireland. After an arduous service of twenty years as
Bishop of Iowa Henry W. Lee died at his home on the 26th of September, 1874.
The last great work he gave to the diocese was the erection of Grace
Cathedral at Davenport.
SHEPHERD LEFFLER was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1814.
His education was obtained in the common schools of that section and at
Steubenville, Ohio. He studied law and came to the "Black Hawk
Purchase" in 1835, locating at the "Flint Hills," then a little
frontier village of log cabins. He improved a farm near by and began the
practice of law. In 1839 he was elected a Representative in the
Legislative Assembly of the new Territory when but twenty-five years of age.
He was reelected in 1841 and in 1842 was promoted to the Council where he
served by reelection in the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Legislative Assemblies
until Iowa became a State. He was chosen a delegate to the First
Constitutional Convention in 1844, served through its sessions and in 1846 was
a member of the second convention which framed the Constitution under which
Iowa became a State. In 1846 he received the nomination for Congress in
the State at large, by the Democratic Convention and was elected. He was
reelected from the Second District in 1848, serving four years. In 1856
he was again a candidate for Congress in the Second District but was defeated
by Timothy Davis his old competitor, as the Republican party had now a large
majority. In 1875 Mr. Legfler was nominated by the Democratic State
Convention for Governor but was defeated by Governor Kirkwood. This was
his last appearance in State politics. Few public officials in Iowa have
exercised to wide an influence in shaping its policy, framing and enacting its
laws and formulating its constitutions in the pioneer period, as Shepherd Leffler.
Serving in six of its Territorial Legislatures, two Constitutional
Conventions and four years in Congress immediately after the admission of the
State, his impress is found upon all of our early laws. He was one of the
trusted leaders of the Democratic party as long as it controlled the Territory
and State. He died at Burlington in 1879.
FRANK LEVERETT, geologist, was born
near Denmark, Iowa, March 10, 1859. He was reared in the atmosphere of
the academy founded by the grandfather, Rev. Asa Turner, which he entered in
1872. Upon leaving the academy in 1878 the young man spent a year on his
father's farm. In 1880 he was made teacher of natural science, a position
which he held for three years. During this time he became especially
interested in geology which led him to spend a year in Colorado, partly at
Colorado College and partly in field work. In 1884 he entered the Iowa
Agricultural College, and before completing his contemplated course preparatory
to teaching, he became especially interested in glacial geology. Through
the influence of W. J. McGee and Professor T. C. Chamberlain he received the
position of Special Field Assistant on the United States Geological Survey.
In 1890 he was made an Assistant United Geologist. He has given his
attention chiefly to glacial geology, considering the deposits both in their
economic and scientific phases. In 1892 he spent some time in the service
of the Illinois Board of World's Fair Commissioners, preparing an exhibit of
the soils of the State. His scientific publications began in 1884 and he
has since contributed numerous valuable articles to scientific publications,
among which may be mentioned the "Water Resources of Illinois," and
two monographs published by the United States Geological survey, the first on
the "Illinois Glacial Lobe," and the second "Glacial Formations
and Drainage Features of the Erie and Ohio Basins."
LORENZO D. LEWELLING, was born in
Salem, Iowa, December 21, 1846. His father, William, was a Quaker
minister, who died when his son was a small boy. Lorenzo worked for
farmers in the neighborhood, went to district school in the winter and later
graduated from Whittier College. When sixteen years of age he began work
at bridge building, drove cattle in the quartermaster's department in Tennessee
during the war and again became a member of a company of bridge builders.
He was a teacher under the Freedman's Aid Society in Missouri after the
close of the war. Mr. Lewelling served some time as assistant
superintendent of the State Reform School and in 1870 established a paper at
Salem. He and his wife were employed in the Girls' Industrial School at
Mitchellville for a number of years and later he was president of the State
Normal School. In 1880 Mr. Lewelling removed to Des Moines and
established the Iowa Capital. In 1887 he removed to Kansas,
locating at Wichita, where he took an active interest in politics, espousing
the cause of the new Populist party and becoming one of the most eloquent
advocates of its principles. In 1888 he was nominated by that party for
Secretary of State but was defeated at the election. In 1892 the
Democrats and Populists united upon a ticket and Mr. Lewelling was the fusion
candidate for Governor. After a spirited canvas he was elected over the
Republican candidate by a plurality of over 5,000. He was renominated in
1894 but was defeated at the election.
WARNER LEWIS, one of the
pioneers of northern Iowa, was born in Goochland County, Virginia, in November,
1805. He emigrated to the mining region of Michigan Territory in 1827 and
was appointed clerk of the United States District Court of that Territory.
He served in the Black Hawk War and in 1833 removed to Dubuque. At
the first session of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature Mr. Lewis served as chief
clerk of the House of Representatives. Upon the creation of Iowa
Territory in 1838 he was elected to the Council of the First Legislative
Assembly where he took a prominent part in framing the first laws. In
1841 he was again a member of the Assembly and was chosen Speaker of the House.
In 1850 he was elected to the State Senate where he served four years. He
was appointed by Governor Lucas Major-General of the Iowa militia and assisted
in its organization. In 1845 he was appointed Register of the United
States Land Office at Dubuque. In 1853 he was appointed by President
Pierce Surveyor-General for Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota and at the expiration
of his term was reappointed by President Buchanan. He served twenty-four
years as recorder of Dubuque County. Mr. Lewis was a prominent member of
the Democratic party during all of his mature life and died in Dubuque, May 4,
1888, at the age of eighty-three.
W. R. LEWIS was born in Muskingham County, Ohio, October 12, 1835.
In April, 1857, he removed to Poweshiek County, Iowa, which has since
been his home. He worked at carpentering and taught school until 1861,
and during hours not otherwise employed studied law and was admitted to the bar
in 1866. Mr. Lewis held a number of positions in his home county and in
1880 was elected judge of the Circuit Court. This position he held six
years until that court was abolished. He was then elected judge of the
District Court, retiring from the bench in 1890, and resuming the practice of
law. In 1897 he was elected to the State Senate, serving in the
Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eight General Assemblies.
JAMES R. LINCOLN was born in Maryland, February 3, 1845, and was educated at
Landon Military Academy in his native State, and in the Pennsylvania Military
College. When the Civil War began he enlisted in the Confederate army
serving through the war. In 1867 he came to Iowa, locating at Boonsboro
where he was superintendent of a coal mining company, and served as mayor of
the city. He removed to Ames in 1884 and was elected Professor of
Military Tactics in the State College of Agriculture when General Geddes was
displaced by the trustees. In 1892 he was steward of the college and
later Professor of Commercial Law and Mining Engineering. He was Inspector-General
of the Iowa National Guard when the Spanish War began and was placed in command
of Camp McKinley at Des Moines. In May, 1898, he was promoted to
Brigadier-General of Volunteers.
CHARLES LINDERMAN was born in Orange County, New York, on the 4th of February,
1829, and was educated in the common schools and at Bloomingburg and Clinton
Academies. In 1855 he removed to Iowa, locating at Davenport, where he
has been engaged in banking and farming. He removed to Page County before
the beginning of the Civil War and upon the organization of the Eighth Iowa
Cavalry was commissioned second lieutenant of Company A, serving to the close
of the war, having been promoted to first lieutenant. He served as
clerk of Page County from 1860 to 1863, and in 1865 was elected on the
Republican ticket Representative to the Eleventh General Assembly. Before
the expiration of his term he was elected clerk of the Supreme Court, serving
by reelection until 1875. In 1891 he was again chosen to represent
his county in the Twenty-fourth General Assembly, serving two terms.
MATHIAS LORAS, the first Catholic
Bishop of Iowa, was born at Lyons, France, August 30, 1792. His father,
who was a loyalist at the time of the French Revolution, fell a victim to the
"reign of terror." Young Loras studied at Lyons several years
and became a priest in 1817. He came to America in 1829. His fine
ability attracted attention and in a few years he became Vicar-General.
When the Diocese of Dubuque was established Father Loras was made bishop.
He returned to France and procured six missionaries for the new diocese
and reached Dubuque in April, 1839. The diocese embraced all of the
territory north of Missouri between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in
which were more than 30,000 Indians who were in his charge. Throughout
this region he established schools. He sat in the Fourth Council of
Baltimore in 1840, in the Fifth in 1843, the Sixth in 1846 and again in 1849.
After many ineffectual efforts in 1843, he succeeded in obtaining a
religious community for the girls' school of his diocese. In 1854 he had
established thirty-one Catholic churches in the State of Iowa with a membership
of more than 15,000. During nearly twenty years of devoted work for the
church he won the esteem of thousands of its best citizens. He died on
the 19th of February, 1858, at Dubuque.
WILLIAM LOUGHRIDGE was born in Youngstown, Ohio, July 11, 1827. He
received a common school education, studied law and began practice in
Mansfield, Ohio. Coming to Iowa in 1852 he located at Oskaloosa where he
practiced law. In 1856 he was elected on the Republican ticket to
the State Senate, serving four years. In 1861 he was chosen judge of the
Sixth Judicial Circuit, serving until January, 1867. He was elected to
Congress in 1866 and twice reelected, being a member of the Fortieth,
Forty-first and Forty-third Congresses.
JAMES M. LOVE was born in Fairfax, Virginia, March 4, 1820. The
family removed to Zanesville, Ohio, when he was a lad of twelve and there he
obtained a good education and studied law with an older brother. When the
war with Mexico began he volunteered and was chosen captain of a company,
serving through the war. In 1850 he removed to Iowa, locating at Keokuk
where he entered into partnership with Samuel F. Miller in the practice of law.
In 1852 he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the State Senate where
he served four years as chairman of the judiciary committee. In 1855 he
was appointed by President Pierce Judge of the United States District Court for
Iowa, a position he held the remainder of his life. In 1875 he accepted
an appointment in the State University as Professor of Commercial Law and
served three years as Chancellor of the Law Department. Of all the
decisions rendered by Judge Love during his long term of service but three were
reversed by the Supreme Court. He died July 2, 1891. At the
following meeting of the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association, Judge George G. Wright
said of Judge Love:
"As a lawyer, he ranked among the ablest in
the west; as a legislator he was the peer of any of his colleagues; as a judge
he was honest, laborious, courteous, learned and strong; his life and character
were pure and spotless."
ENOS LOWE, one of the pioneer
lawmakers of Iowa, was born on the 5th of May, 1804, in the county of Guilford,
North Carolina. He took a course in medicine at the Ohio Medical College
and, locating at Greencastle, Indiana, entered upon the practice of his
profession. He became on active Democratic politician and was elected to
a seat in the Indiana Legislature. In 1837 he removed to the "Black
Hawk Purchase" and located at Burlington, then a small frontier village
where he practiced medicine. He became widely and favorably known and in
1844 was chosen a member of the First Constitutional Convention where he made
the acquaintance of many young men who afterwards became famous in the history
of Iowa. The Constitution framed by this Convention having been rejected,
Dr. Lowe was elected to the Convention of 1846 which enacted the Constitution
under which Iowa became a State. He was elected to preside over that
body. When the United States Land Office was established at Iowa City Dr.
Lowe was appointed receiver of public money and removed to the Capital. In
1853 he was appointed receiver of the United States Land Office at Council
Bluffs. He became one of the founders of the city of Omaha, being a
member of the company that platted the town in 1853. He died on the 13th
of February, 1880.
RALPH P. LOWE, fourth Governor of
the State of Iowa, was born in Warren County, Ohio, on the 27th of November,
1805. His father owned a farm and kept a stage station and tavern.
Ralph assisted his father, and when a boy his ambition was to some day
become a stage driver. But as he grew older and listened to the talk of
Henry Clay and other distinguished statesmen who stopped at his father's
tavern, on their journeys by stage coach, he imbibed a higher ambition.
He began to study and entered the Miami University where he graduated.
He then began the study of law. In 1840 he came to Iowa, crossing
the Mississippi River at Bloomington (now Muscatine) where he bought a farm.
He improved the farm and began to practice law, taking an active part in
public affairs. In 1844 he was elected to the First Constitutional
Convention. In 1845 he was nominated by the Whigs for Delegate in
Congress, but the Democrats had a clear majority in the Territory and he was
defeated by General A. C. Dodge. In 1852 Mr. Lowe was chosen judge of the
District Court, serving until 1857 when he resigned, having been nominated by
the Republican State Convention for Governor. He was elected and was the
first Governor under the new Constitution, serving but one term. In 1859
he was elected Judge of the Supreme Court and became Chief Justice in 1860.
He was reelected in 1861 and again became Chief Justice in 1866. He
removed to Washington, D. C., in 1874 where he resumed the practice of law, and
died in that city December 22, 1883.
ROBERT LUCAS, first Governor of
Iowa Territory, was born at Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, Virginia, on the
1st of April, 1781. His father was an officer in the Revolutionary War
who, in 1800, liberated his slaves and removed to Scioto County, Ohio.
Robert received his education under a private teacher and became a
surveyor. When the War of 1812 began he was appointed captain in the
regular army and as the war progressed attained the rank of colonel. He
served nineteen years in the Ohio Legislature and during that period was presiding
officer of both House and Senate. In 1832 he was president of the
Democratic National Convention which nominated Andrew Jackson for President.
In the same year he was elected Governor of Ohio and in 1834 was
reelected, serving four years. On the 7th of July, 1838, he was appointed
by President Van Buren Governor of the new Territory of Iowa. As his
services in that position have been mentioned quite fully elsewhere it is
sufficient here to say that he gave to Iowa an able, intelligent and faithful
administration. At its close he retired to his farm near Iowa City in
June, 1841. Governor Lucas was chosen a member of the First
Constitutional Convention which met in 1844 and was one of its ablest and most
useful delegates. He died at his home February 7, 1853.
JOSEPH LYMAN was born at Lyons, Michigan, September 13, 1840. He received but a common school education as the war came soon after he entered college and he left to enlist in the Union army. He first became a private in the Fourth Iowa Cavalry but in October, 1862, was promoted to adjutant of the Twenty-ninth Infantry and in February, 1865, was promoted to major, serving to the close of the war. Upon returning home he studied law, was admitted to the bar and entered upon practice at Council Bluffs. He was for a time deputy collector of Internal Revenue in the Fifth District and was circuit judge of the Thirteenth Judicial District from January, 1884, until he was elected Representative in Congress from the Fifth District at the general election of that year. He served two terms, having been reelected in the fall of 1886. Mr. Lyman died at Council Bluffs on the 9th of July, 1890.
___________________________________________