Iowa
History Project
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Gue, Benjamin F. History of Iowa Vol. IV; New York City: 1903
CHARLES WACHSMUTH, crinoid specialist, was born in Hanover, Germany, September 13, 1829. From early youth his health was delicate and at the age of sixteen he was obliged to abandon study. In 1852 he came to America as agent of a Hamburg shipping house. As the climate of New York did not agree with him, he came to Iowa, locating at Burlington. His frail health compelled him to lead an out of door life and he began to collect fossils as a pastime. He gave much time to an examination of the quarries and ravines in that locality and in a few years his collection of crinoids had "reached such dimensions as to attract attention of eastern scientists. Professor Louis Agassiz came to see it, and Meek and Worthen asked the loan of specimens for description in the Geological Reports of Illinois." In 1865 he visited Cambridge, studying the collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Extending his travels he visited the great museums of Europe and collected specimens. Upon reaching England he found that the fame of his Burlington collection had preceded him. Returning to his home he determined to give the remainder of his life to the study and collection of crinoids. In 1873 Professor Agassiz paid Mr. Wachsmuth a second visit, the result of which was the transfer of the collection to Cambridge and the appointment of Mr. wachsmuth as assistant in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. He was induced to publish the results of his observations. The position which he held until Agassiz's death gave him ample opportunities to become acquainted with the literature on crinoids and here was laid the foundation of a classification which divides all Paleozoic crinoids into three primary groups. These groups were sketched out in 1877 in a paper on "The Internal and External Structure of Paleozole Crinoids." In 1874, after a second trip abroad, he returned to Burlington and in a few years made up a new collection much superior to the first. Becoming acquainted with Frank Springer, the two worked, studied and wrote together, and in 1878 the results of their researches were published under joint authorship. The work is mainly directed to the morphology of crinoids with a view to classification and was published as a monograph of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Mr. Wachsmuth was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Geological Society of America, Davenport Academy of Sciences and a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. He died on February 7, 1896. He left unfinished his "Monograph on Fossil Crinoids." Of the collections and publications of Messrs. Wachsmuth and Springer, Dr. Charles R. Keyes, says: (Annals of Iowa, Vol. III)
"So valuable has it become that a fire proof building has been erected to contain it. So famous has it become that it and its modest owners are perhaps better known in all the centers of learning and culture in this country and in the old world, than in the city that claims them as residents.... The State may well be proud of this great achievement. The entire work may be regarded as essentially an Iowa production.....Almost all of the material upon which it is based was obtained within the borders of the State. Both the authors were Iowa men....All the work was done in the State, at Burlington."
MARTIN J. WADE was born in Burlington, Vermont, on the 20th of October, 1861. he came to Iowa in 1870 and received his education in the common schools, at St. Joseph's College at Dubuque and in the Iowa State University. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1886. In 1892 a professor in the Law Department of the State University and since the latter date has been a lecturer in the same department, and since 1897 has been lecturer in the Medical Department. In 1889-90 he was president of the Stare Bar Association; and has been president of the Iowa City Public Library since its organization in 1897. In 1893 Mr. Wade was elected judge of the Eighth Judicial District, serving until 1902 when he was elected Representative in Congress for the Second District on the Democratic ticket.
JOHN L. WAITE, journalist, was born in Ravenna, Ohio, August 29, 1840. He was educated in the public schools of his native place and attended business college at Chicago. For twelve years he was a telegraph operator; and later was one of the projectors of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad telegraph line which he helped to construct, and of which he became superintendent. In 1869 he became identified with the Burlington Hawkeye, first as city editor and in 1874 became associate editor. In 1877 he was promoted to managing editor and in 1881 he was appointed postmaster of Burlington. At the close of his term he became editor in chief and general manager of the Hawkeye which, under his direction, has wielded wide influence among the Republican journals of Iowa. In 1898 Mr. Wade was again appointed postmaster of Burlington retaining the management of the Hawkeye.
GEORGE W. WAKEFIELD was born November 22, 1839, at De Witt, Illinois, and was educated in the common schools and at Lombard College. When the Civil War began he enlisted in Company F, Forty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, serving three years. After the close of the war Mr. Wakefield was engaged in farming and teaching. Finally studying law he was admitted to the bar in Illinois in 1868. The same year he came to Iowa, locating at Sioux City, where he entered upon the practice of his profession. In 1870 he was elected judge of the Circuit Court of the Fourth Judicial District, serving two years, and in 1887 was chosen Judge of the District Court which position he has held up to the year 1903. Judge Wakefield has been one of the promoters of the Sioux City pubic library, serving as president of the board of trustees from 1892 to 1903.
MADISON M. WALDEN, seventh Lieutenant-Governor of Iowa, was born in Ohio, in 1837. He received a good education and came to Iowa in 1853, locating at Centerville in Appanoose County. He was a printer and for a long time the able editor of the Centerville Citizen, a Republican weekly of wide influence. When the War of the Rebellion began Mr. Wallden raised a company for the Sixth Infantry Regiment and was commissioned captain. In December, 1862, he resigned and in 1863 recruited a company for the Eighth Cavalry. He was taken prisoner in an engagement at Newnan, Georgia, in July, 1864. Mr. Walden was an excellent officer and remained in the service until near the close of the war when he returned to his home at Centerville. In 1866 he was a member of the House of the Eleventh General Assembly and at the close of his term was elected to the Senate for four years. But after serving one session he was nominated by the Republican State Convention for Lieutenant-Governor and elected. Before the expiration of his term he was nominated for Representative in Congress by the Republicans of the Fourth District and elected. In 1890 he was again a member of the Legislature from Appanoose County. Soon after the close of the session he received an appointment in the Treasury Department at Washington and removed to that city where he died on the 24th of July, 1892. Governor Walden was an able editor, a graceful writer, an influential legislator and an accomplished presiding officer.
WILLIAM W. WALKER, one of the pioneer railroad builders of Iowa, was born in Cooperstown, New York, in 1834, receiving the education of civil engineers. He came to Iowa in 1855 and was soon chosen chief engineer of the Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska Railroad Company with charge of the location of the trunk line of what is now the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad from Clinton to Council Bluffs. After the completion of that line he was one of the leading promoters and chief engineer of the Sioux City & Pacific and Elkhorn Valley railroads. He was an active member of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad Company, and for many years its superintendent. He was afterwards engaged in building railroads in Missouri and Arizona. Mr. Walker was the first president of the First National Bank of Cedar Rapids and was for many years one of the proprietors of the Cedar Rapids Republican. His life was one of great usefulness and he will long be remembered as one of the pioneer railroad builders of the State. He died in Chicago on the 22d of September, 1893.
JOHN H. WALLACE was born on August 16th, 1822, and was reared on a farm in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He was educated in the common schools and at Frankfort Springs Academy. Though naturally an eager student, his health was so delicate that he determined to seek an outdoor life rather than one of study, and in 1845 he removed to Muscatine, Iowa, locating on a farm near the city. He became an active member of the State Agricultural Society and in 1856 was elected secretary and for six years was the chief official in the management of the State Fairs. He was frequently called upon for information relating to pedigrees of domestic animals and the need of an authority on the pedigrees of horses was constantly forced upon his attention. There were herd books for the registration of cattle in those days, but no stud book where the pedigrees of any breed of horses could be found recorded. In 1856 Mr. Wallace began collecting information with the ultimate purpose of publishing a stud book of throughbred horses. The thoroughbred, or British racehorse, was then here, as in England, the only horse of literature, though the Morgans and the fast trotting horses had begun to attract attention. From the files of the oldest American sporting journals containing the records of racing and from old turfmen and breeders and from other sources of information Mr. Wallace gleaned a great mass of pedigrees, which he published in 1867 in "Wallace's American Stud Book." While compiling the thoroughbred pedigrees Mr. Wallace gathered such information as he found about the breeding and records of trotting horses, and these he arranged as a supplement to his work on the running horse. This supplement contained all horses that have trotted in public in 1.40 or better and many of their progenitors and descendants with all that is known of their blood. It was a very meager work covering considerably less than one hundred pages and containing in many instances only the names, color and record of the horse registered. That the editor was pretty well satisfied with it is indicated by a sentence in the introduction: "It is believed that this compilation of trotting horses, embracing more than seven hundred animals, is very nearly perfect, but it is not claimed to be entirely so." Meafer and imperfect as it is now known to have been, this trotting supplement was more used and appreciated than was the amin stud book, and soon after its publication Mr. Wallace turned his undivided attention to this new field - the history and literature of the American trotting horse. The first volume of "Wallace's American Trotting Register" was published in 1871. It represented years of untiring labor, travel through all parts of the United States and personal investigation of hundreds of important pedigrees which before had been altogether unknown, or in hopeless confusion. The second volume was published in 1874 and in 1875 Mr. Wallace removed to New York City, where he established Wallace's Monthly, a magazine devoted to the trotting horse. Later he published "Wallace's Year Book," a statistical work containing reports of all races trotted or paced in the United States and Canada, together with elaborate tables of pedigrees and records designed to bring out the relative merits of the different families of trotting horses. Mr. Wallace continued the publication of the Register, the Monthly and the Year Book until 1891, when a controversy between him and several wealthy and influential breeders, concerning the pedigree of the famous trotting mare Sunol, 2:08 1-4 led to a rupture which ended in the sale of the publications to the American Trotting Register Association, a business corporation located at Chicago, for about $130,000. Nine volumes of the Trotting Register, six volumes of the Year Book and fifteen volumes of the Monthly were published under the direction of Mr. Wallace before he relinquished control and these works contain more than all others concerning the history of the trotting horse. In 1897 Mr. Wallace published his latest work "The Horse of America," which may be said to contain the cream of all the earlier publications. Mr. Wallace's influence upon the horse breeding interests of the United States was incalculable. Possessed of untiring industry, sterling integrity, ability not approached by any other man of his day, or of any day, in his chosen field of labor, and with courage enough to stand his ground against the whole world when he believed he was right, he accomplished what perhaps no one else could have done in ascertaining and putting on record the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the blood elements of a new breed of horses, now recognized as the most valuable the world has ever known. He not only performed a hereulean task in tracing out the inheritance of the trotting horse, but his deductions from the statistics of turf and stud guided to a great extent the breeding of trotting horses throughout the country. It has been said of Mr. Wallace that he was more of a scientist than a horseman. He cared little for what may be termed the practical side of horsemanship and racing. His taste and talent were almost wholly for the historical and scientific phases of the subject. He was a most uncompromising opponent of betting in all forms and had many bitter enemies among horse owners and track owners owing to his unceasing warfare against poolselling. He would not go as far as from his New York office at Broadway and Fulton streets, to Fleetwood Park, to see an ordinary race, but would spend weeks, months and sometimes even years in tracing the inheritance of some obscure trotter that had gained a record of 2:30 or better in that race. His whole interest and labor were in tracing and classifying pedigrees and records and drawing from the statistics so collected and classified deductions as to the sources of speed, the laws of heredity and the way to improve the breed of trotting horses.
FITZ HENRY WARREN was one of the most brilliant and versatile of the notable men of Iowa. He was a native of New England, having been born in Brimfield, Massachusetts, January 11, 1816. He received a liberal education and first engaged in business as a merchant. In August, 1844, he removed to Iowa Territory and located at Burlington where he engaged in milling. He took a deep interest in politics from boyhood and was an active Whig. It is believed that he was the first to propose the nomination of General Zachary Taylor for President and he was a delegate to the National Whig Convention in 1848 which nominated the hero of Buena Vista. Soon after the inauguration of President Taylor, Fitz Henry Warren was appointed First Assistant Postmaster General. After the death of the President and the accession of Millard Fillmore, who approved the fugitive slave law, Warren resigned in disgust at the subserviency of the new President to the slave power. Through the influence of the antislavery Whigs Mr. Warren was made secretary of the National Executive Committee. In the long senatorial contest before the Fifth General Assembly in 1855, Mr. Warren was one of the prominent candidates but James Harlan was finally chosen. mr. Warren was chairman of the Des Moines County delegation to the convention of 1856 which organized the Republican party and was one of the delegates to the National Convention which nominated General Fremont for President. He was one of the most brilliant political writers in the State and a frequent contributor to the editorial columns of the Burlington Hawkeye. In 1861 he was one of the chief editorial writers on the New York Tribune and the author of the famous "On to Richmond" articles. He returned to Iowa and helped to raise the First Iowa Cavalry of which he was appointed colonel. In 1862 he was promoted to Brigadier-General with a command in the army under General Samuel R. Curtis, in Missouri. In 1863 General Warren was the leading candidate before the Republican State Convention for Governor, but by a combination of the supporters of other candidates, Warren was defeated. Before the close of the war he was brevetted Major-General. In 1866 he was elected to the State Senate and after serving one session was appointed by the President, Minister to Guatemala where he served two years. He died at Brimfield, Massachusetts, in June, 1878. Judge Francis Springer said of this brilliant man:
"General Warren was one of the keenest and most incisive writers, the most scholarly of our statesmen and one of the best men we ever had in the State."
CHARLES M. WATERMAN was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, on the 5th of January, 1847. His education was acquired in the public schools and in a private academy. He came to Iowa in 1854 and studied law. The first office he held was that of city attorney of Davenport. In 1877 he was chosen one of the Representatives in the House of the seventeenth General Assembly on the Republican ticket. On the 28th of June, 1887, he was appointed by Governor Larrabee to fill a vacancy in the office of judge of the Seventh Judicial District caused by the death of Judge John H. Rogers. He was elected for a full term in November of that year and reelected in 1890 and 1894. In the summer of 1897 he received the nomination at the Republican State Convention for judge of the Supreme Court and was elected in November, taking his place on the bench the 1st of January, 1898.
JAMES B. WEAVER was born in Dayton, Ohio, June 12, 1833. He graduated at the Law School of the Ohio University at Cincinnati in 1854. His father removed with his family to Michigan and from there to Iowa in 1843, locating in Davis County. Here the son began the practice of law at Bloomfield where he was also the editor of a weekly paper for a few years before the Civil War. He enlisted soon after the opening of the Rebellion, in Company G, Second Iowa Infantry, and was commissioned first lieutenant. mr. Weaver was in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh and was promoted to major of the regiment for gallant conduct. Soon after the Battle of Corinth he was promoted to colonel and remained in command of the regiment until its term of service expired. he was brevetted Brigadier-General in March, 1864. In 1865 he was one of the preminent candidates for the nomination for Lieutenant-Governor in the Republican State Convention, receiving next to the highest vote. In 1866 he was elected District Attorney in the Second Judicial District, serving four years. In 1867 he was appointed by President Johnson, Assessor of Internal Revenue for the First District, serving six years. In 1875 he was a candidate before the Republican State Convention for Governor. He received strong support and on the morning of the convention it was generally conceded that he would be nominated. He was an active and outspoken advocate of prohibition and the rigid enforcement of the prohibitory liquor law, which aroused the bitter opposition of the license men. They saw that he was about to be nominated and secretly organized a movement to bring out the name of Samuel J. Kirkwood the "old war Governor" as the only way to defeat General Weaver. The Ex-Governor was not present and when communicated with declined to be made a candidate, But the license men were not to be turned from their course and in a dramatic manner presented the Governor's name in an adroit speech and in a prearranged plan had tremendous cheering started for Governor Kirkwood which swept the convention and thus the nomination was at the last moment diverted from General Weaver. Soon after he left the Republican party and became one of the leaders of the National, or better known as the "Greenback" party. In 1878 he was nominated by the new party for Representative in Congress in the Sixth District and after a warm campaign was elected over the Republican candidate. In 1880 he was nominated by the National Convention of the new party for President of the United States. He received about 350,000 votes. In 1884 General Weaver was again elected to Congress from the Sixth District and reelected in 1886 by a coalition of the opposition to the Republican candidate. In 1892 General Weaver was again nominated for President, this time by the People's party. At the election he received 1,042,531 votes and twenty-two electoral votes. General Weaver has for many years given most of his time to the advocacy of his political views and has long been one of the ablest among the national speakers and managers of his party.
SILAS M. WEAVER was born in Chautauqua County, New York, on the 18th of December, 1846. He was reared on a farm and received his education in the public schools of that county and at the Fredonia Academy. He taught school several winters, spending the summers in reading law until he was admitted to the bar at Buffalo, in 1868. The same year he came to Iowa, locating at Iowa Falls where he began practice. In 1883 he was elected on the Republican ticket Representative in the Twentieth General Assembly. He was chairman of the judiciary committee and at the close of the first term was reelected to the Twenty-first General Assembly. It was in the Legislature of 1886 that an attempt was made to impeach and remove from office the Auditor of State, J. L. Brown. Mr. Weaver was chosen by the House, chairman of the board of managers to conduct the prosecution of the trial before the Senate. In 1886 he was elected jude of the Eleventh Judicial District and has been repeatedly reelected, serving in that position for fifteen years. In 1891, he was nominated by the Republican State Convention for Judge of the Supreme Court but for the first time since the organization of the party, the entire Republican ticket was defeated. In 1891 Judge Weaver was again nominated for a seat on the Supreme bench and elected.
ANDONIJAH S. WELCH was born April 12, 1821, at Chatham, Connecticut, and received his early education in the schools of that place. He removed to Michigan and entered the State University at Ann Arbor from which he graduated. His first inclination was to become a lawyer; he entered upon the study and was admitted to the bar. But after a few years began what proved to be his life work, teaching. He was chosen principal of the first union school in Michigan and soon developed such ability in that work that he was elected president of the State Normal School of Michigan. Here, for fifteen years, he labored with such marked success that he ranked among the most progressive and resourceful educators of the west. After continual work in that position his health gave way and he went to Florida for a season of rest. While residing there he was elected to the United States Senate, in the process of reconstructing the government of that State and its restoration to its place in the Union, in 1868. While holding this position he had been so strongly recommended by the leading educators of Michigan for the presidency of the Iowa Agricultural College that the chairman of the special committee on organization of that institution became convinced that he was the man for the place. After extended investigation, he so reported to the Board of Trustees and was by them authorized to tender the position to Mr. Welch. he accepted upon condition that he be allowed to serve in the Senate until the 4th of March, 1869, and enter upon the duties of his new position soon thereafter. He visited the college in September, 1868, had a long conference with the trustees, presented to them his plan of organization and course of study and helped to inaugurate the preliminary and preparatory session. He returned to Washington and resumed his seat in the Senate. The Republicans of Florida, who had a majority in the Legislature, proposed to elect Mr. Welch to the long term in the Senate but he declined the position, preferring the presidency of the Iowa College. There for fifteen years, he labored most successfully, to build up that institution into one of the most successful scientific and industrial colleges in the west. He possessed a remarkable power of organization and was largely instrumental in working out the many difficult problems of the new system of education then in its infancy. He was an enthusiastic advocate of coeducation and demonstrated its practicability and advantages in the college under his supervision. Under his wise direction the foundation was laid in the formative years for the great educational institution which has grown up. In 1877 the United States Commissioner of Technological and Industrial Schools, visited the Agricultural College and, after a thorough investigation of its plans and works, said to President Welch: "You have here the best institution of its kind in the United States." President Welch was one of the most accomplished and powerful public speakers in the west and was in constant demand for addresses before educational and industrial organizations throughout the country. He was long regarded as the highest authority on industrial education in the United States and was the author of several valuable school text books. In 1882 he was sent by the Department of Agriculture on a mission to Europe to examine and report upon industrial and scientific schools of the old world. His report was one of great value and widely sought for. Dr. Welch died in Pasadena, California, on the 14th of March, 1889. His funeral was held at the college, on the 21st, and was attended by the Governor and other State officers.
MARY B. WELCH, a native of the State of New York, was born at Lyons, in Wayne County, on the 3d of July, 1841. She received an education at Elmira Seminary and for several years was a teacher. Her first husband was George E. Dudley to whom she was married in 1858. After his death she married A. S. Welch of Michigan in 1868. She came with him to Iowa upon his election as president of the State Agricultural College, and at once became his most faithful and efficient helper in the varied duties devolving upon him in the organization of the new college. Her influence with the girls was unbounded from the beginning. As the first professor and organizer of the new department of Domestic Economy, she carried on a work that required a high order of inventive and executive ability and filled the position with such marked success as to win for it a high place in the experimental college achievements. She was frequently called upon for lectures in the line of her work and helped to elevate that branch of home accomplishments in public estimation. She aroused among her students much of her own enthusiasm over home making and all improved methods of conducting household affairs on a high plane. Mrs. Welch was an ardent advocate of equal suffrage and was one of the officers of the State Association. After the death of President Welch she removed to California.
LUMAN H. WELLER was born at Bridgewater, Connecticut, August 24, 1833. He received a liberal education at academies and the State Normal School. In 1859 he removed to Iowa, locating on a farm in Chicasaw County. He read law after his day's work in the field until 1868 when he was admitted to the bar. In 1867 he was an independent candidate for a seat in the Legislature but was not successful. He was an independent candidate for State Senator at the elections of 1869 and 1877 but was not elected. In 1878 he was a candidate for Congress but was defeated. In 1883 he was nominated for Congress by the National party, made a vigorous campaign and was elected. Mr. Weller served through the Forty-eighth Congress. He became a prominent member of the Populist party and refused to affiliate with the Democrats.
D. FRANKLIN WELLS was born in Oneida County, New York, June 22, 1830. His early education was acquired in the common schools and later he graduated from the State Normal School at Albany. In 1853 he came to Muscatine, Iowa, where he was chosen principal of one of the city schools. In 1856 he was placed in charge of the Normal Department of the State University, serving in that capacity for ten years. In 1867 he was appointed by the Governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Oran Faville, and at the following general election was chosen for a full term. He died in November, 1868, in the thirty-ninth year of his age. Henry Sabin pronounced Professor Wells the recognized leader of the educational forces of the State at the period when he was thus actively engaged in the work, and adds that he literally gave his life to the cause.
CLARK R. WEVER was born at Hornsfield, New York, September 16, 1835, where he grew to manhood. Soon after he became of age he made an extensive journey through Texas and Mexico. In 1858 he came to Iowa, locating at Burlington. When the Civil War began he assisted in raising Company D, Seventeenth Iowa Volunteers and was commissioned captain. He made an excellent officer, serving in several general engagements with marked ability. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in October, 1862, and upon the resignation of Hillis in 1863 became colonel of the regiment. He commanded it in the Chattanooga campaign and was with Sherman's march and battles through the Gulf States. He was in command of a brigade at Resaca when General Hood's army approached and demanded the surrender of the post. With greatly inferior numbers Wever determined to hold it at all hazards. In reply to Hood's demand, Wever responded: "In my opinion I can hold this post; if you want it, come and take it." The attack began with great fury, but Wever made a brilliant defense until reenforcements relieved the heroic commander and his little garrison. Colonel Wever commanded a brigade through Sherman's great campaign. He was brevetted Brigadier-General in recognition of his brilliant services.
LORING WHEELER was one of the first lawmakers who represented Iowa in a legislative body. He was born in Westmoreland County, New Hampshire, July 16, 1799. His early education was acquired in the common schools. In 1829 he came to Galena, Illinois, and engaged in lead mining. He enlisted in the army raised to prosecute the Black Hawk War and served under General Henry Dodge. After the war he located at Dubuque and was appointed by the Governor of Michigan Territory Chief Justice of Dubuque County, which was then in that jurisdiction. When the Territory of Wisconsin was created Mr. Wheeler was elected a member of the House of the First Legislative Assembly from Dubuque County which then embraced half of the present State of Iowa as well as a portion of Minnesota. He also served as a member of the Second Legislative Assembly of Iowa in 1839-40. In 1841 he removed to De Witt, in Clinton County and, after Iowa became a State Mr. Wheeler was elected to the Senate of the First General Assembly, representing Scott and Clinton counties, where he served four years. He was a Whig in politics until 1856 when he helped to organize the Republican party, with which he was affiliated until his death. He had been a prominent official and citizen of Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa when they were Territories and was an intimate friend of George Catlin the famous historian and portrait painter of notable Indians of those times. Mr. Wheeler's portrait was painted by Gatlin when he was about thirty years of age and that was probably the only portrait of an Iowa man ever painted by that noted artist and author. Mr. Wheeler died at De Witt on the 26th of January, 1889, at nearly ninety years of age.
CHARLES A. WHITE, geologist and author, was born at North Dighton, Massachusetts, January 26, 1826. He came to Iowa in December, 1838, the year Iowa was organized into a Territory, stopping first at Burlington. He received the degree of M. D. From Rush Medical College in 1863 and the degree of A. M. from Iowa College at Grinnell in 1866. He was made State Geologist of Iowa in 1866 by act of Legislature, working in that field until 1869, publishing his report in two columns. He was chosen Professor of Natural History in the State University of Iowa in 1867, serving until 1873, when he was elected to the same position in Bowdoin College where he remained two years, when he received the appointment of Paleontologist to the Geological and Geographical Surveys, in charge of Lieutenant Geo. M. Wheeler. In 1875 he was Geologist and Paleontolgist to the United States Survey of the Territories, in charge of Major J. W. Powell. From 1876 to 1879 he was holding the same position in the Geological Survey of the Territories, under Dr. F. V. Hayden. He served as curator in charge of the Paleontological Collections of the United States National Museum at Washington from 1879 to 1882 and was detailed to act as chief of the Artesian Wells Commission in 1881, under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture. He was Geologist and Paleontologist of the United States Geological Survey 1883 to 1892. In December, 1899, he was elected foreign member of the Geological Society of London. During this period Dr. White published by the Smithsonian Institution a large number of scientific works in his specialties.
FREDERICK E. WHITE was born in Prussia, in 1844. He came to America with his mother in 1857, making his home on a farm in Keokuk County. At the beginning of the War of the Rebellion he enlisted in the Eighth Infantry but was rejected on account of being under eighteen. In February, 1862, he again enlisted, this time in the Thirteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, serving until the close of the war. In 1890 he was nominated by the Democrats of the Sixth District for Representative in Congress and elected over John F. Lacey, Republican. He served but one term, being defeated in 1892 for reelection by his former competitor. He was the Democratic candidate for Governor in 1897 and again in 1899 but was defeated by L. M. Shaw the Republican candidate.
CHARLES E. WHITING was born in Otsego County, New York, on the 17th of January, 1821. He received a liberal education and was reared on a farm. At twenty-two years of age he went to Alabama and became a merchant. In 1850 he joined the gold seekers in a trip to California where he remained until 1853. In 1855 he came to Iowa, locating in Monona County, where he acquired a farm of more than 7,000 acres. He began the planting of trees, raising black walnut from the nuts and was very successful. He also planted other varieties, including fruit trees, doing a large mount of intelligent experimental work in tree culture and giving the results of his labors in this line to the public through the State Horticultural Society and its publications. He was a close observer and contributed a large amount of valuable information for the benefit of Iowa and prairie farmers and western horticulturists. His farm beside being one of the largest in the State, was one of the best managed and was an enduring object lesson to other farmers. He was many times nominated by the Democratic party, of which he was a lifelong member, for public offices. He was one of the early trustees of the State Agricultural College and a valuable member of the board. He was elected to the State Senate in 1883, serving four years. In 1885 he was nominated by his party for Governor but was not elected. Mr. Whiting served six years as one of the Regents of the State University. He died at his home on the 2d of December, 1897. His son, William C. Whiting, was a member of the House of the Twenty-ninth General Assembly.
LEONARD WHITNEY, pioneer clergyman, was born at Waterbury, Vermont, October 23, 1811. The district school and an academy furnished his early education, as he was of adventurous spirit and declined his father's offer of a college course. Later he attended school at Hinesbury, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1835. While visiting a Baptist clergyman, Rev. William Arthur (father of the future President), he began preparing for the ministry and preached at various places. While at Canandaigus, New York, he underwent a change in his religious belief, established a free church and later became a Unitarian. In 1853 he accepted a call to the first Unitarian church in the State of Iowa at Keokuk, where he drew together a remarkable congregation, among whom were Samuel F. Miller, later Judge of the United States Supreme Court and George W. McCrary, afterwards Secretary of War in President Hayes' Cabinet. Mr. Whitney was an outspoken antislavery man from the first and was fearless in the pulpit and on the platform. When the Civil War began he volunteered in the service and was appointed chaplain in the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, of which Rober G. Ingersoll was colonel. Mr. Whitney was untiring in his efforts to alleviate suffering and had great moral influence with the men in his care. After the Battle of Shiloh he overexerted himself in ministering to the wounded and returning to Keokuk, died on the 12th of June, 1862. Judge Miller has said of him: "He was a true man, with a noble intellect and died a martyr to his sense of duty."
ELIAS H. WILLIAMS was born in Ledyard, Connecticut, July 23, 1819. After attending the common schools he prepared for college and graduated at Yale. He came west and during the Black Hawk War was in the military service, being stationed at Fort Atkinson for a time. He removed to Iowa in 1846, locating at Garnavillo, Clayton County. He engaged in farming and the practice of law and became a Republican upon the organization of that party in 1856 always taking a deep interest in public affairs. He served as county judge in Clayton, and in 1858 was elected judge of the Tenth Judicial District, where he served until 1866. In January, 1870, he was appointed by Governor Merrill Judge of the Supreme Court to fill a vacancy. He resigned the position in September of the same year. In addition to managing his farm and practicing law, Judge Williams was largely engaged in the promotion of railroad enterprises. He was influential in securing the building of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad up the shore of the Mississippi River through Clayton County; and also in securing the construction of the road up the valley of the Turkey River. He was at the head of the company that built the Iowa Eastern Railroad to Elkader, and furnished most of the means for its construction. He died on the 20th of August, 1891.
JOSEPH WILLIAMS was born in Huntington, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1801. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and began practice in Hollidaysburg. In 1838, when the Territory of Iowa was created, President Van Buren appointed Joseph Williams one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the Territory. The appointment was secured at the earnest request of Jeremiah S. Black who became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and later Attorney-General and Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Buchanan. At this time Judge Williams was thirty-seven years of age and had never been a prominent lawyer. He was a close observer, possessed an excellent memory and was a popular, if not a learned judge. He served until this Territory was admitted as a State when he was appointed by Governor Briggs Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He was elected by the following General Assembly for a term of six years. In 1857 he was appointed by President Buchanan District Judge of the Territory of Kansas and removed to Fort Scott. During Lincoln's administration he was appointed United States District Judge for Tennessee. he died at Fort Scott in March, 1871. Judge Williams was a younger brother of Major William Williams, founder of the town of Fort Dodge, and commander of the Spirit Lake relief expedition.
J. WILSON WILLIAMS was born in 1816, at Charlotte, Vermont, and was educated for a civil engineer. In 1836 he came to Hancock County, Illinois, and was, for twelve years, county surveyer. When the boundary line was established between Iowa and Missouri, Mr. Williams was one of the engineers employed in that work. In 1850 he located at huron, in Des Moines County, Iowa, which became his permanent home. In 1852 he was elected on the Whig ticket with James W. Grimes as a colleague to represent that county in the House of the Fourth General Assembly and again elected to the Sixth, in 1862, as a Republican and in 1866 was chosen to the same position for the fourth time. In 1874 he was elected to the Senate, serving four years, and again in 1880 was a member of the House, serving fourteen years as a member of the Iowa Legislature. In 1866 he was chosen one of the trustees of the State Agricultural College and served on the building committee during the erection of the main structure and the organization of the college. He died on the 29th of August, 1893.
WILLIAM WILLIAMS was born at Huntington, Pennsylvania, December 6, 1796. He was the eldest son and for many years after the death of his father devoted himself to supporting and educating the younger children. In 1849 he came to Iowa, stopping at Muscatine. In 1850 he joined the expedition sent to establish Fort Dodge on the upper Des Moines River. He was sutler of the post until it was abandoned by the troops when he purchased the ground for a company of which he with Bernhart Henn and others were members. They laid out the town of Fort Dodge and secured the establishment of a United States Land Office there. For many years Major Williams devoted his energies to building up the town he had founded and of which he was the first permanent settler. When the Sioux Indians threatened hostilities in northern Iowa, after the removal of the troops, Major Williams was authorized by Governor Grimes to take such action as was necessary to protect the frontier. Under this authority he organized a little army of three companies immediately after the massacre at the lakes in March, 1857, and marched to the scene of the slaughter. A full account of the sufferings, achievements and heroism of this expedition is given elsewhere. Major Williams was nearly sixty-two years of age when he led this little army on its terrible march. In 1865 he wrote a history of the early settlements in northwestern Iowa, which was published in the North West, then the only newspaper in Fort Dodge. In this he gave to the public a full and authentic account of the Relief Expedition of 1857. He died at Fort Dodge on the 26th of February, 1874. As the founder of Fort Dodge and the commander of the Spirit Lake Expedition. Major Williams will have an enduring place in Iowa history.
WILSON G. WILLIAMS was born in Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York, in 1823. He was educated at Utica and began business for himself in the city of New York where he became an importing merchant. In 1855 he removed to Iowa, locating in Dubuque, where he engaged in the mercantile business for several years. Later he made his home on a farm in Dubuque County where he was living when the Civil War began. He immediately tendered his services to Governor Kirkwood and was commissioned colonel of the Third Iowa Infantry, serving but a short time when he was placed under arrest by order of General Hurlbut. The charges against him were manifestly unjust and he was never brought to trial. He commanded his regiment in the Battle of Shiloh where it made a heroic fight. Colonel Williams was severely wounded and sent in his resignation on the 27th of November, 1862, retiring from the service.
JAMES A. WILLIAMSON was born in Columbia, Adair County, Kentucky, on the 8th of February, 1829. When he was fifteen the family removed to Iowa where he took a claim in Keokuk County. Here he supported the family by farming for several years. He then sold the farm and completed his education at Knox College, Illinois. He studied law with M. M. Crocker at Lancaster, was admitted to the bar and, in 1855, removed to Des Moines. Mr. Williamson was a member of the syndicate which built the first Capitol at Des Moines and furnished it free of rent to the State for many years. He was a prominent Democratic politician until the Rebellion began, when he entered the military service as adjutant of the Fourth Iowa Infantry and as the war progressed became a warm supporter of Lincoln's administration. Mr. Williamson made a fine officer and won rapid promotion to lieutenant-colonel, colonel and for a long time commanded a brigade. He was in Sherman's march to the sea and participated in most of the battles of that army. Near the close of the war he was promoted to Brigadier-General. He was chairman of the Iowa delegation at the National Republican Convention at Chicago which in 1868 nominated General Grant for President. In 1877 General Williamson was appointed commissioner of the General Land Offices at Washington, which office he held until 1881, when he became land commissioner of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, and afterwards president of the company. He died on the 7th of September, 1902.
DAVID S. WILSON was one of the pioneer lawyers and editors of Dubuque. He was born at Steubenville, Ohio, on the 19th of March, 1825. Coming to Dubuque in 1839 he began the study of law with his brother, Judge Thomas S. Wilson. For several years he was editor of the Miners' Express which he conducted with ability. In 1846, when barley twenty-one, he was elected to the House of the Eighth Legislative Assembly. He served as a lieutenant in the Mexican War and was prosecuting attorney two terms. In 1857 he was elected to the Senate of the Seventh General Assembly, serving four years. When the Civil War began Mr. Wilson became a leader of the "war Democrats" and made an able speech against secession. In 1862 he was commissioned colonel of the Sixth Cavalry which was sent against the Sioux Indians then engaged in the Minnesota massacre. In 1864 Colonel Wilson resigned his command and returned to Dubuque, resuming the practice of law.l In 1872 he was appointed circuit judge and soon after district judge, serving until 1878. He died in Dubuque, April 1, 1881.
JAMES WILSON was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, on the 16th of August, 1835, and received an academic education. He came to America in 1851 and took up his residence on a farm in Tama County, Iowa. Mr. Wilson was elected on the Republican ticket in 1867 to the House of the Eleventh General Assembly and served by successive reelections until 1873. He was Speaker of the House in 1872 and was chosen one of the regents of the State University. He was elected to Congress in the fall of 1872, from the Fifth District and reelected at the expiration of his first term. In 1884 he was defeated for Congress by Mr. Frederick the Democratic candidate. Mr. Wilson was for many years a writer on farm topics and was chosen Professor of Agriculture at the State Agricultural College at Ames and Director of the Experimental Station. In 1897, upon the inauguration of President McKinley, Mr. Wilson was invited into his Cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture. He was reappointed to the same position upon the second inauguration of McKinley. His services in that Department have been generally commended by the public as a greater value to the country than those of any of his predecessors.
JAMES F. WILSON was born at Newark, Ohio, October 19, 1828. His education was obtained in the common schools and he learned the trade of harness making in his youth. He soon decided to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1851. In 1853 he became a resident of Iowa, and locating at Fairfield opened a law office. In 1856 he was a delegate to the convention which organized the Republican party. In 1857 he was a member of the convention which framed the present Constitution of the State. Although one of the youngest members he took an active part in the work. In October of that year he was elected to the House of the Seventh General Assembly and was chairman on ways and means. In 1860 he was a member of the State Senate and after serving through a regular and extra session was elected Representative in Congress to fill a vacancy in the First District. He was three times reelected, serving through the war and reconstruction periods until March, 1871. When Grant was inaugurated President in 1869 he tendered Mr. Wilson a place in his cabinet as Secretary of State which was declined. In the impeachment trial of President Johnson, Mr. Wilson was one of the managers on part of the House. He had originally opposed impeachment and as a member of the judiciary committee had made a minority report in which he gave an able review of the most important cases of impeachment in the British Parliament and Senate of the United States. His report forms a valuable treatise on the subject. He was the author of the joint resolution for amendment of the Constitution of the United States in 1864, abolishing slavery, and made one of the greatest speeches of his life on that subject. In January, 1882, Mr. Wilson was elected to the United States Senate for six years and was reelected, serving until March, 1895. Mr. Wilson died at his home in Fairfield in April, 1895.
THOMAS S. WILSON was born at Steubenville, Ohio, October 13, 1813. He graduated at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1832, and immediately entered upon the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1834 and located in Dubuque in October, 1836. In 1838 he was appointed by President Van Buren one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the new Territory of Iowa. He accepted the position and entered upon the duties of the office before he was twenty-five years of age, serving until Iowa became a State. The first Legislature having failed to elect Supreme Judges, he was one of the three appointed by the Governor to fill the vacancy. He lacked but one of being nominated for United States Senator at the time General Jones was chosen. In 1852 he was elected judge of the District Court, holding the position until 1863. He was employed as counsel in one of the most important suits ever tried in Iowa involving millions of dollars. The Chouteau heirs claimed title through the grant to Julien Dubuque of the vast tract of land embracing the lead mines and the city of Dubuque. Reverdy Johnson, one of the greatest lawyers of the country, was employed by the St. Louis heirs to prosecute the claim. The city of Dubuque employed Judge Wilson and Platt Smith to defend in the United States Circuit and Supreme Courts. They were successful in both courts in defeating the claim. While judge of the Territorial Court, Mr. Wilson rendered the first decision liberating a slave brought by his master into Iowa. He died on the 16th of May, 1894, after having served as a lawyer and judge for fifty-eight years. He outlived nearly all of his pioneer associates of 1836.
WALTER C. WILSON was born at Arkwright, Chautauqua County, New York, on the 28th of December, 1824. He came to Iowa in 1854 and with his brother, Sumier, purchased the site of Webster City. A small tract of the land had been platted and given the name of New Castle. The Wilsons changed the name to Webster City and at once proceeded to erect buildings, including a mill and hotel. They improved the roads, bridged the Boone River and set about securing a division of the large county of Webster, which at that time included the territory now embraced in Webster and Hamilton. Walter C. Wilson was elected to the Legislature in 1856 and secured the passage of a bill by the General Assembly, with the aid of the citizens of Fort Dodge, by which the county was divided and Hamilton County established. Homer had been the county-seat but was now left so near the division line that the countyseat of Hamilton was established at Webster City and that of Webster removed to Fort Dodge. For many years the Wilsons devoted their energies to building up Webster City. In 1878 Walter undertook the building of a railroad from Webster City to Lehigh on the Des Moines River for the purpose of developing coal mines. He secured the building and equipment of the road and built up a large coal trade. On the 16th of August, 1900, he was killed in an accident on the this road.
EDWARD F. WINSLOW was born in Kennebee County, Maine, on the 28th of September, 1837. He received a good education and in 1856 removed to Iowa, locating at Mount Pleasant, where he engaged in the mercantile business. When the Rebellion began he recruited a company for the Fourth Iowa Cavalry which was incorporated into the regiment as Company F and Mr. Winslow was commissioned captain. In January, 1863, he was promoted to major and in July following was commissioned colonel. Soon after he was placed in command of a brigade where he rendered good service in the armies of Generals Sherman, Grant, Sturgis and Wilson. In 1864 he was brevetted Brigadier-General.
THOMAS F. WITHROW was born in Kanawha County, West Virginia, on the 6th of March, 1833. His father was a strong opponent of slavery and removed to the free State of Ohio when his son was a boy. Thomas received a good education and at the age of twenty-one became the editor of the Mt. Vernon Republican. In 1855 he removed to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he was one of the editors of the Free Press. He began the study of law and the year following removed to Fort Madison, Iowa, and entered the law office of Miller & Beck and was admitted to the bar in 1857. Governor Lowe selected him for his private secretary in 1858 when he entered upon the duties of the executive office and at the close of his term, when the Governor became one of the Supreme Judges. Mr. Withrow was appointed Reporter of the Supreme Court, a position which he held seven years. During that time he compiled and published thirteen volumes of reports. When he entered upon the practice of his profession, the firm of Withrow, Gatch & Wright was formed which continued until 1872. In 1866, Mr. Withrow was chosen chairman of the Republican State Committee and for several years was one of the influential managers of the party. In 1873 he was appointed general solicitor of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company and removed to Chicago which became his permanent home. For twenty years he held the important position which took him from Iowa, becoming one of the great lawyers of the west. He died suddenly in the zenith of his intellectual powers, on the 3d of February, 1893.
ANNIE T. WITTENMYER, an Iowa woman who won the enduring gratitude of hundreds of soldiers during the Civil War, was born at Sandy Springs, Adams County, Ohio, on the 26th of August, 1827. She developed remarkable gifts for writing, before she was thirteen years of age. Her poetry at that time attracted attention and she became a regular contributor some years later to various publications. She was married in 1847, and three years later came with her husband to Iowa, locating in Keokuk. There were no public schools in the village at that time and Mrs. Wittenmyer opened a free school for children of the poor. With the help of other women this school was maintained for many years, accomplishing great good. When the War of the Rebellion began, she was one of the first to assist in organizing Soldiers' Aid Societies which did so much in relieving the wants of soldiers in the field and hospitals. She visited the army in the field early in 1861 and began to collect and distribute supplies for camps and hospitals. She wrote letters from the army to the newspapers telling the needs of the soldiers and soon had her entire time occupied in receiving and distributing the contributions of the generous people of the State. A record of her work during the war would fill a volume. She was appointed one of the State Sanitary Agents for Iowa and during her administration collected and distributed more than $160,000 worth of sanitary supplies. She was active securing furloughs for sick soldiers in hospitals, thus saving many lives. When she found armies camped in unhealthy localities she managed in numerous cases to exert influence to get the camp removed to a healthier location. She was one of the originators of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home established in Iowa at Davenport for the care and education of dependent children. She projected the Special Diet Kitchens which were established at hospitals, where such special food was prepared for the sick as was recommended by the surgeons in charge. This was the beginning of a great and much needed reform in providing suitable food for sick and wounded soldiers, in the hospitals. The entire supervision of these kitchens was placed under the control of Mrs. Wittenmyer. The reform was warmly indorsed by General Grant and there is no double that hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives of suffering soldiers were saved by this salutary change in food. When this reform was fully organized, more than a million of rations were issued through it each month. In 1892 Mrs. Wittenmyer spent a large portion of the winter in Washington working with Congress to secure pension for army nurses. For more than twenty years these worthy workers for the relief of suffering soldiers had applied in vain for any recognition by the Government for their unselfish devotion in war times and told it so earnestly that a pension of twelve dollars a month was granted the nurses. Mrs. Wittenmyer was largely instrumental in securing the purchase and preservation of the grounds embraced in the Andersonville prison pen. Eighty-five acres have been secured under the control of the Women's Relief Corps, including the "Providential Spring," and the grounds enclosed in the deadly stockade. After a long life almost entirely devoted to good works of a public nature, this noble woman died at her home on the 2d of February, 1900.
WILLIAM P. WOLFE was born at Harrisburg, Stark County, Ohio, on the 31st of December, 1833. He received a liberal education and taught school several years in Ohio. In 1856 he came to Iowa, locating in Cedar County, where he again engaged in teaching. He studied law with Hon. Rush Clark of Iowa City and was admitted to the bar. He was one of the friends of John Brown when that noted emancipator was helping slaves to freedom and making his headquarters at Springdale. Mr. Wolfe removed to Tipton and entered upon the practice of law. He served as county superintendent of schools. In 1863 he was elected on the Republican ticket Representative in the Tenth General Assembly. In May, 1864, he was appointed captain of Company I, of the Forty-sixth Iowa Infantry. At the close of the war he was for a time editor of the Tipton Advertiser. In 1867 he was elected to the State Senate, serving in the Twelfth and Thirteenth General Assemblies. In 1870 he was elected Representative in Congress to fill a vacancy. In 1881 he was again elected Representative in the Legislature and reelected in 1883. He was chosen Speaker of the House of the Twentieth General Assembly. In the fall of 1894 he was chosen judge of the Eighteenth District which position he held at the time of his death, September 19th, 1896.
MARCUS C. WOODRUFF was born at Aurora, Erie County, New York, on the 21st of March, 1831, and received his education in the common schools and at Aurora Academy. In August, 1855, he became a resident of Iowa, first locating at Iowa Falls where he engaged in real estate business. In 1863 he became the editor and proprietor of the Iowa Falls Sentinel which he conducted until 1870, when he removed to Waterloo as editor and joint owner of the Waterloo Courier until 1873. As a journalist, Mr. Woodruff attained high rank, being one of the clearest thinkers as well as one of the ablest and most vigorous writers on the Iowa press. In 1874 he purchased a half interest in the Dubuque Daily Times which gave him an enlarged field for the exercise of his journalistic ability where for nine years he made that paper a great power in northeastern Iowa. During his residence in Hardin County, Mr. Woodruff held many official positions; among which were deputy county treasurer, commissioner to take the vote of the Twelfth Iowa Infantry in front of Vicksburg in 1863; chief clerk of the House of the Twelfth General Assembly in 1868. Upon the creation of the State Railroad Commission in 1878, Mr. Woodruff was appointed to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Ex-Governor Carpenter, and served three years. He was one of the earliest promoters of the Dubuque & Northwestern Railway in 1884, which has become the Chicago Great Western, and has served as secretary and general claim agent of the different organizations. For ten years he has been Land and Tax Commissioner of the Great Western. In politics Mr. Woodruff has been a Republican since the organization of the party and is a firm believer in modifications of the high protective tariff system.
JOSEPH J. WOODS was born in Brown County, Ohio, on the 11th of January, 1823. He took a preparatory course at Augusta College, Kentucky, and entered the Military Academy at West Point in 1843. He graduated third in his class and received a commission as second lieutenant. The Mexican War was then in progress and he was sent with the First United States Artillery to Vera Cruz where he served until August, 1848, when he was promoted to first lieutenant and sent with his regiment to Oregon, where he remained until 1853. He then resigned and became a resident of Jackson County, Iowa, making his home on a farm. In October, 1861, he was appointed colonel of the Twelfth Iowa Infantry, just organized. His regiment served with distinction at Fort Donelson and Shiloh, being captured at the latter place. Eighty members of the regiment died in southern prisons. Colonel Woods was recaptured by the Union army on the second day's battle. He served with his regiment but often in command of a brigade, for three years, until the term of enlistment expired. After the war he was twice appointed by President Grant visitor to West Point Military Academy. He removed to Kansas in 1869, locating on a farm near Oswego, when he died September 17, 1889.
WILLIAM G. WOODWARD was born at Hanover, New Hampshire, May 20, 1808. He was a graduate of Darmouth College and chose law as a profession. In the fall of 1839 he emigrated to the new Territory of Iowa, locating at Bloomington where he entered upon the practice of law. He attained high rank in the profession and in 1848 was one of three commissioners chosen by the Second General Assembly to prepare a complete code of laws for the new State. His associates were Charles Mason and Stephen Hempstead. Their work when completed was approved by the Third General Assembly and Mr. Woodward was selected to prepare marginal notes, arrange it in divisions, index and superintend its publication. When published it was known as the "Code of 1851." In January, 1855, Mr. Woodward was elected by the General Assembly one of the judges of the Supreme Court. He served six years and in 1861 was elected to the State Senate from Muscatine County. In 1863 he was appointed Clerk of the United Stares Circuit Court. He died on the 24th of February, 1871.
JOHN S. WOOLSON was born on the 6th of December, 1840, at Tonawanda, Erie County, New York. He was the son of T. W. Woolson who became a distinguished member of the Iowa State Senate in the Eleventh and Twelfth General Assemblies. Teh son received his education in the public schools, at Wilson Collegiate Institute, New York and at Mount Pleasant Wesleyan College in Iowa, receiving the degree of LL. D. In March, 1862, he received the appointment of assistant paymaster law at Mount Pleasant, was admitted to the bar and at once began practice. *in the navy, serving in that capacity to the close of the war. He studied In 1875 he was elected to the State Senate on the Republican ticket and served in that body by reelections for twelve years, retiring in 1891 when he was appointed by president Harrison Judge of the United States District Court for southern Iowa. He held this position to the time of his death which occurred on the 4th of December, 1899, at his home in Des Moines. He was a lifelong Republican and a citizen and public official of the highest character.
*The above bio was typed as is in the book.
ED WRIGHT was born in Salem, Ohio, June 27, 1827. His education was acquired in the public schools and academies and he became a teacher and a carpenter. In 1852 he removed to Iowa, locating in Cedar County. In 1856 he was elected to the House of the Sixth General Assembly, was reelected in 1857 and again in 1859, serving six years. In 1862 he was appointed major of the Twenty-fourth Iowa Infantry and served through the war. He was a brave, vigilant and popular officer and was brevetted Brigadier-General. In 1865 he was again elected to the Legislature and chosen Speaker of the House. In 1866 he was elected Secretary of State and twice reelected, serving six years. In 1873 he was chosen secretary of the Board of Capitol Commissioners and assistant superintendent of the construction of the State House. He held these positions until the work was completed in 1884 when he was appointed custodian of the new edifice. He held this office until 1890 when he was placed in charge of the Capital grounds. At the World's Columbian Exposition General Wright conducted a directory for furnishing information to visitors from Iowa. In 1895 he was appointed a member of the board of public works for the city of Des Moines which position he held at the time of his death. Iowa never had a more useful and conscientious public officer than General Ed. Wright. When his death occurred on the 5th of December, 1895, his body lay in state at the Capitol where thousands of citizens paid their respects to the man who served the State so well for nearly half a century.
GEORGE F. WRIGHT was born in Warren, Vermont, December 5, 1833. He was reared on a farm, and when eighteen years of age attended West Randolph Academy. He came to Iowa in 1855, locating at Keosauqua where he began the study of law in the office of Judge George G. Wright, and was admitted to the bar in 1857. At the beginning of the Civil War he helped to raise a military company of which he was chosen first lieutenant. Later at the request of Governor Kirkwood Lieutenant Wright organized a company of State militia of which he was commissioned captain. In 1868 Mr. Wright removed to Council Bluffs where he became a law partner with Judge Caleb Baldwin; the firm ranked high and became attorneys for several railroads. In 1875 Mr. Wright was elected to the State Senate from the district consisting of the counties of Mills and Pottawattamie, serving in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth General Assemblies. In 1879 Mr. Wright was appointed by Judge Dillon United States Commissioner, and later held the same position under Judge Woolson for the Southern District of Iowa. In 1896 he was chosen vice-president for Iowa of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition at Omaha. Mr. Wright was one of the organizers of the company which built the bridge across the Missouri River between Council Bluffs and Omaha.
GEORGE G. WRIGHT was born in Bloomington, Indiana, March 24, 1820. He graduated at the State University and studied law with his older brother, Joseph A., who became a distinguished statesman. In 1840 George G. came to Iowa Territory, locating at Keosauqua where he began to practice his profession. In 1846 he was chosen Prosecuting Attorney and in 1848 was elected to the State Senate for a term of four years. He was nominated for Representative in Congress for the First District by the Whigs in 1850 but was defeated by a small majority. In 1855 he became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and remained on the bench for fifteen years. In 1870 he was chosen United States Senator, serving six years. Mr. Wright removed to Des Moines in 1865 and was for many years president of the State Agricultural Society. In company with Judge Cole he established the Iowa Law School which after some years was removed to Iowa City and became the Law Department of the State University. Judge Wright continued to be ne of the lecturers before the Law Department of the University as long as he lived. After retiring from law practice and public life, Judge Wright was for many years one of the directors of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company. He was one of the organizers and president of the Security Loan and Trust Company and of the Polk County Savings Bank. In 1892 he was elected president of the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association, a position he held at the time of his death, January 11, 1896. It was as a judge of the Supreme Court that he won enduring fame. His term of service embraced a period of important changes in fundamental judicial systems of the State and his opinions extend through thirty volumes of the State reports. Judge John F. Dillon, who was long associated with him on the bench wrote as follows of his ability and services"
"Of his learning as a lawyer and merits as a judge, no difference of opinion, so far as I know, ever existed among the bar and the people of Iowa. The verdict of the bar on this subject is that, take him all in all, he had no equal among the State's Chief Justices or Judges in her judicial history. Some may have had in special and exceptional lines superior gifts, or superior learning, but take him all in all he easily stands conspicuous and foremost. He was a living digest of the legislation and decisions of the State. He carried in his memory every important case that had ever been decided, and thus kept the lines of judicial decisions consistent. As a presiding officer he was without an equal. He had remarkable executive ability. He presided with dignity, maintained the utmost decorum in his court, and yet no member of the bar, I believe, ever felt that he was oppressive or that he in any way encroached upon their legitimate rights or privileges. He had almost in perfection what I may call the judicial temperament. He showed absolute impartiality, had great patience of research and above all a level headed judgment and strong, sure footed common sense.
Combining these merits and qualities with ample learning in his profession, it is no marvel that the bar of Iowa hold him and his memory in such deserved honor."