Iowa
History Project
_____________________________________
Gue, Benjamin F. History of Iowa Vol. IV; New York City: 1903
JOHN A. NASH, a minister and educator, was born in Chenango County, New York, July 12, 1816. He was reared on a farm in Otsego County, and at the age of twenty entered the preparatory department of Madison University graduating from the Theological Seminary in 1844. His first pastorate was Watertown, N. Y. Coming to Iowa in 1851 he located at Des Moines which was henceforth his home. He immediately organized a Baptist church and was its pastor for eighteen years, teaching at the same time. In 1853 he opened a select school which soon grew into Forest Home Seminary. It was resolved to establish a Baptist institution at the Capital and in 1865 the University of Des Moines was the result. In August, 1872, Mr. Nash became acting president and soon after president, which position he held until 1883. Dr. Nash accomplished a great religious as well as educational work, founding two Baptist churches in Des Moines and nearly thirty others throughout central Iowa. He was an untiring worker in the temperance reform, canvassing the central portion of the State for the prohibitory liquor law. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by the University of Chicago in 1877. He died at his home in Des Moines in 1890.
JOHN R. NEEDHAM was born on the 18th of December, 1824, in Washington, Ohio. He received a good education, studied law and was admitted to the bar at Cambridge, Ohio. In 1849 he came to Iowa, taking up his residence in Mahaska County, where he first engaged in teaching. On the 2d of July, 1850, Mr. Needham and Mr. McNeeley issued the first newspaper ever published in that county under the name of the Iowa Herald. The name was afterwards changed to the Oskaloosa Herald. In 1852 Mr. Needham was nominated by the Whigs for State Senator and elected, serving four years as one of the most influential members of that body. In 1857 he was nominated by the Republicans for member of the convention to frame a new Constitution but declined the position. In 1861 he was elected on the Republican ticket Lieutenant-Governor of the State and was an able and popular President of the Senate. In 1867 he was again elected to the State Senate for four years but died on the 9th of July, 1868. He was a life-long member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
C. C. NESTLERODE, pioneer educator, was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, March 27, 1824, where his early education was acquired. He taught school several years in Ohio, and while visiting at Galena, Illinois, in December, 1854, learned that a meeting of the State Teachers' Association of Iowa was soon to be held at Iowa City. He walked the entire distance to be present at that gathering of the teachers of Iowa, and was so deeply interested in the enthusiasm of the pioneer teachers of the new State that he resolved to remain in Iowa. In 1856 he was chosen principal of the Union School of Tipton in Cedar County, the first school of the kind established in the State. He was an enthusiastic advocate of the free school system and in connection with George B. Dennison of Muscatine succeeded in inducing the Iowa Legislature to abolish the rate bills and provide by tax for the support of the public schools. Mr. Nestlerode held one of the first teachers' institutes at Tipton, in 1856; and served as president of the State Teachers' Association in 1857-8 and again in 1862. In 1858 he was chosen by the State Association, Institute lecturer for the State and public school worker, representing the Association before the State Board of Education. During that year of educational labor, Mr. Nestlerode held twelve institutes, attended the sessions of the State Board of Education for twenty days, traveled 3,700 miles, much of the way on foot, and delivered seven hundred twelve free school talks. he died at Fostoria, Ohio, December 29, 1900.
JOSHUA G. NEWBOLD, ninth Governor of Iowa, was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of May, 1830. He was reared on a farm, attended the public schools and a few terms at an academy. He taught school several winters, assisting his father on the farm during the summer. When nineteen he began the study of medicine but never became a practicing physician. In 1854 he came to Iowa and engaged in farming in Henry County. When the Civil War began Mr. Newbold raised a company which was attached to the Twenty-fifth Volunteer Infantry and he was commissioned captain. He served three years, a portion of the time as Judge Advocate at Woodville, Alabama. He participated in the battles of Arkansas Post, Lookout mountain and Sherman's Atlanta campaign. After his return to Henry County, Captain Newbold was elected on the Republican ticket Representative in the House of the Thirteenth General Assembly and was twice reelected, serving six years. At the Republican State Convention which nominated Kirkwood for a third term as Governor, Captain Newbold was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor and elected. Upon the resignation of Kirkwood to accept the position of United States Senator, Newbold became Governor on the first of February, 1877. He made a good executive but was defeated for nomination for a full term in the Republican State Convention by John H. Gear.
JOHN W. NOBLE was born at Lancaster, Ohio, October 26, 1831. He attended the common schools of Cincinnati, afterwards taking a course at Miami University and Yale College. He studied law with Henry Stansbery, afterwards Attorney-General of the United States, was admitted to the bar in 1855 and removed to St. Louis, where he entered upon the practice of law. In 1856 he removed to Iowa, locating at Keokuk, where he entered into partnership with Ralph P. Lowe, afterwards Governor of the State. Here he meet at the bar in legal conflicts Samuel F. Miller, George W. McCrary and John F. Dillon, who attained the highest rank in the profession. When the Civil War began, Mr. Noble was one of the first to take up arms for the Union, taking part in the Battle of Athens on the Iowa border. He enlisted in the Third Iowa Cavalry and was soon appointed adjutant of the regiment. Mr. Noble rose steadily in rank from lieutenant to colonel, and was brevetted Brigadier-General for distinguished services in the field. He participated in the Battle of Pea Ridge, the siege of Vicksburg and the second Battle of Jackson. Colonel Noble served as Judge Advocate of the Army of the Southwest, and as Judge Advocate of the Department of Missouri. Returning to Keokuk at the close of the war he found his practice taken by others and removed to St. Louis where he was appointed United States District Attorney. He was offered the office of Solicitor-General by President Grant but preferred to continue in practice at St. Louis where he attained high rank in his profession, winning some of the most important cases in that section of the country. In 1889 he was appointed Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of President Harrison. In this important department of the Government, General Noble won new honors by the ability he brought to the public service. He is entitled to the credit of having reserved great bodies of forest lands in the far west embracing the source of many streams which furnish water for irrigation of arid lands.
REUBEN NOBLE was born on the 14th of April, 1821, in Adams County, Mississippi, where his father was a planter. The father was opposed to human slavery and in 1833 removed to Illinois to rear his family in a free State. When the son was eighteen years of age he began to study law and was admitted to the bar at twenty-one. In 1843 he came to Iowa, making his home at Garnavillo, in Clayton County. In 1854 he was elected as a free soil Whig to the Legislature and upon the organization of the House was chosen Speaker, serving in the regular and extra sessions of 1854-5-6. At the first Republican Stare Convention of 1856 Reuben Noble was placed at the head of the ticket for presidential elector. Four years later he was a delegate to the National Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President. Up to the time of the attempt of the Republicans to remove President Johnson by impeachment, Mr. Noble had been a prominent leader of that party. But approving of the policy of the President he left the Republicans and from that time became a Democrat. In 1866 he was nominated by the Democrats for Representative in Congress, but was defeated by William B. Allison. In 1870 he was the democratic candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court but was defeated by Judge Day. In 1874 he was elected judge of the District Court and in 1878 was reelected. In 1879 he was again the Democratic candidate for Supreme Judge, but was again defeated. In 1886 he was one of the organizers of the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association and was its first president, never missing a session during the remainder of his life. Judge Noble was the leader of the bar of northeastern Iowa from 1850 to the time of his death which occurred August 8, 1896.
ADA E. NORTH was the daughter of Rev. Milo N. Miles, a Congregational minister, long and favorably known at Iowa City and Des Moines. In the fall of 1865 she was married to Major George J. North, Governor Stone's military secretary, during the latter part of the Civil War. In 1870 Major North died and his widow was left with two children to support. She procured temporary clerical work towards the close of the session of the Legislature and was one of the first women employed as a clerk in the State House. After serving a year as a clerk in various offices at the Capital, a vacancy occurred in the office of State Librarian, by the death of John C. Merrill and Governor Merrill appointed Mrs. North to that position. She was one of the first women to hold a State office in the United Stares and many eyes anxiously watched her administration, to see whether a women would prove competent for the position. Up to that time but little attention had been given to building up a creditable State Library. The appropriations had been small and the library was in its infancy. Mrs. North presecuted the work of her new position with zeal and enthusiasm, realizing that a woman was on trial for competency in the administration of the duties of a State office. She soon secured the attention and earnest cooperation of the Governor, Judge Cole and General Ed. Wright who was then Secretary of State. A bill was carefully prepared, at her suggestion, revising the laws relating to the State Library, which was passed by the Fourteenth General Assembly. This act provided for a board of trustees, consisting of the Governor, Secretary of State, Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Judges of the Supreme Court. Librarian was made a State officer, with a salary of $1,200 a year. Mrs. North planned the upbuilding of a library worthy of the State. She was retained in office by reappointments for nearly eight years, systematizing, enlarging and laying the foundation for a great library. In all of her valuable work she had the earnest cooperation of the trustees and with their help did a work that will live as a substantial monument to the ability and efficiency of the first woman who held a State office in Iowa, if not in the United States. After retiring from her position, in 1879, she was appointed librarian of the State University at Iowa City where she served with marked ability for thirteen years. She died at her home in Des Moines, on the 9th of January, 1899.
CHARLES C. NOURSE, one of the earliest of the pioneers of Iowa, was born October 12, 1804. He took up his residence in Dubuque in 1833 before the "Black Hawk Purchase" was incorporated into Michigan Territory. In 1836, when it was a part of Wisconsin Territory, and there was but two organized counties west of the Mississippi River, Mr. Nowlin was chosen one of the Representatives from Dubuque County to the Legislative Assembly which which met at Belmont in October of that year. When the Territory of Iowa was created in 1838, Mr. Nowlin was again elected to its First Legislative Assembly which convened in Burlington in November. He thus participated in the framing and enactment of the first laws extended over Iowa citizens. He died at Waterloo in 1892.
HARDIN NOWLIN was born at Sharpsburg, Maryland, April 1, 1829. He received a liberal education and when quite young began the study of law. He graduated from the Law Department of the Transylvania University of Kentucky in 1850 and the following year removed to Iowa, making his home at Keosauqua. In 1852 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney and in 1854 chief clerk of the House of the Fifth General Assembly at Iowa City. In 1856 he was Secretary of the Senate. He was a delegate to the State Convention of that year which organized the Republican party of Iowa and served as one of the secretaries. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago which nominated Abraham Lincoln. At the State Convention the same year he was nominated for Attorney-General of Iowa and elected, serving four years. In 1865 Mr. Nourse was appointed Judge of the Fifth District. In 1876 he was selected by the Governor to deliver an address for Iowa at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia. It was a masterly oration showing the wonderful progress and development of the new State, and 20,000 copies were published for general circulation. Judge Nourse has long ranked among the ablest lawyers of the State and has been one of the most prominent leaders of temperance and prohibition.
MAURICE D. O'CONNELL has, for more than than thirty years, been one of the foremost lawyers in northern Iowa. He was born in Franklin County, New York, on the 23d of April, 1839. His education was acquired at the public schools and Franklin Academy, Malone. For several years he taught school in the counties of Franklin, St. Lawrence and Clinton. He entered upon the study of law in the office of George E. Clark of Plattsburg and took the law course in Columbian University at Washington, D. C., graduating in the class of 1866. He received the appointment of chief of a division in the department of the Comptroller of the Currency, serving two years. In September, 1869, he went west, locating at Fort Dodge, Iowa, then a village of a few hundred inhabitants. He was young, full of courage and enthusiasm and from the start won his way to a good practice. He was an active Republican in those exciting years of reconstruction and one of the most eloquent public speakers in northwest Iowa. In 1871 he was nominated by the Republicans for a seat in the Legislature; the county was very close politically and John F. Duncombe was the Democratic candidate. He was one of the earliest settlers of Fort Dodge, knew every voter in the district personally, was an able man and lawyer and received enough Republican votes to give him a small majority. In 1874 Mr. O'Connell was chosen District Attorney for the Eleventh Judicial District, serving four years. In 1881 he was appointed United States District Attorney for Iowa, holding the position until Cleveland became President, when he resigned. After the election of President Harrison, Mr. O'Connell was again appointed to his former position. On the 6th of July, 1897, he received the appointment by President McKinley of Solicitor of the Treasury Department of the United States. Twenty-eight years before, the unknown young lawyer left the Capital, having little besides his profession to rely upon; now he returned at the call of the President to assume one of the most responsible places in the Treasury Department, in the direct line of the profession to which he had closely adhered through all of the intervening years.
HENRY O'CONNOR was born in the City of Dublin, Ireland, July 26, 1820. When old enough to leave home he was sent to Tullow where he received private instruction from the monks who kept a free school. He finally emigrated to America, going to Cincinnati, where he began the study of law when about twenty-six years of age and took six moths' instruction in a law school, working at his trade to support himself. In 1849 he was admitted to the bar and came to Iowa, locating at Muscatine, where he opened a law office. He united with the free soil movement in 1854, supporting James W. Grimes for Governor. In 1856 he was a delegate to the State Convention which organized the Republican party in Iowa and made a speech on the evening of the ratification meeting which for impassioned eloquence has seldom been equalled. It place him in the front rank of Republican orators. In 1857 Mr. O'Connor was chosen District Attorney in the Seventh District. When the War of the Rebellion began in 1861, Mr. O'Connor enlisted as a private in the First Iowa Regiment and fought bravely until his term of service expired. In 1862 he was commissioned major of the Thirty-fifth Regiment. In 1867 he was elected Attorney-General of Iowa, serving by reelections until 1872. While holding this position, a young woman was elected to the office of superintendent of schools in Mitchell County. Her eligibility to the office was questioned and submitted to the Attorney-General. He decided that a woman was eligible to hold office-the first decision in the United Stares upon that subject. In 1872 Mr. O'Connor was appointed by President Grant Solicitor of the Department of State and served in that important position under four secretaries-Hamilton, Fish, Wm. M. Evarts, F. T. Frelinghuysen and James G. Blaine, a period of nearly fourteen years. In 1872 he was warmly supported for Governor before the Republican State Convention but the nomination went to C. C. Carpenter. Major O'Connor died at the Soldiers' Home, November 6, 1900.
ADDISON OLIVER was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1834, and received a classical education, graduating at Washington College in 1850. He taught two years in Arkansas, returning to Pennsylvania and studied law, was admitted to the bar and removed to Iowa in 1857, taking up his residence at Onawa, in Monona County, where he began practice. Mr. Oliver was elected to the House of the Tenth General Assembly in 1863 to represent the district composed of the counties of Carroll, Crawford, Monona and Sac. He became a prominent member and at the close of his term was elected to the Senate for the Forty-fifth District composed of fifteen counties in the northwestern part of the State and served four years. He was then chosen circuit judge and twice reelected. In 1874 he was elected to Congress from the Sixth District, serving four years. Mr. Oliver became one of the most extensive farmers in western Iowa after retiring from public life.
JACKSON ORR was born in Fayette County, Ohio, September 21, 1832. He was reared on a farm and by his own labor earned the means to pay his way in the University. After attending the public schools in boyhood, he attended the University of Indiana. In 1857 he came to Iowa, locating in Greene County. He studied law and was admitted to the bar. At the beginning of the War of the Rebellion he raised a company of which he was chosen captain. This company was incorporated into the Tenth Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry. Captain Orr was a gallant soldier and rendered distinguished service at the Battles of New Madrid, Island No. 10, Corinth, Iuka, second Battle of Corinth and in the Vicksburg campaign. He was strongly recommended for colonel of the Thirty-ninth Regiment but lacking the help of influential friends at headquarter, was not promoted to the position which he had nobly earned. After the close of the war he removed to Boone and engaged in mercantile business. In the fall of 1867 he was nominated in the Sixth District for Congress and was elected by a majority of more than 11,000. He secured the passage of a bill through the House of Representatives granting indemnity to the River Land Settlers for the loss of their homes but the bill failed in the Senate. He was reelected at the close of his first term, serving four years. Captain Orr removed to Colorado where he held several important public positions.
HERBERT OSBORNE was born at La Fayette, Walworth County, Wisconsin, on the 19th of March, 1856. In June, 1863, the family removed to Fairfax, Iowa, where Herbert attended the district school. He entered the State Agricultural College and graduated; then taught in the country schools from 1875 to 1878. In 1879 he was appointed assistant Professor of Zoology and Entomology at the Agricultural College and was soon promoted to a full professorship and retained the position until 1898. He was the entomologist during this period for the Experimental Station and attained high rank among the entomologists of the nation. Professor Osborne was a frequent contributor to the scientific journals of the country and was the special agent of the Division of Entomology in the Department of Agriculture at Washington. He prepared numerous bulletins on injurious insects for the Department-one on the Hessian fly and others on insects affecting domestic animals-all of which were published in the Department Reports. While Professor at Ames, Mr. Osborne was given leave of absence for a year to accept an appointment to a table in the Biological Station at Naples. He assisted in drafting the bill which became a law providing for a State Entomologist in Iowa and organized the work in that department. He was one of the organizers and always an active member of the Iowa Academy of Sciences and its secretary and treasurer from 1891 to 1898 when he received the appointment of Professor of Entomology in the State University of Ohio and greatly to the regret of the people of Iowa, accepted the position and removed from the State to which he had for many years given valuable service. Long before leaving Iowa Professor Osborne had won a national reputation in the line of his work and was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the Biological Society of Washington, D. C.
________________________________________