Iowa
Old Press
Jackson Sentinel
Maquoketa, Jackson co. Iowa
February 13, 1879
Hon. Maturin L. Fisher, father of Mrs. L. M. Fisher, of
Maquoketa, died at his home in Farmersburg, Clayton County, on
Wednesday, and was buried today. Mr. Fisher had been ill for
several weeks. He leaves two children. The deceased was one of
the pioneers of Clayton County and northern Iowa. From 1840 to
1860 he was one of the most prominent men in the State, and
served terms in the General Assembly, and filled other positions
of trust and honor. He ever had been an earnest friend of popular
education: in 1858 he was elected State Superintendent of Public
Instruction, and was the last Democratic State official elected
in Iowa. Since the commencement of the Insane asylum at
Independence, he has been one of the Commissioners of that
institution. The Dubuque Herald says, “He was a man
of broad and liberal views, which with his scholarly attainments,
made him a man to be admired and looked up to by the great masses
of people, his private library is said to have been the largest
and choicest of any in the State. His death was not unlooked for,
he having passed the allotted period of life, and for the last
two or three years he had become quite feeble physically.”
– Davenport Democrat.
[transcribed by K.W., May 2011]