Henry Clay Traverse

Henry Clay Traverse, ex-District Judge, residing at Bloomfield, was born in White county, Illinois, near Graysville, August 28, 1839. He was a son of Charles Traverse and Sarah, nee Forrest, natives of Kentucky. His paternal grandfather was a native of Virginia, to which State his first American ancestors emigrated from old Ireland. Charles Traverse was an early settler of White county, Illinois, was a farmer by occupation, and died in 1843; but his wife still survives, being now in her eighty-seventh year.

In 1846, after the death of the father, the mother removed with her family to Iowa, first locating in Monroe county, where young Henry attended the common school and at length the high school. Going to Keokuk he learned there the printer's trade, after which he taught school for a time. Then he began the study of law in that city, under the preceptorship of Hon. George W. McCrary, who, under President Hayes' administration was Secretary of War. Mr. Traverse was admitted to the bar in 1862, at Bloomfield; but, the clouds of war becoming more frightful, he enlisted in Company F, Thirtieth Iowa Infantry. The regiment, commanded by Colonel Abbott, was attached to the Fifteenth Army Corps, then commanded by General Sherman and afterward by General John A. Logan. This regiment participated in a number of important battles, as Haynes Bluff, Arkansas Post, etc., and all through the siege of Vicksburg, the battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, etc. After three years of faithful service he was discharged, having been promoted to the rank of Orderly Sergeant.

Returning to Bloomfield, he in the next year (1866) opened out in law practice, for which his mental capabilities so well qualified him, and he correspondingly earned for himself a fine reputation as a conscientious and painstaking lawyer.

In his political principles he is a Republican. In 1868 and also in 1870 he was elected State Senator, and in 1880 and returned to the State Senate. In this body he exhibited a conscientious faithfulness to duty rarely witnessed. In 1881 he was elected Judge of the Second Judicial District of Iowa, and by successive re-elections he held that responsible office for fourteen years. Retiring from the bench he resumed his law practice, forming a partnership with H. C. Taylor, thereby establishing the firm of Traverse & Taylor, which still continues. This is of course a strong law firm, having a good patronage. The Judge's law library is very extensive and well selected.

Judge Traverse owns a good farm of 220 acres, well improved; and he is also the proprietor of the Traverse block in Bloomfield, a fine two-story structure, which he built in 1893.

In the year 1870 Judge Traverse was married to Miss Ellen Presson, of Bloomfield, a daughter of Bradford Presson, formerly of Massachusetts. The Judge has a son and a daughter: Frank C., a court reporter, residing in Bloomfield; and Belle. The Judge is a member of Elisha Townsend Post, G. A.R.