For
Muscatine County Iowa
1879
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1879 | |
Here is what the abbreviations in the bios stand for: far: farm; Co.: company or county; dir: dealer; IVA: Iowa Volunteer Artillery; IVC: Iowa Volunteer Cavalry; IVI: Iowa Volunteer Infantry; P.O.: Post Office; S. or Sec.: section; and st.: street.
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Biographical Section, 1879, page 598
DAVID C. CLOUD, attorney and counselor at law, Muscatine; is a native of Champaign, Ohio; born Jan. 22, 1817; he is the fourth child of a family of fourteen children, ten still living; David C. lived on his father's farm until 16 years of age, when he was apprenticed to learn the bookbinder's trade; after six months he gave it up, and was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, where he served the regular time; shortly after this, in 1839, he removed to Muscatine, Iowa, where he has since resided; after working at his trade for two years, he decided to study law, and all of his energies were directed toward this result; he procured the necessary books and pursued his studies for five years, while working at his trade, when, after a strict examination, he was admitted to the bar in 1845, and engaged in the practice of his profession; during 1851 and 1852, he held the position of Prosecuting Attorney for Muscatine Co., and was afterward elected the first Attorney General of the State of Iowa, on the Democratic ticket; he held this office for four years; he was elected to the State Legislature and served during the winter of 1856-57; since then he has devoted himself exclusively to his profession and to literature; he is the author of the law on the Iowa statute books, which makes railroad corporations liable for all deaths caused or damage done by them in the prosecution of their business, and he has, during his career as a lawyer, tried over two hundred cases against railroads, and has recovered more damages against railroad corporations than perhaps any attorney in the Northwest. In politics, he was raised a Democrat; he was a member of the convention that nominated Lincoln to the Presidency, and during the war he was a stanch supporter of the Government; during the progress of the war, he wrote a book, entitled "The War Powers of the President", taking strong ground in favor of the administration; in 1874, he published his work entitled "Monopolies and the People", which had a circulation of over ten thousand copies, and it received high commendation from the press throughout the country. In 1839, he married Miss Annetta Dibble, of Columbus, Ohio, who died in 1846; in 1848, he married Mrs. Miranda H. Morrow, widow of the late Dr. James G. Morrow, of Muscatine, and the daughter of William R. Olds, Esq., of Bennington, Vt., by whom he has two children--a son and a daughter; his son, George W., is associated with him in the practice of law; the daughter, Annie, is unmarried.
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