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Politicians

Buried in Oakland Cemetery


Jonathan Prentiss Dolliver (1858-1910)

He was the uncle of James Isaac Dolliver and cousin of William Gay Brown. Mr. Dolliver born in Virginia. He was US representative representing Iowa during the years 1889-1900 and US Senator from Iowa, 1900-1910. 


James Isaac Dolliver (1894-1978)

The nephew of Jonathan Pentiss Dolliver. James rose to a prominent political position himself. He was born in Illinois. He was US representative from Iowa, during the years 1945-1957. 


Cyrus Clay Carpenter (1829-1898)

Mr.Carpenter was born near Harford, Pennsylvania on November 24, 1829. He was a soldier as well as a politician. Cyrus was a member of the Iowa State House of Representatives in 1858. He served as a colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war he became Governor of Iowa from 1872-1876 and then served as a US Representative from Iowa for the years spanning 1879-1883. 


William Squire Kenyon (1869-1933)

Born in Elyria, Ohio on June 10, 1869. He was a State Court Judge during the year 1900. Later he was elected US Senator representing Iowa from 1911-1922. He returned to the bench in 1922 as a Federal Judge. 


Reverend John Johns

John Johns was (in my opinion) the most colorful politician to rise to his own "form of power" from Webster County, Ia.

The good Reverend was born in Kentucky, at the turn of the nineteenth century, in 1801.

He left Kentucky and migrated first to Ohio and then moved on to Indiana. He longed for life in the wilderness which kept pushing him westward. Johns arrived in Iowa around 1850. He was the first white man to cultivate in Webster County on the west side of the Des Moines River, one mile north of Lehigh, Iowa. In the 1856 State Census his years in Iowa is stated as seven, and in 1856 he was 53 years of age. He brought with him, his wife Rachel and daughters Maryann, Tabitha and Lucinda.

He was a commanding sight to behold if you came across him for the first time in the woods. He measured over six foot tall, weighed 225 pounds, and sported a heavily bearded face. His attire was the standard for a man of the forests, coonskin cap and deer skin clothes. He proudly wore this attire, no matter the occasion. He hunted and trapped during the day. Was a preacher and the area Justice of the Peace.

He attended the Republican State Convention, and ridiculed by his peers for his attire. He quickly gain the respect of the convention with his brilliant and "from the pulpit" oratory. He was selected as Delegate-at-Large to the National Convention.

John Johns walked most of the way to Chicago to attend the convention. The man the convention nominated as their candidate for president, was a lawyer from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln. 

Johns believed slavery was an immoral and an unforgivable trespass against a fellow human being and became an avid abolitionist.

In July of 1860, The Reverend John Johns held a revival meeting, one mile east of the river in a heavily wooded tract. He advised all who planned to attend to bring their tents and provisions.

He was layed to rest in 1865. Johns was buried at the Border Plains Cemetery, west of Duncombe.

Copyright 1998, Kandus Barland


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