Lafayette Young was born in Monroe County in 1848. He became noted as a man of extraordinary talents. He learned the printer's trade and mastered its every detail. He engaged in newspaper work and in that field as editor and writer, attained great prominence. He was regarded as one of the most graceful and pungent writers of his time, and his editorials were frequently reproduced in other newspapers. He early went to Atlantic in Cass County, where he established a newspaper called the "Telegraph." In 1873 he was elected State Senator, representing the Counties of Adair, Cass, Adams and Union. In 1877 he was re-elected, and again in 1885, serving in all twelve years in the Senate.

In 1890 he became proprietor of the "Iowa Capital," published at Des Moines, and under his editorial management it became one of the most widely known newspaper in the country, and one of the most powerful organs of the Republican Party. He was not only an editor of ability, but an eloquent orator, and may be properly termed a highly gifted man. General W. L. Alexander told me, in a conversation I had with him the other day in reference to Lafayette Young, that he was one of the most finished and eloquent speakers he ever heard. A specimen of Mr. Young in that behalf will be found in connection with the sketch of Charles Adrich. In 1893 he was a prominent candidate before the Republican State Convention for Go ernor, and from 1894 to 1900 he held the office of State Binder. During the Spanish-American War he went with our army to the field as War Correspondent, and furnished strikingly graphic reports of the military operations."

Duane F. Gaylord.

Duane F. Gaylord came to Ottumwa the same year that the State was admitted into the Union, 1846. He at once took an active part in public affairs. In 1849 he was elected Sheriff of the County, succeeding Joseph Hayne in that office. Upon the organization of the City of Ottumwa, under its special charter in 1857, he became its first Mayor. The following official role of the officers then elected will carry some historic interest:

Duane F. Gaylord, Mayor; James D. Devin, Record; S. W. Summers, solicitor; Erastus Washburn, Treasurer; Hosea B. Jones, Assessor; John A. Newman, Marshal; S. W. Hartwell, Engineer.

Mr. Gaylord did not enter upon the study of law until in middle life. He was admitted to the bar of Wapello County, and in 1857 or 1858 entered into legal partnership with John A. Johnson under the firm name of Johnson & Gaylord. In the early sixties he removed to Cass County, where he remained until his death. He was a Democrat in politics and effective, as well as active. He was an excellent man of unquestioned integrity, and a valuable factor in the early history of Ottumwa and Wapello County. He was a native of Connecticut, and the first emigrant from that State to Ottumwa; George Dresser, who lived out beyond where the Judge Burton residence now stands, was the second, and myself the third. We three were, I think, the only Connecticut men in the County for several years.

Lewis W. Ross.

Lewis W. Ross, I was acquainted with through the course of many years, and by the way, it should be remembered that in these recollections I am, for the most part, writing of those only with whom I was more or less personally acquainted. We were fellow members of the State Senate in 1866--the Eleventh General Assembly. We had five conspicuously tallSenators in that body, of whom he was one. He was, I should say, upwards of six feet in height, and of a commanding and noble appearance. He was one of the strongest men of that Senate. He was highly educated, a graduate of Miami University. As a lawyer he was deeply learned. He exercised great influence in shaping the important legislation of that session, and was regarded as authority upon legal questions. In his life and character he was an exemplar. His majestic person, his high and massive forehead, his mild and beneficent face were in perfect harmony with his nature. He served in the Senate of the Tenth as well as that of the Eleventh General Assemblies, and left a lasting impress upon some of the legislation of that period.

He was born in Butler County, Ohio, in 1827, and came to Iowa in 1856, first settling in Cass County, and removing to Council Bluffs in 1861. He was elected State Senator in 1863. His district embraced the counties of Freemont, Mills, Cass, and Pottawattamie. In 1864 he was elected a Trustee of the State University, and re-elected to that position in 1868. In 1874 he was made a member of the Board of Regents of the State University, and served in that capacity for six years. In 1881 he was appointed Chancellor of the Law Department of the State University. In all of these positions he displayed extraordinary ability and fitness.

He was not only a profound and successful lawyer, but a legal writer of ability. He was the author of "An Outline of Common Law and Code Pleading," and "An Outline of the Law of Real Property." He took a deep interest in all matters pertaining to the history of the State. Iowa has produced but few more useful men that [sic than] Lewis W. Ross. He died at his home in Council Bluffs in 1902.