Henry C. Traverse
was, for fourteen years, on the bench of my District. I tried many cases before
him. He was a fair and excellent judge; a good listener, patient of
investigation, and painstaking in all the duties pertaining to his office. His
length of service and his repeated re-elections furnish ample testimony of the
general satisfaction he gave.
He was a native of Illinois, where he was born in
1839, and after the death of his father, which occurred when the son was but
four years of age, he came with his mother to Monroe County, Iowa, and a few
years afterward removed to Davis County. He was educated in the public schools,
taught for a period, studied law and was admitted to the bar of Bloomfield in
1862. Soon thereafter, he enlisted as a soldier in the Civil War, becoming
Orderly Sergeant in Company F,
of the Thirtieth Iowa Infantry. His regiment belonged to the Fifteenth Army
Corps,
commanded by General Sherman, and afterward by General Logan. He participated in
many hard-fought battles. Upon his discharge from the service he returned to
Bloomfield, entered upon the practice, and in a comparatively short time, built
up a successful one.
The integrity of his
character was perfect; he had the respect and confidence of the people, and
before they made him judge, he had been otherwise honored by them. In 1865 he
was elected to the House of the Eleventh General Assembly, which convened at Des
Moines on January 8, 1866. In 1867 he was elected to the State Senate and served
in the Twelfth and Thirteenth General Assemblies. In 1879 he was again elected
to the State Senate, serving until he was elected judge.
In his make-up and bearing he lacked the vivacity
and good fellowship of Carruthers. He wore a rather serious air, and was without
that bonhomie that mellows wherever it goes. But this he compensated by his
exemplary character, the gravity of his convictions and his Christian life. That
he was a brave and patriotic man, ready to yield his life for his country, his
three years of service as a soldier, facing death in many struggles,
sufficiently attest. He died in 1910.
By
EDWARD H. STILES
DES MOINES
THE HOMESTEAD PUBLISHING CO.
1916
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