Smith McPHERSON was born in Morgan county, Indiana, February 14, 1848; he died at Red Oak, Iowa, January 17, 1915. He worked on his father's farm and attended the district school and the academy at Mooresville until 1869, when he removed to Iowa and entered the law department of the State University of Iowa, graduating therefrom the following year. He immediately began the practice of law at Red Oak and continued therein until 1899, except when filling public office. From 1874 to 1880 he was district attorney of the Third Iowa Judicial District. From 1881 to 1885 he served as attorney general of the state. For some years he was general attorney for the Chicago, Burlington & Quiney Railway. He was elected representative in the Fifty-Sixth Congress, but after a year's service, resigned to accept the appointment of United States District Judge for the Southern District of Iowa, and served in that capacity until his death. Judge McPherson was a stand-pat Republican, an active politician and a staunch advocate of measures for the best interests of his party and of the community. He held many terms of court at Kansas City and St. Louis in the Missouri District, and presided frequently in the federal courts of Kansas. - "Notable Deaths" Annals of Iowa. p. 77. Iowa Historical Society. Des Moines. April, 1915.

~ submitted by Sharon Becker