Bios & Family Stories > Misc. Bios > Given, Judge/Gen. Josiah

Served on the Iowa Supreme Court from March 12, 1889, when he was appointed to fill the vacancy occasioned by the retirement of Joseph R. Reed, until December 31, 1901. For three years he was Chief Justice.

Born at Murrysville, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, August 31, 1828. In 1838 the family moved to Holmes county, Ohio. He served with an Ohio regiment throughout the war with Mexico. After studying law in the office of his brother he was admitted to the bar in 1850. At the beginning of the Civil War he entered as a captain, and was engaged in twenty-two battles. At the close of the war he was retired as a brigadier general. For a short time he served as United States Commissioner of Internal Revenue. In 1868 he came to Des Moines and in 1880 was elected Judge of the Circuit Court and in 1887 a Judge of the District Court.

Judge Given died in Des Moines February 3, 1908.

Source of biographical sketch (verbatim transcription) and portrait: Annals of Iowa, 3rd series, Volume XXVI, Issue 2, July, 1944, page 148.
Transcriber’s Note: Josiah Given is buried in Woodland Cemetery, Polk County, Iowa.