FREDERICK ANDROS, M.D.,
Frederick Andros, M.D., was born in Berkeley Massachusetts, September 14, 1804. His early life was spent in his native place, where, under the tuition of his father, Rev. Thomas Andros, he prepared for college, entering Brown University when in the fourteenth year of his age, being the youngest student in the institution, and graduating in 1822 ? from the Medical Department in 1826. Thus he finished his literary college course at eighteen, and received his medical diploma at the age if twenty-two.

In 1833 he came to the Territory of Michigan, which, at that time, embraced Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, the Territory of Dakota, and indeed all the Northwest to the Rocky Mountains and the British Possessions. Dubuque was the only point settled in Iowa. Here Dr. Andros made his first stand, opening an office for the practice of medicine in the Fall of 1833, and continuing till 1837.

At this period, in consequence of ill-health, he removed to Clayton County and engaged in farming. His nearest neighbor at that time was Robert Hatfield, who lived thirteen miles distant. He continued farming till 1845, when he removed to Fort Atkinson, then the military outpost of Iowa, under the command of Captain Sumner, having received the appointment of Surgeon at the Fort, and also of Physician to the Winnebago Agency. Here he remained in the discharge of his duties till the Indians were removed and the Fort vacated in 1848, going thence with the command to Long Prairie, Minnesota. He resigned at Blue Earth, Minnesota, in 1854, and during that Winter was a member of the Minnesota Legislature.

In 1861 he settled at McGregor, where he remained in the practice f medicine till the Fall of 1874, when the river location proving unfavorable to his health, he removed to Decorah, where he has since practiced his profession in partnership with Dr. J. W. Curtis.

In this hasty outline we have failed to notice half the important incidents in the eventful career of on of the oldest and most highly respected pioneers of Northern Iowa.

While living in Clayton County, Dr. Andros filled for many years almost every office in the gift of the people. He was the first Clerk of the District Court, Register of Deeds for the County, and a member of the Legislature at Iowa City in 1843. He is the father of five children, three of whom are living, having married Miss Eliza Bunker, his present wife, in Sherburne, New York, in 1830.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 377
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 24 Feb 2002

General CALEB H. BOOTH
General Caleb H. Booth, of Dubuque, was born on Christmas Eve, 1814, in Delaware County Pennsylvania. Till the age of twelve, at which time his father died, he lived on a farm in his native county. He was then sent to school at a fine classical institution in Burlington, New Jersey, where, under the tuition of the celebrated Quaker mathematician, John Gummere, he studied mathematics, Latin and French, and made a specialty of preparing himself for an engineer.

At seventeen he had an offer of a position as engineer on the Camden and Amboy Railroad, but, much to his regret, he was no at liberty to accept it on account of his father's instructions to his guardian to have him study a profession. The one chosen was that of the law, and he became a law student in the office of Samuel Edwards, Esq., in Chester Pennsylvania, where he studied three years, and on the 3d day of May, 1836, was admitted to the bar. His certificate of admission, which the General has still in his possession, is signed by John Edwards, Prothonotary ? a term for clerk of the court which, we believe, is used only in Pennsylvania.

Soon after being admitted he determined to remove to Dubuque, then in Michigan Territory, and in company with P. H. Engle, well known as a distinguished lawyer and judge, first in Dubuque and afterwards in St. Louis, he arrived on the 3d day of July, 1836, just one day before the act of Congress establishing the new Territory if Wisconsin took effect.

General Booth brought the first steam engine to Dubuque, and erected a steam saw mill on the lot known and the Booth and Shine lot, and went into the lumber business. He also engaged in the mercantile business in the firm of Booth, Townsend & Co., and in 1838 engaged in mining in company with William Carter, the firm being Booth & Carter. They have continued business without interruption to the present time. About fifteen years ago Mr. R. O. Chaney became a partner in the business, and the firm has since been Booth, Carter & Co.

In 1839 General Booth was elected to the Legislature, and has served during the first session in Iowa City.

In 1841 he was elected the first Mayor of Dubuque, and has served in the council several times since.

In February, 1849, he was appointed by President Polk Surveyor General of the land district embraced in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, with the office at Dubuque, and was highly qualified by his early education to fill it with credit and satisfaction to all concerned. So satisfactory, indeed, was his administration of its duties, that he remained in it under President Taylor, although of the opposite school of politics, and not withstanding General Taylor was solicited to remove him. General Taylor had adopted a lenient and truly statesmanlike policy towards capable and honest men holding under previous appointments, which was not to remove them if they had not used their influence against his election; and finding that General Booth had been neutral during the campaign, he had a good ground of justification for retaining him in opposition to the partisan solicitations for his removal. General Booth discharged the duties of his office with rare judgment and fidelity, employing none as surveyors whom he did not know to be well qualified. He was superseded under Mr. Fillmore's administration by the appointment of George B. Sargeant, of Davenport, to the office of Surveyor General, between whom and General Booth a friendship was formed and continued for many years, growing out of the generous and kindly spirit with which the latter received the former when he came to Dubuque to take charge of his office. Mr. Sargeant, in gratitude for such kindly treatment, gave General Booth his choice of lands to survey and a contract in Wisconsin, in which he was engaged during the balance of that season.

In 1851 General Booth engaged in partnership with William J. Barney in buying and selling land warrants and locating lands in various parts of the country, which, during the rapid period of land speculation, grew into an enormous business. In 1853 the firm was merged into Cook, Sargeant, Barney & Co., whose operation were the most extensive in the state till the crash of 1857, which ruined their prospects, as it did those of thousands of others in the West. They did not get out of the business soon enough to save themselves.

In 1856 General Booth, with others, invested largely in the Dubuque and Pacific Railroad Stock. In 1857 General Booth was elected treasurer of the company and one of the directors. From that time to the present he has been continuously connected with the railroads in various ways.

No man in Dubuque, or perhaps Iowa, has made and lost more money than General Booth. He has been a man of great versatility, adapting himself easily to changes, and hence few men have followed so many different occupations. He has been lumberman, merchant, pork packer, miller, banker, land dealer, miner, railroad officer, surveyor general and shot manufacturer, besides the offices he has held and the public services he has performed. He built the first flouring mill ever erected in Dubuque, the Dubuque City Mill, in 1848, and interest in which he still owns. For five years he gave his own personal attention exclusively to mining, going into the mines himself and supervising their operation. In 1843 he struck one of the largest lodes ever opened in Dubuque, from which 7,000,000 pounds of lead were taken.

In 1856 he was one of the state commissioners to establish the State Bank of Iowa, which institution owes its origin and establishment to him and his associates. He was one of the originators and has been the operator of the method of shot making by the substitution of a mining shaft for the ordinary shot-tower.

In the Fall of 1872 General Booth was elected a member of the fourteenth General Assembly on the Republican ticket, he having voted that ticket since the war, though previous to that a Democrat in political faith.

General Booth was married in 1838 to Miss Henrietta Eyre, a native of the same town in Pennsylvania, where he was born, and has raised two children. Both the General and Mrs. Booth are members of the Episcopal Church, of which church (St. John's in Dubuque) he is Senior Warden.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 366
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 25 Feb 2002

Honorable EZEKIEL E. COOLEY
Honorable Ezekiel E. Cooley - Born in Victory Cayuga County, New York, January 12 1827; brought up there till the age of thirteen, when he removed to St. Lawrence County, and the received an academic education. At the age of seventeen he commenced teaching school, which he followed as an occupation about five years; removing in 1847 to Cynthiana, Kentucky, where he taught and read law with Judge Trimble of that place, and was admitted to the bar in 1849.

Returning to Ogdensburg, New York, he read law another year with Honorable A. B. James, now one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of New York, and on the 2d of September 1850, was admitted to practice in the New York courts, and commenced his professional career in the town of Hermon, St. Lawrence County. Soon after removing to Ogdensburg, he practiced there till October, 1854.

At the last named date, he removed to Decorah, Iowa where he has ever since continued the practice of his profession, with the exception of one year spent in the army.

In the Spring of 1855 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Winnesheik County. On the incorporation of the Town of Decorah he was elected President of the Council, having been efficient in the matter of securing the town incorporation and the management of the business connected therewith.

In 1857 he was elected a member of the first legislature under the new state constitution, and served with marked ability in the house.

In 1861 he was appointed Postmaster at Decorah, and held the office till he resigned in 1863.

In September, 1864 President Lincoln appointed hin Commissary of Subsistence in the cavalry department with the rank of captain.

In October, 1865, he was brevetted major by Andrew Johnson for gallant and meritorious services, and in November following was honorably discharged.

In civil life he has been engaged in all enterprises for the promotion of the interests of his city and county.

In 1868 and 1870, he was warmly supported by the Republicans of his county for the nomination to Congress, but the other counties of the district carried the majority for his competitor, who was duly elected.

For the past three years Mr. Cooley has been Counsel for the Board of Supervisors. He has also held the office of City Attorney. Few men in this section of Iowa have achieved more eminent success in the legal profession, or made for themselves a better public and private record than the subject of this brief sketch.

He was married at Dubuque, in 1856, to Miss Jane M. Rhodes, then of that city, and has two sons.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 377
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 24 Feb 2002

FRED STUART DUNHAM
Fred Stuart Dunham was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on the 19th day of December, 1832.

His ancestry is of English and Scotch origin, and came to America before the Revolutionary War and settled in Connecticut. His father emigrated with his family to Pennsylvania when Mr. Dunham was but an infant one year of age. At the age of fourteen he moved to Iowa, where he arrived ---, 1846.

At the breaking out of the Rebellion he enlisted in the Union Army, enlisting as a private. He was promoted to lieutenant of Company L, 2d Iowa Cavalry ? subsequently received a captain's commission - and after serving three and a half years he was honorably discharged. In 1865, at the expiration of his term of service, he moved to Monticello and opened a hardware store, in which business he still continues, commanding an extensive trade from the surrounding country.

He married, in 1857, Phebe A. McCloy, daughter of Joseph and Phebe S. (Bellows) McCloy. She was a lineal descendant of Col. Benjamin Bellows, of Bellows Falls, New Hampshire, and was born Jan 18, 1839, at Dubuque, Iowa. When she was three years of age her parents moved to Maquoketa, Jackson County, Iowa, which has since been their home. She was sent to Massachusetts to be educated, returned to Iowa, and here for many years has been an energetic worker in the Temperance cause.

Mrs. Dunham was appointed by the Iowa Board of Centennial Managers to gather group No. 27, "Photographs of Iowa Men and Women, and Iowa Scenery," and the wisdom of the board is exhibited in her appointment. She is an intelligent, energetic and efficient person, and will, without doubt, honor the position.

The have the following family:
I. MARY, born July 2, 1858.
II. PHEBE N., born March 28, 1869.
III. IMOGENE J., born September 15, 1871.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 373
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 24 Feb 2002

Reverend JOHN L. GOSKER
Reverend John L. Gosker was born on the 18th day of July, 1833, at Groninger, Holland, where his boyhood and youth were spent in attending the common school of his native country, and in assisting his father who was engaged in the mercantile business. He however received much of his early education from private tutors, who instructed him in the rudiments, of the ancient and modern languages, fo which he early developed a peculiar taste, and in which he made rapid progress. He commenced studying the English language when he twelve years old, and had made himself thorough master of it long before emigrating to this country, which he did when twenty-two years of age. He entered the University of Groninger and pursued his studies for some time, when his mother needing his services, as she was carrying on the mercantile business, his father having died some time previous, he left school, and devoted himself with the characteristic energy which has marked his whole life, to the management of his mothers establishment, which he carried on with success until 1855, when he disposed of it, and moved with his mother to this country, and located at Keokuk in this state. Here he was engaged a portion of the time in mercantile pursuits but devoting considerable time to reading and study.

While crossing the Atlantic, he first thought of entering the priesthood of the Catholic Church, and after remaining at Keokuk about one year, full determined to do so. In order to fit himself for the life work he had chosen he removed to Bardstown, Kentucky, and entered the St. Thomas Seminary where he remained three years, completing his study of the languages, and thoroughly mastering the ancient classics, and rendering himself more familiar with the English, French, Belgian and German languages, all four of which, with his native tongue he now speaks with fluency. Having completed his classical studies, he entered the St. Vincent Theological Seminary, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where he remained three years.

He was ordained at Dubuque, Iowa, by Bishop Smith, on the 24th day of November, 1862, and came to Independence the 18th of the following December and immediately took charge of the Catholic Churches in the Counties of Buchanan, Delaware, parts of Fayette, Bremer, Black Hawk and Butler, his duties often calling him outside of these counties as far north the Minnesota line, and west as Iowa Falls. The field of labor he occupied was large, the membership of the church scattered, without organization, rendering the duty devolving upon him, one not easy of performance and requiring great energy and ability to execute with success. That he possesses these qualifications in an eminent degree, it is only necessary to state, that in the territory placed under his control, he has organized and built eight churches, five of the number he erected without outside aid, besides established the Convent of Notre Dame, and the St. John's Parish School, both of which have peen under his immediate charge. Although Mr. Gosker an enthusiastic and earnest believer in the Catholic Church, he is not a bigoted zealot, but stands upon the broad platform of American individuality, conceding to every man the right to hold and maintain his own opinions, so long as they do not interfere with the rights of others. He is an earnest worker in the church, and a strong advocate for Catholic schools for Catholic children, as he says, "believing that it is the true church, the children should be educated in it."

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 370
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 25 Feb 2002

Honorable J. K. GRAVES,
Honorable J. K. Graves of Dubuque, was born in Keene, N.H., September 29, 1837. He removed to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1854, and from thence to Dubuque at the close of 1855, from which period upto the Fall of 1858, he occupied a responsible position in a prominent banking house.

In 1858 he commenced a banking business on his own account, under the firm name of J. K. Graves & Co., and in 1859 took part in the organization of the Dubuque branch of the State Bank of Iowa, in which the business of his own firm was soon merged, and subsequently he became vice-president and general manager of this bank, and was also a member of the Board of Control of the State Bank of Iowa.

During the early days of the rebellion he was appointed post quartermaster at Camp Franklin, Dubuque, with the rank of colonel, having at one time nearly six thousand men in camp.

In 1866 he built and finished the Key City Gas Works, by which the City of Dubuque is now lighted, and of which company he is now president and director, and also a large stockholder.

In 1867 he was elected Mayor of the City of Dubuque, upon the Republican ticket, having a majority of 248 over his Democratic opponent, which considering the fact that Dubuque is a strong Democratic city, spoke well for Mr. Graves' popularity.

The first (we believe) steam fire engine used in Iowa was purchased by the City of Dubuque and named the J. K. Graves, and Mr. Graves, in recognition of the compliment, donated his official salary as mayor to the fire department.

In 1868 Mr. Graves took a very active part in the organization and construction of the Dubuque Street Railway, of which company he was and is still the president, and also a director and large stockholder.

Mr. Graves was on of the principal parties in the organization of the National State Bank, of which he was cashier and subsequently vice president, and which bank succeeded to the business of the Dubuque Branch Bank. He was also largely interested in the organization of the First National Bank, of which he was also for several years vice-president. He occupied an important part in the organization of the Commercial National Bank, in which he is still a director and stockholder.

Mr. Graves owned and for some years operated the Dubuque Shot Tower, but finally disposed of the "Tower" to the St. Louis company, and conceived the idea of using a mineral shaft for making shot, and put the idea in practical operation, enabling one with an investment of a few thousand dollars to manufacture shot in competition with the ordinary "tower," where hundreds of thousands were required in the construction.

Mr. Graves has always identified himself with the varied manufacturing interests of Dubuque, and aided liberally in promoting her general growth and prosperity.

In 1870 Mr. Graves was induced to turn his attention to the construction of a new railroad outlet from Dubuque to Chicago, and was elected president of the Chicago, Clinton and Dubuque Railroad Company, the road of which is now in successful operation from Dubuque to Clinton, 60 miles along the west bank of the Mississippi River. He was also elected president of the Chicago, Dubuque & Minnesota Railroad Company, the construction of whose railroad was actively commenced within ten days thereafter, and rapidly prosecuted to completion, extending along the west bank of the Mississippi from Dubuque to La Crescent, Minnesota, with a branch extending up Turkey River from the main line to the west boundary of Fayette County to the Iowa Pacific Junction.

Mr. Graves is also president of the Iowa Pacific Railroad company whose line extends from the above junction westerly via Fort Dodge to Onawa, on the Missouri River, now mostly grated and partly ironed.

Mr. Graves has traveled extensively in this country, including a trip across the Plains to New Mexico, as a special commissioner appointed by the Department of the Interior to hold council with 6,000 Navajos Indians, Union prisoners of war at Fort Sumner, in the Southern part of New Mexico. He has also visited Europe and the continent twice.

As an active, enterprising citizen Mr. Graves has taken a deep interest and pride in the development, growth and prosperity of Iowa and whatever he undertakes is prosecuted with energy and vigor.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 366
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 25 Feb 2002

Honorable STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD,
Honorable Stephen Hempstead, Ex-Governor of the State of Iowa; was born at New London, Connecticut, on the first day of October 1812, and lived in that state until the spring of 1828 with his parents and three brothers; removed to St. Louis, Mo., and settled upon a farm near Belfountain, a few miles from the St. Louis; remained there until the Spring of 1830 and went to Galena, Illinois, and acted as clerk in a commission house; was there during the Sac and Fox war, and was an officer in an artillery company, which had been organized for the protection of the place.

After the defeat of Black Hawk and the close of the war, entered as a student of Illinois College at Jacksonville, remaining there about two years; got into trouble about sectarianism and abolitionism; left the college and returned to Missouri; commenced the study of law and finished the regular course under Mr. Charles S. Hempstead, then a prominent lawyer of Galena.

In 1836, was admitted to practice as an attorney and counsellor at law in all the courts of the Territory of Wisconsin, then embracing the Territory of Iowa, and the same year located at the town of Dubuque, being the first lawyer who commenced the practice of his profession in the place.

Upon the organization of the Territorial government of Iowa in 1838, he was with General Warner Lewis; elected to represent the northern portion of the Territory in the Legislative Council, which assembled at Burlington in the year 1838; was Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, one of the most important committees in the Council. At the second session of that body, was elected President thereof.

Was again elected a member of the Council in 1845, which was held at Iowa City, and was President of the same.

In 1844 he was elected one of the delegates of Dubuque County to the first convention to frame a constitution for the State of Iowa, and was Chairman of the Committee on Incorporations.

In 1848 was, with Judge Charles Mason and W. G. Woodward appointed commissioners by the Legislature to revise the laws of the State of Iowa, and which revision, with a few amendments, was adopted as the code of Iowa of 1851.

In 1850 was elected Governor of the State of Iowa and served in that capacity for four years, being the full term under the then Constitution.Was the second Governor of the state.

In 1855 was elected County Judge of Dubuque County, and held that office for about twelve years. Under his administration was erected the principal county buildings, the jail, poor house and some valuable bridges. His health being very much impaired, he has retired from public life to enjoy quietude and repose.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 366
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 25 Feb 2002

General GEORGE W. JONES
The life and public service of this distinguished citizen of Iowa and intimately interwoven with the history of the country from a period dating back to before the organization of the Territory of Wisconsin to the expiration of his last term of service in the Senate of the United States on the 4th of March, 1859.

The father of the subject of this sketch was John Rice Jones, a native of Merionethshire, Wales, who, after graduating at Oxford University and at the Medical and Law Schools, came to Philadelphia about the close of the Revolutionary War, and engaged in the practice of law; thence he removed to Vincennes, Indiana, and became eminent in his profession. He was a man of fine abilities and a ripe scholar, having acquired a thorough knowledge of the Greek, Latin, Spanish and English languages, as well as of the mathematics and other branches of learning. He participated in the early wars of the country, for which he received patents of land from the United States. He subsequently removed to Missouri, where he was a member of the convention that framed the Constitution of that State in 1819-20, under which he was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and held the office till the time of his death in St. Louis on the 10th of February, 1824.

The mother of General George W. Jones was of German descent, born in Pennsylvania, a lady of highly cultivated mind, beings able toconverse and write correctly and fluently in the French, German and English languages.

Judge Jones had six sons, a brief record of whom we proceed to give as follows:

RICE JONES,
Rice Jones, the eldest, was a physician and a lawyer, and eminent in both professions at the time of his assassination by a political rival; John Rice Jones, Jr., the second son, served under Colonel Henry Dodge in the war of 1812, and was subsequently twice appointed Postmaster General of the Republic of Texas; General Augustus Jones, the third son, served under Colonel Dodge at the age of sixteen, and was for nine years Marshal of Missouri and a captain in the Mexican war; Myers F. Jones, the fourth son, was a member of the Missouri Legislature, and afterwards, removing to Texas, became a patriot in the war for independence, and aided in annexing that republic to the United States; William P. Jones, the youngest son, at the time of his death, was a past midshipman in the united States Navy, and had just returned from a tour through Europe, where he had been sent by the Government, when he died suddenly of cholera in Dubuque.

GENERL GEORGE WALLACE JONES,
General George Wallace Jones, the subject of this memoir, was born at Vincennes, Indiana, on the 12th of April, 1804. At a suitable age his father sent him to be educated under the guardianship of Henry Clay at Transylvania University, Lexington Kentucky, where he graduated in 1825. He then commenced the study of law in the office of his brother-in-aw, Honorable John Scott, then a member of Congress from Missouri. In 1826 he was appointed Clerk of the United States District Court at St. Genevieve, under Honorable James H. Peck, United States District Judge.

His health becoming impaired by too close and assiduous application to study and the duties of his office, by the advice of his physician and devoted friend, Honorable Lewis F. Linn, he abandoned the law office and the desk, and in 1827 removed to Sinsinawa Mound, Wisconsin, then embraced within the limits of Michigan Territory, where he engaged in mercantile business, farming and smelting lead ore. As early as 1828 he bought lead of the Sac and Fox Indians on the spot where Dubuque is now situated, those Indians being at that time the occupants and workers of the mines opened here by Julien Dubuque in 1788. In this neighborhood General Jones established the first reverberatory furnace ever erected in Iowa, and was one of the first to open stores in Dubuque and Peru.

During the Black Hawk War, in 1832, he was an Aid-de-camp to Governor Dodge, who had command of Posey's Brigade of Illinois Militia; and at the close of the war, contrary to his wishes, he was appointed to succeed Governor Dodge as colonel of militia, the latter being appointed by President Jackson major of a battalion of rangers.

In the Spring of 1833 General Jones was nominated by a mass meeting of the people of Mineral Point for Judge of the Territorial Court of that locality, but being present at the meeting he respectfully declined the proffered honor. However, after the proceedings of the meeting had been transmitted to the Governor at Detroit, by due course of mail General Jones received a commission as Judge of the Court. He remained on the bench till October 1835, when he was elected a delegate to Congress from Michigan Territory, which then embraced what now forms the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, and the vast territory lying west of them to the Rocky Mountains. On vacating the bench General Jones presented to his county the whole amount due for his services as judge for the erection of a court house.

In the contest for Congress his competitors were judge Woodbridge, of Detroit, afterwards United States Senator for the State of Michigan; Judge James D. Doty, afterwards delegate in Congress, Governor of Wisconsin and member of Congress from that state, and Honorable Morgan L. Martin , subsequently delegate in Congress from Wisconsin Territory. Hs success against such a brilliant array of competitors shows the high appreciation in which General Jones was the held by the people.

During the session of Congress to which he was then elected, General Jones drew up and procured the passage of the bill establishing the Territory of Wisconsin, and that before the Territory of Michigan had been admitted into the Union as a state ? a thing which had never occurred in any other instance in the history of the country. Neither his constituents nor any of the members of Congress expected the passage of the bill when he reaches Washington in December, 1835. But such was the tact, perseverance and popularity of General Jones, that through the influence he was able to bring to bear securing the aid of General Jackson, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Thomas H. Benton, James K. Polk, and many of the ablest statesmen then at Washington, who became his personal friends, the bill was passed. General Jones gave the name of Wisconsin to the new Territory, and during that session, though the only delegate from all this vast country, he procured large appropriations from Congress for roads from Green Bay towards Chicago, from Milwaukee and Racine to the Mississippi, from the northern boundary of Missouri, via Dubuque, to Prairie du Chien , and thence to Green Bay; an appropriation of $5,000 for each of the towns of Racine, Milwaukee Sheboygan and Green Bay; $20,000 for the erection of public buildings in Wisconsin, and $40,000 for the improvement of the Lower Rapids of the Mississippi. He procured also large appropriations to purchase from the Sac and Fox Indians and extent of territory which now forms some of the richest and most populous counties of Iowa, and for the purchase of the Winnebago country east of the Mississippi, and grants of 640 acres of land for each of the towns of Fort Madison, Burlington, Bellevue, Dubuque, Peru and Mineral Point.

In 1837 General Jones was re-elected to Congress by an almost unanimous vote of Mr. Meeker. At this session he procured the passage of the bill establishing the Territory of Iowa, and making large appropriation for the construction of the Capitol and the Penitentiary, and $5,000 additional for the Territorial Library. He also procured large sums for the prosecution of surveys west of the Mississippi, and $40,000 for additional improvements at the Des Moines Rapids. At the same session he also procured a grant of alternate sections of land, five miles on each side thereof, for the construction of a canal from Milwaukee to Rock River ? a piece of devotion to the public welfare which strange to say, excited the prejudices of unthinking people against him, in consequence of the increase of each section reserved by the Government from $1.25 to $2.50 per acre, which was usual in such cases, and notwithstanding the Territorial Legislature had memorialized Congress for the proposed canal.

This, together with the part which General Jones took in being second for Cilley in his duel with Graves, defeated his election to Congress in 1838. We can not here enter upon and elaborate defense of the course pursued by General Jones in that particular. No doubt the fact that he yielded a reluctant consent to the urgent solicitation of his friend who had already determined that nothing should prevent him from accepting the challenge, seemed to him a sufficient justification of his course, and has been so generally regarded by his friends. Honorable Lewis F. Linn, United States Senator from Missouri, wrote a letter to the Galena Democrat, in which he says: "General Jones only consented to become second after earnest solicitation on the part of Mr. Cilley and his friends, and because that gentleman could not obtain the aid of any other friend that could be relied on." Again he says, referring to General Jones: "Our friend is blameless in the unfortunate affair."

No one has ever charged General Jones with want of truthfulness, honor and chivalry in the matter; but the prejudice against him in the Northwest and the Eastern States was mainly because of a difference of opinion as to the code duello, and the fact that the unfortunate victim of his own courage and sense of honor was a Northern man. Had Graves been shot in the case no blame would have been attached to General Jones.

Franklin Pierce, in a letter to General Jones says: "The proceedings of certain meetings at the East , and remarks in newspapers must have fallen under your observation, in relation to your conduct as second to your unfortunate friend, have occasioned me much pain, although I have never doubted for a moment that a full development of all the facts would completely exonerate you in the public mind from the unjust and injurious expressions to which I allude."

When the news of the establishment of a separate territorial government for Iowa reached the people here, they immediately assembled in mass meetings in many places, without distinction of party, and passed the most complimentary resolutions, strongly recommending their able and indefatigable delegate, whose efforts to serve then had been crowned with such signal success, for their governor. From the proceedings of a public meeting held in Dubuque, and published in the Iowa News of that period, we extract the following: "Resolved, That the pre-eminent and peculiar qualifications, without any reference to his past services, command for our highly talented and admired delegate in Congress, the Honorable George W. Jones, the decided and unanimous declaration of our earnest desire to see him occupy the gubernatorial chair of the future Territory of Iowa."

Petitions were sent to the President, signed by more than a score of the leading representatives and senators of the United States, asking that General Jones be appointed Governor. We have seen copies of the letters of Honorable Isaac H. Bronson, Honorable Lewis F. Linn, Honorable James Buchanan, and others, paying the highest compliments to the abilities and character of General Jones, and asking for his appointment to the governorship of the new territory. The President, however, had scruples about the constitutionality of the appointment of a member of Congress during his term of service to any other office, and, in accordance with this belief, Ex-Governor Robert Lucas, of Ohio, was appointed the first governor of Iowa Territory.

The energy and influence of General Jones in securing most of the territorial offices for his constituents, which had usually been filled in new territories by men from the states, was worthy the commendation which it universally received. Against the importation of officers into the territory, to take the places of responsibility and profit which of right belonged to the people thereof, General Jones strongly protested in an able document sent to the President, and was permitted to name fourteen out of the eighteen officers provided for in the territorial bill. These were mostly accepted upon his recommendation alone, as the people, not anticipating that he would succeed in getting the bill passed, had made, except in a few instances, no recommendations.

In 1838 General Jones procured the establishment of the two first land offices in Iowa ? one at Burlington, the other at Dubuque; and through his untiring efforts during the same session, the bill creating a Surveyor General's Office at Dubuque became a law. The office was first filled by Albert G. Ellis of Green Bay, who was the incumbent till 1840, and upon his resignation President Van Buren appointed General Jones, who took charge of it in March of that year, and occupied it till the Spring of 1841, when he was removed under the Whig administration of General Harrison, and retired to his farm at Sinsinawa Mound.

For about ten years General Jones had been in the public service, including his service in the Black Hawk War. When he left his own private business he was the owner of several large mercantile and smelting establishments; every thing about his delightful residence betokened comfort and plenty; but when he returned to his farm his effects of almost every description had passed away ? he was a comparatively poor man. Out of his salary he had saved very little, being a man peculiarly social and hospitable in his nature, and of the most liberal and generous impulses. Such a man, surrounded by constant appeals to his natural generosity, could save but little out of the salary of a member of Congress; and General Jones never served his country for money ? the welfare of his constituents was his chief aim in political life.

In October, 1842, Chief Justice Dunn, of Wisconsin, tendered him the appointment of clerk of the court, which he accepted, and discharged its duties with the same promptitude and fidelity which had marked his course while in the House of Representatives of the United States.

In 1845 President Polk restored him to the Surveyor General's Office and Dubuque. When spoken to on that subject by Governor Dodge, of Wisconsin, the President remarked: "I remember General Jones perfectly well, sir; I messed with him, esteemed him highly, and will appoint hi to any office he may desire in Wisconsin with pleasure." He therefore returned in April, 1845, to the Surveyor General's Office, the duties of which he proved himself well qualified to discharge.

The personal popularity of General Jones at Washington, and his tact and skill in securing almost any measure he undertook, were matters of such public notoriety that he was often called upon to use his influence at the Federal Capital, and he was uniformly successful. An instance of this occurred in 1842, after the President had removed the Land Office from Dubuque. A public meeting was called, and General Jones was sent to Washington to have the order countermanded. He went, and was complete successful in his mission. The office was restored to Dubuque. Again, in 1846, when the low maximum price per mile which he was instructed to allow for the surveying of the public lands, and certain grievances under which the clerks of his office labored, induced those interested to seek relief and the hands of Congress, they urged and entreated him to repair to Washington and endeavor to procure them additional compensation. He was gone several weeks, and succeeded in having a law passed doubling the price paid to deputy surveyors, and materially increasing the salary of clerks.

On the 7th of December, 1848, General Jones was elected to the Senate of the United States, and by a succeeding election continued Senator till the 4th of Match, 1859. Honorable Augustus C. Dodge, of Burlington was his colleague. When these two senators-elect arrived and the Federal Capital and called to pay their respects to President Polk, the latter paid them a high compliment. Taking them both by the hand, he said: "If Iowa had left the choice of her senators to me, you are the very men whom I should have selected."

The course of General Jones in the Senate was characterized by his usual ability, fidelity to Democratic principles, and indefatigable labor for the welfare of his constituents. He and General Dodge were a unit on all important measures. They opposed the land monopoly scheme embodied in "Bennett's Bill," a measure introduced into Congress which proposed to give the states a large share of the public lands, and thus withhold them from actual settlement. Every species of corrupt bargaining was resorted to to carry the infamous measure through Congress, but it was firmly resisted by the Iowa Senators, who as firmly adhered to the Homestead Bill, an act of Congressional legislation which, perhaps, more than any other has been a blessing to the West. It has prevent ruinous consequences of a policy which would allow the wealthy capitalists of the old states to get possession of millions of acres of the choicest lands and reserve then from sale till their own exorbitant prices should be offered for them. Who can tell to what extent such a policy would have retarded the settlement and development of the resources of Iowa? The people of the West, and of this magnificent state have reason to thank those incorruptible and far-sighted men in Congress who prevent such a blow from falling upon their prosperity, and of this gratitude and thanks General Jones is justly entitled to a large share for the valuable services he has rendered to his country.

Another measure he resisted while in the Senate, even against the offer of valuable railroad grants, which he and his constituents were anxious to procure, was a modification of the Tariff Act of 1846 ? an act very greatly affecting the interests of the West, as opposed to those of Eastern manufacturers and capitalists. During his services in the Senate he also, with the aid of his colleague, procured the Dubuque and Keokuk and the Davenport and Council Bluffs Railroad Land Grant ? a grant sufficient to build some 1,400 miles of railroad in Iowa, traversing the state by four different routes, and inviting that immigration, labor, and wealth which have given to Iowa a development and progress unparalleled in the history of the West.

At the expiration of his service in the Senate, March 4, 1859, President Buchanan appointed General Jones Minister to Bogota, New Granada, now United States of Columbia, where he remained two years and a half. This was entirely unsolicited and unexpected on the part of General Jones and without the knowledge of and member of the Cabinet, till the President, on the 8th of March, read them his message to the Senate making the nomination. The Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment, without the usual formality of referring it to a committee, at the suggestion of the two Republican Senators from Iowa, Harlan and Grimes.

Although General Jones was a loyal man to the Rebellion, yet through misunderstanding and political complications, he was, on his return from Bogota, in 1861, arrested for treason and imprisoned in Fort Lafayette, but was speedily released. He prosecuted Secretary Seward for false imprisonment and defamation of character, but the death of Mr. Seward in the Winter of 1872 put an end to the suit.

It is impossible in a brief biography to notice all the important acts of one so long in public life and General Jones, has been, and whose actions both in and out of Congress are so intimately interwoven with the history of the country for the next half a century.

While in the Senate he offered and secured the amendment to the Illinois Central Railroad Bill, which extended the road to Dubuque, and gave to Northern Iowa an outlet East and South long before any other route has been opened, except the old route by water and the slow and tedious process of staging. This extension of the road to Dubuque in an great measure sacrificed the interests of Galena. The late Stephen A. Douglas, then a member of the Senate form Illinois, had voted for General Jones' amendment and had thereby offended his constituents in the Galena district; and, in order to conciliate them, on the eve of the election in 1858, put forth a statement to the effect that he had been compelled to vote for the extension of the road to Dubuque in order to secure passage of the bill in any form; for Senators Jones and Dodge had the power to defeat the bill, and had declared their unalterable determination to do so in case their amendment was not accepted.

To this statement General Jones replied in his famous letter of November 9, 1858, a letter in which the courage and ability of General Jones are equally displayed in a manner rarely equaled in political controversy.

We omitted to mention in its proper place that in 1836 General Jones obtained an appropriation of $100,000 for frontier protection and for a military road from Keokuk to Fort Smelling, in Minnesota; $20,000 for making a harbor at St. Joseph, Michigan; large sums for treating with the Indians in his territory; $37,000 for the payment of legislative expenses; several township of land for a seminary of learning; and $20,000 for the completion of the capitol; that upon his motion and resolutions appropriations were made for the construction of military roads from Green Bay to Fort Crawford and Prairie du Chien and from the latter place to Fort Atkinson on Turkey River; from Burlington to Agency City; and also for the construction of forts and Indian Agencies.

General Jones was the active and moving spirit, to an extent which this notice will fail to make apparent, in all those works necessary to set in order a new territory ? naming the officers, laying out post routes, establishing post offices, securing the appointment of postmasters, securing appropriations for surveys and boundary lines. He secured appropriations for running the boundary lines separating Wisconsin from Michigan on the northeast, and Wisconsin from Illinois on the south, and Iowa from Missouri, and named the commissioners in each case and the surveyors for the Territories.

General Cass remarked, in 1836, while General Jones was in Congress: "I have seen the face of that young man every day during the present session of Congress on business. He is indefatigable in his efforts to serve his Territory." While in the House and in the Senate the leading men of the country were his personal and warm friends, with many of whom he was on terms of intimacy; the friendships thus formed have lasted throughout his long career, and in most instances, where the subjects are still living, remain unimpaired to this day.

General Jones was never a great speech-maker, but always a great worker, believing that he could more efficiently promote the welfare of his constituency by close, untiring, and assiduous devotion to their immediate interests as a working man than as an orator, consuming a large share of his time in the preparation and delivery of speeches. He could both speak and write with ability and effort when occasion required; but he has possessed that personal influence, versatile power, and agreeable and persuasive address, which have made him more potent with men in securing the support of the measure he proposed to carry through than all the great public speeches ever made in Congress. He has also possessed remarkable foresight and tact in the management of his cause, and this, in as great a degree as his personal popularity has made him uniformly successful.

General Jones is a gentleman of affable and agreeable manners and of strict integrity of character, and has devoted a long and laborious life to the public service. In private he is highly esteemed as a friend and genial companion, with a mind rich in lore and experience. Although past seventy years of age he is yet healthy and active, and his mental faculties are unimpaired.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 365-366
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 26 Feb 2002

Hon. DAVID KINERT
Hon. David Kinert is a native of Perry County Pennsylvania, and was born Dec. 4, 1817.

(The name is spelled differently by different branches of the family ? some Kynett, as the Secretary of the M. E. Church Extension of Philadelphia, others Kinard, as in Pennsylvania.)

His grandfather and grandmother were from Germany, and came to America soon after the conclusion of the Revolution, and settled in Adams County, Pennsylvania, and engaged in agriculture. They had a family, of whom was Jacob Kinert, the father of the subject of this sketch. He resided in Pennsylvania till 1834, and then moved his family to New Carlisle, Ohio, where he died and is buried.

He married Mary Beals, of Pennsylvania, and had a family of four boys and four girls. The mother died in Dubuque County, Iowa, about 1870.

Mr. Kinert moved with his father to Ohio, where he remained eight years, and then with his mother, brother and two sisters, moved to Randolph County, Indiana, and engaged in the milling, wool carding and mercantile business for about ten years. Thence he moved to Iowa, and finally settled in Anamosa in 1853, and engaged in the mercantile business, having brought a stock of goods from his old residence in Indiana.

In 1855 he was elected to represent Jones and Jackson County in the Lower House in the State Legislature. The legislation was characterized by the passage of what was called the "Maine Law," or the "Prohibitory Liquor Law," and it was a stormy time. The law was finally passed, and has never been repealed.

An extra session was called in 1856, to accept the land grants made by Congress to the railroads of Iowa. The Legislature filled the Supreme Court Bench, for the first time in Iowa, with Republican judges, and what was better, they were temperance men. The members of the legislature at that time were chiefly young men, but the laws they enacted have met the approbation of the people. In 1856 Mr. Kinert was elected to fill the unexpired term of the Clerk of the District Court, and held the office for six years. Since that time Mr. Kinert has been engaged in the furniture business and house furnishing goods and carpets.

He married, in Indiana, Addie C. Cunningham, formerly of Adams County, Pennsylvania, and his children are Alonzo, Carrie and Frank.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 374
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 24 Feb 2002

JOHN PORTER
John Porter - The subject of this brief sketch, was born May 14, 1822, near Colchester, Vermont, at a point on Lake Champlain called "Porter's Point," where his childhood and youth were spent. He received a limited common school education, and was by his own choice apprenticed when quite young to the carpenter's trade. As soon as he had mastered that he commenced work for himself, running for some time a sash and door factory in his native state. He removed to Chicago in 1844, when that Garden City of the Lake was a small village, and worked at his trade in connection with the saw mill and lumbering business, running the first patent bevel siding machine ever in that city.

He was married July 4, 1846, to Miss A. Boomer, at Amesville, Illinois, now Garden Prairie, where he embarked in the mercantile business and remained about one year, when he returned to Chicago and engaged extensively in erecting business houses and dwellings, which he readily sold at a large advance above cost. From Chicago he went to Waukegan, Illinois, and remained for some four years, employed mostly in the same business, when he located at Bellevue, Iowa, in the boot and shoe trade, and after remaining about one year, sold out and removed to Delhi, Delaware County, Iowa, where he still resides. Here he put up several fine buildings, and successfully carried on an extensive real estate business, until the financial crash of 1857, when he was carried down, having endorsed a large amount of paper for other parties, and had nothing left but twenty-three hundred acres of wild land, which it was impossible to dispose of, or even give away. During 1856 and part of 1857, he owned and managed a large agricultural implement store in Dubuque.

His health having been greatly impaired by constant and close application to business, he determined to turn his energies to the more quiet and congenial occupation of nurseryman. For a time he cultivated fruit trees chiefly, but his taste soon led him to drop that part of the business, and devote himself exclusively to raising evergreens and ornamental trees, which branch he has since carried on with marked success. He now has forty acres of choice land lying contiguous to Delhi, which exhibits a high order of taste, skill and care. Fourteen acres of this he has devoted to ornamental purposes, and has a plan that he is carrying out year by year, which will, when completed, render his place, already one of the finest in the state, beautiful in the highest degree. His evergreens are unequaled in the Iowa, while his grounds exhibit originality of thought, taste, and perfection of execution, seldom found even in large cities. His design embraces a pleasant game and driving park, with an artificial lake, that for beauty and utility of design is a perfect gem, set in the midst of a smoothly shaven lawn. And shaded by the rich dark foliage of evergreens, among which are rustic seats, croquet grounds and rare and curious specimens gathered from all parts of the Northwest.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 371
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 25 Feb 2002

Honorable THOMAS ROGERS
Honorable Thomas Rogers was born at Fort Edward, New York, Oct. 14, 1808 and graduated at the Union College, Schenectady, after which he studied law at in the office of his father-in-law, Judge Cowan, at Saratoga. In 1839 he removed of Dubuque, Iowa bringing with him an introductory letter to Hon. George W. Jones, whose endorsement was a prestige of success. He secured the life-long friendship of General Jones, on account of his talents, education and amiable character, which qualities soon commended him also to the public, and he was frequently appointed by the court to appear on the part of the prosecution or defense in important criminal cases.

He was an honor to the Dubuque bar so long as he practiced his profession. His first law partner was J. V. Berry, and on the removal of Mr. Berry to California, he formed a partnership with William J. Barney, well known in Dubuque, and for many years a banker. He gradually retired from the practice of law before 1850, and took a more prominent and active interest in political affairs, so far as the then Territory and subsequent State of Iowa was concerned. He was so highly appreciated by his fellow citizens that he was elected to the House of Representatives in the Territorial Legislature in 1840.

Mr. Rogers was a warm, earnest, and eloquent advocate of those principles which he believed constitute the foundation of our general government. He was at that time over thirty years of age, one of the most eloquent speakers who appeared on popular occasions.

On taking his seat in the Legislature, he soon became conspicuous for his clear and correct judgment as he had been and continued to be popular at home. It made no difference to him whether he was in the majority or minority as to partisanship, when he presented a bill of his own, proposed for a law or espoused the defense of a bill offered by another. The only question with him was, "Is it right in principle?" The reports of committees during that session, and his reported speeches in the press of that day leave evidence of unusual legislative ability.

Years afterwards, when he was tendered an important public office, his unassuming modesty made him decline, and it was the same as to other offices to which he might have been appointed or elected. The older he grew the more modest he became as to assuming any official position. He might, if willing, have been Surveyor General of Wisconsin and Iowa, and afterwards declined to accept the place of United States District Judge, now occupied by Judge Love.

Leaving the practice of his profession, he engaged with partners ? Gen. C. H. Booth and the late ? in an important manufacture in Dubuque, chiefly the manufacture of flour. After a few years of successful business he retired from the firm, yet up to the last month of his life he continued in business incidental to it ? the purchase of wheat.

In reputation, Mr. Rogers, lived without reproach for more than thirty years among his fellow citizens. Few men have continued for so long a period such an unblemished life. In character it is almost needless to commend to his hosts of still surviving friends the life of such a man. Those who knew him as friends from 1840 to 1874 need not be reminded that he had a large and generous heart, and one of the most kindly natures. Many of the departed knew, and many who survive know and remember, how he visited the sick day by day, and passed by no opportunity where he could personally sympathize with distress or affliction, or by his purse aid any whom he knew to be worthy.

Mr. Rogers died in Dubuque on the 6th of February, 1874. The following resolutions were passed by the Dubuque bar:

"WHEREAS, Honorable Thomas Rogers, a member of this bar, has been removed from among us by death,

Resolved, That we learn with deep regret the loss that we in common with the community at large has sustained in the death of our brother, whose ability and courtesy placed him in the foremost rank while engaged in the active practice of his profession, and endeared him in the after life to all those with whom he was associated in other pursuits.

Resolved, That we tender to the family of the deceased our heartfelt sympathy in their bereavement.

Resolved, That as a mark of our respect, these resolutions be published in the city papers, and a copy thereof be furnished to the family of the deceased."

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 366
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 25 Feb 2002,

PLATT SMITH
Platt Smith - The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Hoosick, Rensselaer County, New York, May 6, 1813. His parents were in rather moderate circumstances and when he was almost two years of age the removed to Central New York, and finally settled in Chenango County, on a new farm. The country was new and the soil was rather poor and covered with heavy timber. Until he was about fourteen years of age, there was no school in the district; a warfare was waged about the school house site; one house was built, and burned, as was supposed, by one of the contending parties. A school house was finally built, and a school was kept three months in the Winter, and about the same length of time in the Summer, of each year. He attended this school, off and on, during a year or two, and acquired sufficient information to read a newspaper. Work was plenty, and he did whatever was required; there was hardly a branch of business carried on in the neighborhood that he did not understand. After he was 21 years of age he engaged in merchandizing, at first, but failed in the universal crash of 1837. The merchandizing affair cost him all he made, and left him forty-seven dollars in debt. During the next two years he worked at the millwright and carpenter business, and whatever else he found to do.

In November 1839, he emigrated to Jackson County, Iowa, where he had the ague and fever for the first two years. During this time he was cared for by John E. Goodenow and family, the first settlers in the Town of Maquoketa. The kindness of Mr. Goodenow and wife will never be forgotten.

In November 1842, a controversy arose between Curtis M. Doolittle, an intelligent bookseller then recently from Cincinnati, and an old gentleman by the name of David Harrington; the dispute was about a "claim." Harrington had built a small cabin on the land; Doolittle undertook to drive him out, and with a stick of brace timber knocked off some of the siding. Harrington struck Doolittle; a row ensued; Doolittle sued Harrington before a justice of the peace for forcible entry and detainer. This action was then regarded by the community as an action to test the title, or right of possession. Doolittle was a man of good education, was rather a fine public speaker, andfancied he knew considerable law. Harrington asked Smith to assist him in the case, to which he assented, which was tried before a justice and a jury. The evidence was submitted, Doolittle address the jury. Harrington trembled. Smith replied to Doolittle, saying that he would meet the issue as Doolittle had made it, which was a question of title of ownership of the claim to the premises and cabin. The justice had sworn the jury on a Bible. Smith picked it up, and read from the 3d chapter of the 1st Kings, where Solomon asked the Lord wisdom to judge his people, and the Lord answered, "I have done according to thy word. Lo I have given thee a wise and understanding heart, so that there was none like thee, before thee, neither after tee, shall any arise like unto thee." Immediately after this there came before Solomon a controversy between two harlots as to who was the true mother of a child. The evidence and assertion of each was equally strong. Solomon called for a sword that he might divide the child between them. One of the claimants favored the division ? the destruction ? the other yielded he claim, and begged that the child might be spared. Solomon immediately decided the case in favor of the one who wanted no destruction, and they heard of the decision and wisdom of Solomon, and he became famous throughout the land for his wisdom.

That precedent and that decision is as good law to-day an it was when it was made. Doolittle sought to destroy the cabin. Harrington objected, and struck Doolittle. It is unnatural for the owner of property to seek its destruction. Harrington naturally sought to stay destruction, being the owner of the cabin. It will be remembered that the wisdom of Solomon was given him that he might be able to judge his people.

The speech was brief; the jury thought it to the point, and the people who heard it were of the same opinion. Harrington ever afterwards, on all proper occasions, related the story with great satisfaction. Doolittle, the next day, came to Smith, and proposed that he should study law; he stayed sever hours, and that was the principle theme of conversation. Other concurred with him. Doolittle offered to send to Cincinnati for books for him. Smith felt gratified by the good opinions that had been expressed by his friends in regard to the late trial, and finally consented to Doolittle's proposition. At that time there were no railroads in the country; the books came to hand on the 12th Day of December. He had already obtained the consent of Henry Hopkins, a lawyer of Bellevue, to study law in his office. In the 13th of December he took his books to Bellevue and commenced. Harrington had previously resided in Bellevue and was there on the 14th, and told the story of his previous trial with so much enthusiasm, that it was not more than two days afterwards until he (Smith) was engaged in another forcible entry and detainer case, this being the only action that was the usually brought to recover the claims of the settlers on the public lands, and there were no other lands in the country and that time. The amount was frequently of the value of five hundred dollars, and sometimes several thousand dollars. The trial of the first action in Bellevue too place within the first ten days; the case was an important one. Hopkins and James K. Moss, the only regular attorney in Bellevue, were the opposing counsel. The trial resulted in a verdict for Smith's client. There was a large number of people present, and the enthusiasm of the people was such that from thenceforth he was almost uniformly the first choice in nearly every suit that was brought, and was usually opposed by Hopkins & Moss, and was generally paid a fee of from fifteen to twenty-five dollars in each case, and received twenty-five dollars for the first case which he tried in Bellevue. This was a capital such as he had not before had since he came to the territory. He had previously engaged his board with Hopkins, and was to saw wood for him and others to pay for it. The first cord of wood was finished, and that was the last. His time was divided between the study of his books and the practical business outside in attending to cases until the first Monday in February, when in view of the approaching term if the District Court, he went to Dubuque, for the purpose of being admitted to the bar. The court in Dubuque at that time was held in Stone Church, on Locust Street. He listened to the cases for about four days, and then applied for admission. The court and lawyers had a consultation, and there was then a rather strong bar at Dubuque. The result was that they denied an examination, saying that he had not studied long enough. One of the attorneys, who was a very kind and gentle man recommended that he would apprentice himself to a harness maker, and proffered any assistance in his power. This proposition was made in good faith, and was no doubt done with the best of motives. Smith thanked the gentleman, and replied that he was coming to Dubuque to practice law, and his mind was then made up to do so; and before leaving the city he inquired into the price of board, rent of houses, etc.

He had formed quite a favorable opinion of the Dubuque bar notwithstanding their refusal to give him an examination for admission; he concluded that it would require five or six months to practice in Dubuque to get even with Davis and Crawford, whom he regarded as the most formidable of the Dubuque attorneys. He then returned to his old friend Goodenow, at Maquoketa. The idea that he had been refused an examination at Dubuque seemed to shock and astonish his friends in Jackson County. He paid Doolittle for the books, and a few days afterwards took passage on a raft of lumber that ran out of the Big Maquoketa, destined for Muscatine. He worked his passage and acted as pilot in running the raft over the Rock Island Rapids, having first tied up and run a small boat down to see the channel. At Muscatine he hired a horst to go to Tipton, where Judge Williams' Court was then in session. He changed his clothes and left his pocket-book by accident in Muscatine; when he got to Tipton he discovered the mistake. He viewed the court and lawyers a few moments, then introduced himself to Ralph P. Lowe, since Governor and Chief Justice of the state. He related to him the circumstances; asked him for the loan of ten dollars, which he said would be a great favor; told Mr. Lowe that he wanted to be examined and admitted. Lowe immediately advanced the money and told Smith to pay it to Deshler, his partner in Muscatine. The examination was satisfactory; he obtained a certificate of admission, which was dated the 27th of March; returned to Muscatine, paid Deshler the ten dollars, and returned home. On the first Monday of April, the court sat at Andrew, the county seat of Jackson County. The judge, who a few days previously had denied and examination at Dubuque, was surprised to find Smith's name marked as counsel in thirty-five cases out of a total number of forty-two on the docket, and took the first opportunity to suggest to Smith that he ought be admitted to the bar before he could attend those cases. The judge seemed quite willing that Smith should be examined. Smith assured him that he was admitted at Tipton and offered to show the judge the certificate which he declined to look at. The judge was ever afterwards a good friend of Smith's, and, in fact, in refusing the examination he only did what nearly any other judge would do un the circumstances. But Smith was not as frank at Tipton in stating the length of time that he had studied law as he was at Dubuque; he only said that he had studied law sufficiently to qualify himself for admission, as he had been advised by Hopkins and Moss. The cases Andrew were disposed of in about five days. Smith met the Dubuque bar there, and when Court adjourned the all professed, and no doubt sincerely, to regret their course of action, and thought that Smith must have been studying law for the last five or six years.

The criminal cases in which he was engaged were severely contested. He assisted Hopkins in the prosecution of a man named Jackson who was indicted for the murder of Zopher Perkins. Jackson was convicted and hung. Smith soon regretted that he had assisted Hopkins at all, because, on reflection, it was extremely doubtful whether Jackson did no kill Perkins in self defense. Be that as it may, he never prosecuted another man for murder. During the next eight years he was engaged to defend a great majority of all criminals that were tried in the district and some in the adjoining states ? States of Illinois and Wisconsin, - and in no case was any one ultimately convicted and sentenced, not even to pay a fine. Two of the judges who presided in the district are still living and many lawyers who practiced during that time, but no one can mention a case where and man ever paid a penalty of a dollar, or was hung or imprisoned, except the imprisonment usual before the ultimate trial. He sometimes tried seven or eight murder cases in one year; in one instance there were four such cases in our successive weeks in four different counties ? three white men and one Indian, - and frequently he defended two or three Indians in the same week. The excitement in some of these murder cases ran very high. Public meetings were frequently held, especially in Jackson County, to denounce Smith and his clients; but it was all of no avail ? the supposed culprit was always set free. One reason why this was so was that he always gave the case a careful examination before he engaged as counsel. If there was no fair ground to doubt the guilt of the prisoner, he would leave the matter in the hands of others; but if there was a high probability of guilt, yet still there was room for a doubt, though the probabilities might preponderate in the ratio of ninety-nine to a hundred, that doubt formed in law and practice a ground for acquittal. About one half of these criminal cases paid very small feel; large proportion of them nothing. A few paid well; but if there was a reasonable doubt about the guilt of the prisoner, even though he had nothing, the case was attended to the same as though he could pay a good fee. About the year 1850, he began to get tired of criminal cases, and from that time he turned his attention to civil cases. In the year 1853, the Dubuque and Pacific Railroad Company was formed. Smith drew the articles and presented them to his friends; was the first attorney of the company; got up the stock subscriptions; procured the right of way in person. In the fourth volume of G. Greene's report it will be seen that the first case was about the validity of Dubuque County's subscription to the stock of the road. In that volume the firm of Smith, McKinlay and Poor is reported in thirty-six cases; George C. Wright, late Chief Justice and United States Senator, had sixteen cases; the other lawyers in the state each had a less number. Smith argued the thirty six cases in person, his partners frequently assisting of course, in a portion of the Dubuque cases. But it may be remarked that he made no pretentions to ability to win a civil case; all he could do was argue and submit them, and take his chances. The change of practice from criminal to civil cases greatly increased the annual compensation; but the change from the law to the railroad business was unfortunate so far as compensation was concerned. He remained with the first formed company until the road reached Iowa Falls, and was generally Vice-President and Attorney of the company, and a part of the time President. He then organized the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Company, and was one of the four directors that had the management of the road until it was completed to Sioux City, in 1870. He was also a director in Sioux City and Pacific, and was one of the first to organize and help to state four or five other roads. He was of the directors and helped to plan the Dubuque bridge, which was a work of short duration and very successful. He was almost entirely disconnected with the law for about fifteen years, but occasionally took a case, and usually received a fee varying from one thousand to and high as sixteen thousand dollars in each case.

In 1853 he tried his first case in the Supreme Court of the United States; the case of Chotau v. P. Malony. That was a test case brought to try the validity of the Dubuque claim, which was a grant by the Spanish Governor to Dubuque, of a tract of land nine miles wide by twenty miles in length. It included the City of Dubuque, and was supposed to be of the value of fourteen million dollars. Hon. T. S. Wilson and Platt Smith represented the settlers. In opposition, Chotau, who claimed under Dubuque; Reverdy Johnson and Mr. Cornick were counsel for Chotau. The documents were written in French and Spanish. The claim was situate in Louisiana at the time the grant was made. The law that applied to the case was also French and Spanish. A very unusual interest was shown by all concerned, especially those living on the tract, not only on account of the large amount involved in the case, but the novelty of the questions also made the case interesting.

Hon. A. C. Dodge and George W. Jones, the two United States Senators, were present at the argument. At the close of the case, C. J. Taney and several other of the judges, spoke in complimentary terms of Smith's speech, and congratulated the Senators. This was regarded as a good omen by Smith and his friends, but was looked upon as rather a backhanded compliment by the opposite counsel. Mr. Charles Gregoire, who had a very important ferry case pending in the same court at the same term, was there to employ counsel for his case. He consulted Reverdy Johnson about it, who spoke so highly of Smith's speech that Gregoire concluded to commit the whole case to Smith's hands ? both cases were decided in his favor; but one point which was argued for Gregoir was overruled. Justice Grier especially complimented Smith for his effort in Gregoire's case, and said he would lay the brief away for reference in some future case. In Conway et al. v. Tayar's Executors, the 1st of Black's Reports, a similar question arose eight years afterwards in which the same question was involved. Mr. Justice Swayne, in delivering the opinion of the court, refers to the brief in Fanning v. Gregiore, and says, "The arguments on file show that this objection was pressed with learning and ability." This shows that Justice Grier must probably have called the attention of Justice Swayne to the brief, as the latter was not on the bench at the time the Gregoire case was tried. In the case of The Dubuque and Pacific Railroad Company v. Litchfield, Mr. Justice Catron refers to Smith's brief, and quotes a half page from it on pages 88 and 89. This case was a test case involving the title of several million dollars worth of land. It was also decided in favor of Smith's client, but was afterwards practically overruled in subsequent cases, in which Smith was not counsel. In one of those cases he filed a brief which presented the case in a light that did not suit his associate counsel they withdrew and suppressed it, and stated the case on their own points, and were beaten. The case might have resulted differently if the brief had been left in. In the case of Sanders v. The State of Iowa, reported in the 2d Iowa Reports, page 251, will be found the only reported speech made by Smith in a law case. As he was about leaving Iowa City, he was asked to assist William E. Leffingwell in a small case involving an important constitutional question. James M. McKinlay, Smith's partner, who was an expert shorthand writer, reported the speech for Mr. Clark, the reporter, who inserted it verbatim.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 367
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 28 Feb 2002

BARRETT WHITTEMORE
Barrett Whittemore was born in Fitz William, Cheshire County New Hampshire, Feb. 26, 1806.

His grandfather was Josiah Whittemore, who married and had the following family. His wife's maiden name is not remembered.

JOSIAH WHITTEMORE and Miss ______ _____, parents

Children
I. WILLIAM SNOW, born July 26, 1774.
II. JOHN, born Oct 17, 1775
III. SALMON, born July 17, 1778
IV. MARY, born Sept. 28, 1780
V. LUCY, born July 28, 1783.
VI. JOSIAH, born Oct 28, 1784.
VII. LEVI, born June 12, 1786.
VIII. CEPHAS, born Dec 2, 1787.
IX. OTIS, born Aug. 8, 1789.
X. BETSEY, born Sept. 26, 1793.
XI. CEPHAS (2d), born April 26, 1797.
XII. ZENAS, born Sept. 15, 1798.
XIII. PATTY, born April 1, 1800.
XIV. SALENAS, born Aug. 19, 1803

Mr. Whittemore's father was the oldest son Josiah. He married Polly Locke. The following is his family:

WILLIAM SNOW WHITTEMORE and POLLY LOCKE, parents.

Children
I. SOPHRONIA, born Aug 12, 1801.
II. HARRIETT, born Oct 31, 1802.
III. WILLIAM LOCKE, born May 15, 1804.
IV. BARRETT, born Feb 26, 1806.
V. MARY, born April 12, 1808.
VI. REBECCA, born May 27, 1811.
VII. WILLIAM, born Jan 14, 1814.
VIII. OTIS, born March 5, 1816.

We have inserted the above families for the purpose of preserving the record of the two previous generations, that their posterity may be able to trace their descent from them.

Mr. Whittemore, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the Common Schools of New Hampshire attending occasionally the High School in the vicinity where he lived, which was taught by graduates of Amherst College.

He aided his father on the farm during his minority, and remained at the old homestead until he was about twenty-four years of age, and then went to Bureau County, Illinois, where he remained one year - from there to Galena, in the same state. Here he engaged in mining and smelting lead, and continued in that business until about the year 1834, when he went to Dubuque, Iowa, where he followed the same business for a while.

During his first winter in Dubuque he taught the second school ever taught in that city.

Subsequently he engaged in a saw mill near Durango, Dubuque County, where he remained until he went to Bowen's Prairie, in Jones County, in the year 1838. Here he took up about 120 acres of land and has ever since made it his home. His first residence was a log cabin, which stood near the site of his present home.

In 1841 he opened the first school in Jones County, on Bowen's Prairie.

In 1842 he returned to his old home in New Hampshire, where he made an extended visit of about eighteen months, and then brought back his brother Otis and family, and J. H. Eaton, who settled near him, on Bowens Prairie.

He continued teaching and farming until 1846, when he once more visited the scenes of his childhood, and the friends of former days, and was successful in persuading Miss Louisa Blodgett to return as a "help meet" to his home far in the West. In sharing his toils, in prosperity and in adversity, she has ever been the true and faithful wife.

In 1844 Mr. Whittemore was elected Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners, the duties of which office included both that of the Clerk and Auditor of the present day.

In 1858 he was elected the first County Superintendent of Schools, of Jones County, and served about two years. During the past ten years he has served the public as Justice of the Peace, Township Collector, District Secretary, etc., and, in every position, has discharged the duties of his office with fidelity and precision.

During his settlement in this state, he aided in braking the ground for the first captiol at Iowa City. The first election in Jones County was held in his cabin, and the whole number of votes cast for Territorial officers was eleven. He was in the Black Hawk War, and was active on the side of the Government during the exciting times of the Rebellion.

It would be easy to fill a volume, detailing the life of Mr. W., but our space will not admit of a more extended notice. For the past fifty years he has served the rising generation as a teacher, and, at the age of sixty-nine, his school last winter was a success.

Mr. Whittemore is a good writer, and in his sketches of the early settlement of Bowen's Prairie, etc., published in the Monticello Express, a few years ago, were read by the people of the county with increasing interest.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 369
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 25 Feb 2002

DAVID S. WILSON,
David S. Wilson, Judge of the Ninth Judicial District of Iowa, was born in Steubenville, Ohio, March 18, 1825. At the age of 14, he graduated from the High School of his native town, and immediately removed to Dubuque, Iowa for the purpose of studying law with his brother, Honorable Thomas S. Wilson, who was at that time Judge of the District Court, and had been one of the three original judges both of the District and Supreme Courts of the territory, appointed with Honorable Charles Mason and Honorable Joseph Williams, by President Van Buren in 1838.

Mr. Wilson remained with his brother in the study of law about six months. At the expiration of that period a new field was opened for the exercise of his talents, in connection with the press; and although a mere youth, he was invited to assume the responsibilities of the editorial profession, which he entered upon and followed with marked success during a period of about five years. The Miner's Express had been started at Dubuque, in 1841, by Avery Thomas, who had retained his connection with it about six months, when it was purchased by Mr. Wilson and Andrew Keesecker, and conducted by them jointly till 1845. During this period the Express was edited by Mr. Wilson, Mr. Keesecker being the printer. It was a decided success both editorially and financially, considering the period in which these parties were engaged in its publication. Mr. Wilson, the young editor, was ardent in the Democratic faith; the Express was democratic in politics; such were also the prevailing political sentiments of the country during that period; and the proprietors did a large share of the public printing of the territory.

At the close of his editorial career, in 1845 having sold the Express to George Greene, Mr. Wilson returned again to the study of law with his brother.

In April, 1846, when he had arrived to the age of twenty-one years and one month, he was elected to the Legislature of Iowa as a member of the House from Dubuque County, and in the question then pending respecting the re-submission of the State Constitution to a vote of the people, took an active and prominent part, both in oral discussion and written articles.

This was during the period of the Mexican War. Governor Clark, of Iowa, desired of volunteers to be raised to relieve Major Sumner, in command at Fort Atkinson, whose services, with the 2d Cavalry, were required in Mexico. To accomplish this object, Governor Clark commissioned Mr. Wilson lieutenant, with authority in conjunction with Capt. Morgan, to raise the required company of men. The company was accordingly raised - one half by Captain Morgan and the balance by Lieutenant Wilson - and they proceeded to Fort Atkinson, on Turkey River, where they remained in service two years. During this time, they removed the whole tribe of Winnebago Indians from the reservation at Fort Atkinson to Long Prairie, one hundred and twenty-five miles above the falls of St. Anthony. They remained in service several month after the close of the Mexican War, on account of the inability of the Government to relieve them.

Returning to Dubuque, Mr. Wilson was shortly admitted to practice as an attorney and counsellor-at-law, and was immediately elected to the office of Prosecuting Attorney, which he filled during two consecutive terms with so much satisfaction to his constituents that he was unanimously tendered the office for a third term, but he declined, feeling there was more profit in defending people than in prosecuting them.

In 1851, when the Land Office became established in Dubuque, great inducements were offered for active and energetic men to engage in the land speculations which became so rife during the following few years, creating a mania for land in the new settlement of Iowa and the Northwest. So great was the rush of land-hunters and speculators during this period, that lands were held at fabulous prices, and every interest connected therewith so enormously inflated, that it is impossible to conceive the extent of the excitement or the disastrous consequences that followed in a few years.

On the first wave of this rapid movement Mr. Wilson embarked, and was carried along by the spirit of the period. Forming a partnership with his brother, Judge Thomas S. Wilson, he engaged in the speculation in lands and land warrants, giving his entire attention to the business, while at the same time his brother remained in the discharge of the duties of his office as District Judge. In a few years they had done an extensive business and become wealthy at the prices then prevailing, and had the stopped in season, might have continued so; but the temptation was to great. They were drawn into the whirlpool which, in 1856-7, wrecked their fortunes in a general collapse throughout the West. But a man of energy and perseverance is not likely to be discouraged under such circumstances. And so Mr. Wilson, learning a valuable lesson in "inflation," came down at once to a "solid basis," on which, by his energy and talents in his profession, he has in a considerable degree retrieved his losses.

In 1857, he was elected to the State Senate for four years, having for his colleagues in the Senate Honorable Wm. G. Stewart, and in the House Honorable D. A. Mahony and Honorable Lincoln Clark formerly a member of Congress from Iowa. This was said to be "as good a delegation as Dubuque County ever had in the Legislature."

During the extra session of 1861, which was called by the Governor for the purpose of putting the State of Iowa on a war footing, Mr. Wilson was the nominated by the Legislature to deliver a lecture on the right of a state to secede from the Federal Union. Upto this time he had been an earnest Democrat, and had zealously advocated the principles and measures of the Democratic party. But in the examination which it became necessary him to make in the preparation of his lecture, he found occasion to diverge somewhat from the prevailing Democratic opinion. He brought out an able and thoroughly prepared document, in point-blank opposition to the right of secession, - a document evincing great research into the subject and one of the first of the kind that had appeared; showing historically and argumentatively, in a most convincing and conclusive manner, that a state has no right to secede from the Union on and pretext whatever. This argument of Mr. Wilson's became the great war document of Iowa and the Legislature circulated it by the thousands all over the state. Henceforth, Mr. Wilson was destined to act with the Republican party and the War-Democrats, in giving in his earnest adhesion to the cause of the Union during the Rebellion. At the invitation of the people of Des Moines, he repeated his lecture in that city to one of the largest audiences ever assembled at the capital.

A question had been raised as to the loyalty of the Irish regiment that had been organized in Iowa, and the Governor was unwilling to muster them into the Union service. Mr. Wilson, at the request of the leading citizens of Dubuque, in 1862, went to Washington, and interviewed Secretary Stanton (who, by the way, had been an old friend of Mr. Wilson's family in Ohio), and obtained from him permission for the mustering of the Irish regiment into the United States service, which was executed according to the order of the Secretary of War.

At the same time, Secretary Stanton, without the solicitation of Mr. Wilson, commissioned him colonel, with authority to go home and raise the Sixth Regiment of Iowa Cavalry. He immediately returned to Dubuque, and by his own personal exertions raised the regiment, although fifty thousand men had already been taken out of the state for the Union army. It was the preference of Colonel Wilson to have been ordered south with his command; but just prior to their mustering in, in August 1862, the Sioux outbreak occurred in Minnesota, and Colonel Wilson, with his regiment, was ordered to Sioux City, to join a regiment from Nebraska, under command of Colonel Furnass, now Governor of that state, and thus consolidated under Brigadier-General Alfred Sully, to proceed up the river and join the Minnesota force in command of General H. H. Sibley, for the suppression of the Indian massacre. But failing to effect a junction, on account of delays in transportation, the force under General Sully found the Indian trail, and, overtaking them at White Stone Hill, fought the noted battle at that point, August 3, 1863, which resulted in killing about three hundred Indians and the capture of a hundred and fifty prisoners. In that battle Colonel Wilson had a fine horse shot under him, which had been presented to him by the citizens of Dubuque. Seeing his horse about to fall, he instantly mounted another and kept up with the charge upon the enemy.

In the Fall of 1863, Colonel Wilson built Fort Sully on the Upper Missouri. During the Winter of 1863-4 he was stationed with his command, for the protection of the settlers, along the line of the Missouri River, from Sort Sully to Sioux City. Secretary Stanton not being able to fulfill his promise to send the colonel and his command south, Colonel Wilson resigned and came home in June 1864.

On the 1st of August following he started for California where he went into partnership in the practice of law with his brother S. M. Wilson, one of the leading lawyers on the Pacific coast. The partnership continued over two years, when he returned to practice in Dubuque and Washington City, being the attorney at the latter place in the celebrated case of McGarrahan vs. the New Idria Quicksilver Mining Company. This case was closed after being on trial two years. It was tried before the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives of the United States, Honorable John A. Bingham, of Ohio, chairman. The committee consisted of the following persons: Honorable John A. Bingham, chairman; Honorable Benj. F. Butler; Honorable ? Eldridge, of Wisconsin; Honorable John A. Peters, now a Judge of the Supreme Court of Maine; Honorable Ulysses Mercur, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; Honorable Michael C. Kerr, M. C. from Indiana; Judge Kellogg, of Connecticut; and Judge Loughridge of Iowa. The attorneys in the case were: Honorable David S. Wilson and Honorable William M. Evarts, for the Company; and Judge Paschal, of Washington City, and Judge Shaw, of New York, for McGarrahan. Mr. Wilson presented the facts of the case and a very able legal argument. Mr. Evarts followed basing his defense of the Company on the facts furnished by Mr. Wilson. The committee, also, in award the title to the Company, made up their report from the matter furnished in Mr. Wilson's statement and defense of the case. This was and important trial and its decision, to which Mr. Wilson contributed so largely, saved the company a mining interest in California worth a million dollars. The case had been ably argued repeatedly before the Supreme Court of California and the United States, yet it as admitted the Mr. Wilson's defense of the Company was the most thorough and complete of any thing that had ever been presented on the subject.

After returning to Iowa, in June 1872 he was appointed Circuit Judge to fill the unexpired term made vacant in the Ninth Judicial District by the death of Judge Baker, which office he held till August following, when he was appointed District Judge to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Brayton. In the fall of 1874, he was elected by a large majority, irrespective of party distinction, to the office of District Judge, for a term of four years, commencing January 1, 1875.

Judge Wilson was married in 1850 to Henrietta E. Sanford of Erie, Pennsylvania, and by this marriage has four children - three sons and one daughter. The latter, Mrs. Henry W. Brock, resides in Chicago. The Judge's oldest son, Henry, is about ready to graduate to the practice of law.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 368
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 25 Feb 2002

Honorable THOMAS S. WILSON,
Honorable Thomas S. Wilson, one of the original Judges of the Territory of Iowa, and of the District Court for many years, was born at Steubenville, Ohio, Oct. 13, 1813. He graduated at Jefferson College, Penn, in 1832, and, after studying law two years, was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1834. He immediately commenced practice with General Stokely, at Steubenville, and although having an unusually good prospect in that locality, contrary to the advice and wishes of his friends, he determined to go west and rise with the new country. Having a brother, Capt. George Wilson, of the 1st U.S. Infantry, under command of Col. Zachary Taylor, at Prairie du Chien, he went there with his wife (being then a married man), and remained there until he could select a place of settlement. Deciding to locate at Dubuque, he removed here in October, 1836.

In the spring of 1837, he was elected President of the Board of Trustees of the town of Dubuque. Iowa was then a part of Wisconsin Territory, and contained two counties - Dubuque and Des Moines; Upto the 4th of July, 1838, he practiced law in Dubuque, Mineral Point, Lancaster and Prairie du Chien, and was engaged in almost every suit up to that time.

In June, 1838, he was nominated a delegate to Congress by the northern counties of Iowa; W. W. Chapman, of Burlington, being nominated by the southern counties; and taking a steamer, with the view of going south to canvass the southern part of the state, he was informed by the captain that a St. Louis paper, which he had on board, contained the announcement of his (Mr. Wilson's) appointment, by President Van Buren, as one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Iowa. That was the first intimation he had of an appointment which had been made wholly unknown and without application on his part. His appointment was renewed by Presidents Tyler and Polk, and he continued Judge of the Supreme Court till a year after the admission of Iowa into the Union as a State in 1846.

When the first Legislature met and went into joint ballot, he came within one vote of being elected United States Senator.

The first court ever held in Iowa Territory was held by Judge Wilson at Prairie la Porte, now Guttenburg, on the second Monday in September, 1838.

He resigned his office as Judge of the Supreme Court in 1847, and practiced law in partnership with Platt Smith, Esq., and his brother, Honorable D. S. Wilson, about four years; and in April 1852, he was elected, without opposition, Judge of the District Court, and by successive elections, held the office until Jan. 1, 1863, - making over twenty years and a few days of service as Judge. He held the first courts ever held in the counties of Clayton, Delaware, Jones, Allamakee, Winneshiek, Black Hawk, Bremer, Chickasaw, Fayette and Clinton; and the following counties were in his district during his term of office: Clayton, Dubuque, Jackson, Scott, Muscatine, Cedar, Jones, Delaware, Fayette, Linn, Benton, Black Hawk, Grundy, Bremer, Floyd, Chickasaw, Allamakee, Winneshiek and Clinton. It is stated upon good authority, that Judge Wilson never had ten cases reversed during all the time he was on the bench.

In the local controversy respecting the right of the Government to lease the lead mines of Dubuque, the question was brought before the District Court, and Judge Wilson decided against the right of the Government to lease the mines, claiming that, while there had been an act of Congress in reference to mines in Indiana Territory, there had been none respecting those west of the Mississippi. As soon as the judge's decision had been sent to Washington, the Secretary of War, Honorable John C. Spencer, wrote the judge a sharp letter, intimating that he would speedily be removed from office. In this letter occurs a laughable mistake, which is a good illustration of how little even men high in place understood the geography of this western country at that time. Secretary Spencer stated in his letter that, even if the right of the Government to lease the mines did not extend west of the Mississippi, he did not see why the judge could not have decided that it did extend to that part of Iowa lying east of the river.

Honorable James Wilson, Surveyor-General of Iowa (having his office at Dubuque), saw the letter and having occasion to visit Washington called on the Secretary and gave him a lesson in geography, and pointed out to him between what states and territories the Mississippi ran. "This," say Judge Wilson, "settled the question as to my removal from office. The Father of Waters was my father and friend on that occasion, and stayed home in his old bed; for had he left home and traveled off between other states and territories, my head would have fallen off."

Judge Wilson was elected two consecutive terms to the Legislature, in 1866 and 1868. At the session in 1866, he was tendered by the Democratic members, the nomination of United States senator, which he declined.

He was also a member of the Cincinnati convention, and took and active part in the nomination of Mr. Buchanan for the presidency.

Judge Wilson has been twice married; his first wife, whom he married in Ohio before he came west, was Miss Anna Hoge, daughter of David Hoge, Esq., of Steubenville. He married Miss Mary Stokely, his present wife, in 1864, and has had five children. The judge is now engaged in the practice of law in Dubuque, and not withstanding his long and laborious experience in public life, appears remarkably young and active. His talents have been recognized and his great services appreciated by his fellow-citizens, among whom he is held in high esteem.

Source: 1875 A. T. Andreas Atlas, page 368
Typed by: Tom Schlarman, 25 Feb 2002