Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875 - P

Andreas Atlas Index

A. T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875.
Published by Andreas Atlas Corp., Chicago.

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Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton.

Honorable ISAAC MOSHER PRESTON, for the last thirty-three years a resident of Marion , Iowa , was born at Bennington , Vermont , April 25, 1813 . His grandfather, Levi Preston, was born in England , September 6, 1736 . Married Deliverance, daughter of Nicholas Mosher, who was born March 25, 1730 . They emigrated to America soon after, and settled first in Massachusetts , thence removed to Bennington , Vermont . He served in the Revolutionary war. His family was as follows: John, born September 15, 1759 ; Phebe, born April 25, 1761 ; Mary, born September 29, 1762 ; Ephraim, born March 10, 1764 , Elizabeth , born March 2, 1766 ; Levi, born April 13, 1769 ; Hannah, born July 22, 1771 .

Ephraim, the father of the subject of this sketch, served a short time in the Revolutionary army; married Anna Hoag, by whom he had four daughters and one son, who, dying in 1803, he was married a second time to Sarah Maxwell, of Rhode Island, and by her had six children, four of whom are now living, Colonel Preston being next to the youngest. In 1814 his parents moved to Onondaga County , New York , where his father died in 1849, aged 85, his mother having died November, 1832. Having been given his time at the age of sixteen, young Isaac learned the carpenter and joiner's trade, and continued at that business till 1840, when he resolved to study law. In 1842 he moved to Iowa, and entered the office of Asa Calkin, of Iowa City, and was admitted to the bar October 26, 1842, in Marion, Linn County, where he has since continued to practice. December 19, 1845 , he was appointed by Governor Clark District Attorney for the Eighteenth District of Iowa Territory, and discharged the duties of that office for two years. February 17, 1846 , he was commissioned by Governor Clark Colonel of the 3d Regiment, 2d Brigade, 2d Division, of the Militia of Iowa, and assisted in organizing troops for the Mexican war, but was not called into active service. He was elected Probate Judge for Linn County in 1843, and re-elected in 1846, holding the office six years, and declined a third election. March 3, 1847 , he was commissioned by President Polk, District Attorney for the State and District of Iowa, and continued in that position until the close of Polk's administration. In 1848 he was elected to the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of Iowa, and two years later to the State Senate, where he served four years, participating in the memorable contest which resulted in the election of Honorable James Harlan to the Unites States Senate. His associates in both branches of the Legislature were among the most eminent men of the state, and the passage of the code of 1851, which superseded the common law forms of practice, and changed the entire judicial system of the state, was the result of their legislation. Colonel Preston took an active part in all public affairs, and although decidedly a party man, was not a blind advocate of every measure proposed by his party, but carefully consulted the public weal, and at all times pursued the path of duty, and by so doing secured the approval of his political friends and opponents. The grand aim of his life, however, was to excel in his profession. Deprived as he was of the advantages of early education, he resolved that labor, energy and will should surmount all difficulties, and with this determination entered upon his professional career, and is now recognized as one of the first lawyers of the state. As a criminal lawyer he justly occupies a leading place in his profession, and probably few men in the state have tried as many criminal cases and been so universally successful. Cast as he was, at the age of sixteen, upon his own resources, without education, without money, and without assistance, he may be truly styled a self-made man.

Colonel Preston was married in Seneca County, New York, April 3, 1837, to Mary J., daughter of Charles Facer, and by her has two sons - Joseph H., born July 9, 1839, married Adaline L. Wood, formerly of Massachusetts, and is now a practicing lawyer at Waterloo, Iowa; and Edmund C., born June 5, 1841, who married Deborah E., daughter of A. J. Twogood, and is an able member of the Marion, Iowa bar.