1903 Index

History of Iowa From the Earliest Times To The Beginning of the Twentieth Century
Volume IV, Iowa Biography, B. F. Gue, 1903.

K

Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Becke Dawson.

JOHN L. KAMRER has long been one of the prominent lawyers and Republicans of north central Iowa. He was born in Union County, Pennsylvania, October 12, 1842, secured a liberal education and was at one time principal of the public schools of Savannah, Illinois. He was a lieutenant in the One Hundred Forty-sixth Illinois Volunteers in 1864. In 1869 Mr. Kamrer removed to Iowa, locating in Webster City, where he soon after began the practice of law and has attained high rank in the profession. In 1881 he was elected to the State Senate from the district composed of the counties of Hamilton and Hardin, serving in the Nineteenth and Twentieth General Assemblies. He was the author of a number of important laws which remain on the statute books. At the Republican State Convention of 1895 Mr. Kamrer was one of the prominent candidates for nomination for Governor.

JOHN A. KASSON was born at Charlotte, Vermont, January 11, 1822. His father died when he was but six years old and his boyhood days were a struggle to support himself and secure an education. He finally graduated at the State University in 1842, taught school and studied law. In1851 he went to St. Louis and practiced his profession for six years. In 1857 he removed to Des Moines and in 1858 was appointed by Governor Lowe to examine and report upon the condition of the State offices. The same year he was chosen chairman of the Republican State Committee and effected a strong organization of the new party. He was a delegate from Iowa to the famous National Republican Convention held at Chicago in May, 1860, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President and was selected by the Iowa delegation to act on the committee on resolutions which at that critical time was to frame a platform for the party in the campaign. The committee was made up with great care in view of the momentous issues involved and among its members were some of the most eminent men of the Nation. It consisted of one from each State and upon its organization and comparison of views it was evident that the drafting of a platform must be delegated to a few men to expedite the work. On motion of Mr. Kasson a subcommittee of five was chosen for this purpose. It consisted of Horace Greeley, Carl Schurz, John A. Kasson, Austin Blair and William Jessup. This subcommittee received all resolutions submitted and the proceeded to consider them and agree upon the essential topics to be embraced in the platform. It unanimously indorsed Mr. Kasson's declaration ‘that the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom.' At midnight three of the members retired exhausted, leaving Kasson and Greeley to complete the work. As daylight approached, Mr. Greeley went to the telegraph office to send the substance of the resolution to the TRIBUNE, while Kasson finished and revised the platform. At nine in the morning Mr. Kasson reported the platform to the general committee and it was approved by a unanimous vote. There was a diversity of opinions on the tariff, which was difficult to reconcile. Mr. Kasson finally drafted a resolution on the subject which all accepted. The New York TRIBUNE, on the 18 th , published the following from Mr. Greeley:

"The platform gives great satisfaction and the demonstrations of applause on its adoption were most enthusiastic, lasting several minutes. When the tariff resolution was read there was great rejoicing, more than over any other. Such a platform, so adopted, is a new era in American party politics."

On the 22d the TRIBUNE said editorially:

"The platform presented, so generally satisfactory as it has proved, is eminently due to John A. Kasson of Iowa, whose efforts to reconcile differences, and to secure the largest liberty of sentiment consistent with fidelity to Republican principles, were most effective and untiring. I think no former platform ever reflected more fairly and fully the average convictions of a great National party."

This platform, as will be remembered, was made the pretext for the inauguration of the Rebellion, which resulted in the emancipation of 4,000,000 of slaves. Never since Jefferson's immortal Declaration of Independence has a document been framed, fraught with such momentous results as this famous Chicago Platform of 1860, penned by an Iowa statesman. It was with this platform that the Republican party won its first national victory. Mr. Kasson took an active part in that eventful campaign and upon the election of Mr. Lincoln was appointed First Assistant Postmaster General. In the summer of 1863 he was nominated by the Republicans of the Des Moines district for Representative in Congress and elected. The most important measures originated by him in that body, were securing an amendment to the bankrupt laws, saving to the head of the family of the debtor a homestead. He formulated a plan while in the post-office department for securing uniform and cheaper postage with foreign countries. He negotiated postal treaties with the chief nations of Europe. He served in Congress six terms in all, taking rank among its ablest members. He afterwards, as a member of the Iowa Legislature, secured the building of the permanent State House. In diplomacy he has attained the highest rank in the Nation, having served as minister to Austria-Hungary and Germany. He was chairman of the United States Commission at the Samoan Conference at Berlin in 1889. During McKinley's administration he negotiated important reciprocal treaties with many foreign nations in the interest of our commerce. During the forty years of arduous and most valuable public services rendered to the State and Nation Mr. Kasson has found time to contribute to the highest grade of American periodicals and has written a History of Diplomacy, which will have world-wide interest. Among the eminent statesmen who for fifty years have reflected credit upon our State, none have ranked higher in notable achievements and intellectual endowment than John A. Kasson.

BENJAMIN F. KEABLES was born in Genesee County, New York, November 30, 1828. He came to Iowa in 1850, entering the medical department of the State University which was then located at Keokuk and from which he graduated in 1852. He located at Pella where he began to practice medicine. The following year he was president of the school board and was influential in securing the building of the first brick school-house in that part of the State. At the beginning of the Civil War Dr. Keables was appointed by Governor Kirkwood assistant surgeon of the Third Iowa Infantry. At the Battle of Hatchie the doctor was conspicuous for bravery and upon recommendation of his superior officers was promoted to regimental surgeon. In 1869 he was elected on the Republican ticket Representative in the House of the Thirteenth General Assembly and was a member at the extra session which adopted the Code of 1873. In 1871 he was reelected, serving in the Fourteenth General Assembly. He was appointed a member of the Pension Examining Board under President Harrison; and is a member of the Army of the Tennessee, of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association.

JOHN H. KEATLEY was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1838. He secured his early education by his own exertions, working on a farm to earn money to pursue his studies until able to teach school. While preparing for his chosen profession in the law, he earned his living by working on a farm during the summers and teaching winters. He was admitted to the bar in 1860 and immediately began practice, at the same time acting as editor of the BLAIR COUNTY WHIG, a newspaper supporting the administration of Abraham Lincoln. When the call for 300,000 volunteers came in 1862, Mr. Keatley enlisted in the One Hundred Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Regiment which was soon after engaged in the second Battle of Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and in the Gettysburg campaign he was assistant Adjutant-General on the staff of General Higgins. In 1864-5 he was actively engaged in the last battles under General Grant which resulted in the capture of General Lee and his army. Before his return home Colonel Keatley was elected District Attorney of Blair County. After the close of the war he was detailed by General Terry to take charge of the Freedman's Bureau for five counties in southeastern Virginia, and was a judge of the military court at Norfolk. He served as District Attorney of Blair County until 1867, when he decided to remove to Iowa, locating at Cedar Falls. In 1868 he went to Council Bluffs and soon after became editor of the DAILY NONPAREIL, serving until April, 1870, when he accepted the position of assistant assessor of Internal Revenue. In 1872 he united with the Liberal Republicans and was made chairman of the State Central Committee, conducting the campaign on behalf of Horace Greeley for President against General Grant. In 1874 he was nominated for Attorney-General by the Antimonopoly party and the Democrats, but was defeated. In 1876 he was elected mayor of Council Bluffs, and in 1878 he was the Democratic candidate for Congress in the Eighth District.

RACINE D. KELLOGG was born in Fayetteville, Onondaga County, New York, on the 9 th of March, 1828. He removed to Iowa in 1854, locating at Garden Grove in Decatur County, where he engaged in farming and dealing in real estate. He was a Democrat in politics and an eloquent public speaker. In 1859 he was elected to the House of the Eighth General Assembly of which he was one of the youngest members. He soon formed an intimate friendship with Ex-Governor N. B. Baker who was a member from Clinton County. Mr. Kellogg acted with the Democratic party during the regular session but when the Rebellion began and his party divided upon the question of sustaining the National administration in crushing armed resistance to the enforcement of the laws, he did not hesitate to stand by the administration. At the extra session called by Governor Kirkwood in May, 1861, to organize the military forces of the State, Mr. Kellogg became one of the leaders of the ‘War Democrats' and with Governor Baker, Senator Bussey and others, declared for the preservation of the Union at all hazards. At the opening of the session he introduced resolutions (found in another place) pledging unqualified support to the Government, State and National, in suppressing the Rebellion. Governor Kirkwood recognized his patriotism my appointing him major of the Thirty-fourth Iowa Volunteers where he rendered good service in the Union army. He became a Republican during the war when his party passed under control of men not in sympathy with the was for the Union and has often been urged to become a candidate for some of the highest offices in the State but was unwilling to resort to modern methods to secure a nomination. He has long been an honored member of the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association, before which he has delivered several interesting addresses.

JOHN C. KELLY is a native of the State of New York, having been born in Cortland County on the 28 th of February, 1852. His education was acquired through much effort but finally securing a position in the Government Printing Office at Washington, he acquired a thorough knowledge of printing and electrotyping. In 1873 he was delegated by Mills & Company, then State Printers at Des Moines, Iowa, to purchase their outfit and act as superintendent of their establishment. While in that position he divided and numbered the streets of Des Moines on the Philadelphia plan, and was the pioneer in organizing the first building association in Iowa. After a few years he purchased an interest in the DAILY STATE LEADER, of which he became one of the editors. After three years he disposed of his interest and purchased the SIOUX CITY TRIBUNE which in 1884 he converted into a daily. He was the founder of the Sioux City Printing Company which furnishes auxiliary sheets for country papers. In 1893 he was appointed by President Cleveland Collector of Internal Revenue and was also disbursing agent of the Treasury Department. He was for many years an active member of the Reform Club of New York, and has long been an advocate of tariff reform and civil service. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention which nominated Cleveland for President, and has written many of the platforms of the Democratic party of Iowa.

DANIEL KERR was born at Ayrshire, Scotland, June 18, 1836. He graduated at McKendree College in 1858, and came to America with his father's family in 1841, locating in Madison County, Illinois. In 1860 he was a teacher in a high school. He read law with Governor A. C. French and was admitted to the bar in 1862. When the War of the Rebellion began he enlisted as a private in Company G, of the One Hundred Seventeenth Illinois Volunteers, serving through the war and winning promotion to first lieutenant. He was in the battles of Pleasant Hill, Nashville and Fort Blakely. After the war he again taught in the schools of Alton. In 1868 he was elected to the Illinois Legislature, serving until 1870. At the close of his term he removed to Iowa, becoming a resident of Grundy Center where he engaged in farming and the practice of law. In 1883 he was elected Representative to the House of the Twentieth General Assembly. In 1886 he was elected a Representative in Congress from the Fifth District, serving two terms.

HARRIET A. KETCHAM was born in New Market, Ohio, July 12, 1846. Her parents removed to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, when she was but five years old where she graduated from the Wesleyan University of that place. While quite young she was married to William B. Ketcham, a manufacturer, of Mount Pleasant. It was eight years after her marriage that she turned her attention to the art in which she became known throughout the State. Beginning to model in clay she soon discovered her skill in shaping figures. She was fascinated with the work and soon began a course in instruction with noted sculptors. Mrs. Ketcham finally determined to devote her time and talent to the profession and placed herself under the guidance of the famous Clark Mill. After ten years of work and instruction in this country she went to Italy and in Rome pursued her studies under the instruction of the most noted sculptors of that city. While there she executed the figure of ‘Peri at the Gates of Paradise,' which was taken to the Columbian Exposition and afterwards placed in the Library of the State House at Des Moines. When designs were sought for the Iowa Soldiers' Monument there were forty-seven submitted. The one made by Mrs. Ketcham was accepted by the commissioners and the structure erected after that model. She made busts of President Lincoln, Senators Harlan and Allison and Judge Samuel F. Miller. Mrs. Ketcham was stricken with paralysis while in the midst of her work, and died on the 20 th of October, 1890.

CHARLES R. KEYES was born in Des Moines, Iowa, December 24, 1864. His education was begun in the public schools of his native city and continued in Callanan College. Later he entered the State University from which he was graduated in 1887. The following two years were devoted to study with Professor Wachsmuth of Burlington. During 1889 and 1890, Mr. Keyes was an assistant on the United States Geological Survey and in the latter year received the degree of A. M. from the State University. Continuing his geological studies at John Hopkins University at Baltimore, he received from that institution the degree of Ph. D. in 1892. Dr. Keyes then returned to Des Moines and became Assistant State Geologist of Iowa. In 1894 he was appointed Director of the Bureau of Geology and Mines of Missouri, which position he held until 1897 when he returned to Des Moines. In 1902 he was elected president of the New Mexico School of Mines at Socorro. Dr. Keyes is a prolific writer; among his best known works may be cited ‘Origin and Relation of Central Maryland Granites,' ‘Coal Deposits of Iowa' (Iowa Geological Survey Vol. II) and ‘Paleontology of Missouri' (Missouri Geological Survey Vol. IV, Pts. 1-2)

LUCIEN M. KILBURN was born at Boscawen, New Hampshire, January 20, 1842. He spent his youthful days on his father's farm and in securing a public school education. Early in the Civil War he enlisted in the Sixteenth New Hampshire Volunteers, serving in the Department of the Gulf under General Banks. In 1868 he emigrated to Iowa, and after a few months purchased a fine farm in Adair County and has been extensively engaged in stock raising and general farming. He was one of the founders and for nine years president of the Adair County Mutual Insurance Company. In 1893 he was elected on the Republican ticket State Senator from the district composed of the counties of Madison and Adair, serving in the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh General Assemblies. He was an active supporter of woman suffrage, free text books and the reduction of official salaries.

JOHN KING, founder and editor of the first newspaper published within the limits of Iowa, was born at Shepardstown, Virginia, January 10, 1803. He was educated in the public schools of his native State and at Chillicothe, Ohio, to which place he removed in 1829. In 1833 he went to the frontier town of Dubuque, then in Michigan Territory, to engage in lead mining. Stephen T. Mason, then acting Governor of Michigan Territory, appointed Mr. King Chief Justice of the Court of Dubuque County during the first year of his residence there. In the fall of 1835 Judge King decided to establish a newspaper in the new town and made a trip to Cincinnati by river where he purchased a Washington hand press and a small printing outfit, returning as soon as navigation was resumed in the spring of 1836. He issued the first number of the DUBUQUE VISITOR on the 11 th of May of that year. It was the first and only newspaper in the vast region north of St. Louis and west of the Mississippi River. Judge King was an able writer and judge, an enterprising pioneer and a citizen of the highest character. His foreman was Andrew Keesecker, an accomplished printer, who set the first type in Iowa. He was also a native of Shepardstown, born there in 1810 and who came to Galena, Illinois, when a young man and worked on the first paper established there. He died in Dubuque April 15, 1870. Judge King died in that city February 13, 1871.

WILLIAM F. KING was born near Zanesville, Ohio, December 20, 1830. He graduated at the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, in 1857, and became tutor in that institution, where he remained five years. In 1852 he was called to the chair of ancient languages at Cornell College, Iowa, and since that time has been closely identified with the educational interests of that institution and the State. Upon the death of President Fellows in 1863, he was made acting president and was formally president in 1865, which position he has held continuously since. He is the senior college president in Iowa, and probably in the United States. Mr. King has been president of the State Teachers' Association and for years served on the most important committees; he has long been a member of the educational council of the National Teachers' Association. In 1870 the Illinois Wesleyan University conferred upon President King the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and in 1887 he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from his alma mater and from the Iowa State University. In 1890 Dr. King was appointed by President Harrison member of the National Commission of the World's Fair. He was a member of the executive committee and vice-chairman of the committee on awards. Dr. King has been prominent in the councils of the Methodist Episcopal church, has been three times elected to the General Conference, and in the conference of 1896 was chairman of the committee on education. He is also a member of the Board of Education of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Cornell College has grown during Dr. King's administration from an enrollment of two hundred thirteen students in 1863 to seven hundred twenty-six in 1902. In 1863 one student was graduated, while the average of late years has been over fifty annually. The alumni number nine hundred forty-four. Cornell has, under Dr. King, become one of the strong and useful colleges of the church in this country.

LA VEGA G. KINNE is a native of Syracuse, New York, where he was born on the 5 th of November, 1846. He graduated at the high school then, taking the law course in the Michigan University, graduated in 1868 and was admitted to the bar at Ottawa, Illinois. In September, 1869, he removed to Iowa, locating at Toledo, in Tama County where he entered upon the practice of his profession. In the summer of 1881 he was nominated for Governor by the Democratic State Convention and made a vigorous canvass of the State but the Republican majority was too large to be overcome. In 1883 he was again nominated by his party for the same position, again meeting with defeat by his former competitor, Governor Buren R. Sherman. At various times he has been the Democratic candidate for United States Senator, District Attorney and Circuit Judge. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in 1876 and again in 1884. In 1886 he was elected judge of the District Court and reelected in 1890. In 1891 he was nominated by his party for judge of the Supreme Court and was elected for a full term of six years. Judge Kinne has the distinction of being the first and only Democrat ever elected to that position by the people of Iowa since it became a State. In 1894 Judge Kinne was one of the commissioners from Iowa, upon uniform legislation in the several States. In 1896 he was president of the Iowa Bar Association. For ten years he has been law lecturer at the State University and lectures before the Iowa College of Law at Des Moines. He is the author of ‘Kinne's Pleadings and Practice.' When the State Board of Control was established by act of the General Assembly, Judge Kinne was appointed one of the three members and has served as president of the board.

JOHN F. KINNEY was born in Oswego County, New York, April 2, 1816. He received a liberal education for that time and studied law. In August, 1844, he located at Fort Madison, Iowa, and the following year was elected Secretary of the Council of the Legislative Assembly, serving two sessions. In 1846 he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney and in June, 1847, when but thirty-one years of age, was appointed by the Governor Judge of the Supreme Court. In 1848 he was elected to the same office by the General Assembly for a term of six years. In 1853 he gave a dissenting opinion in a case before the Supreme Court involving the right of counties to issue bonds to aid in building railroads. Judge Kinney held that under the Constitution counties had no right to permit a majority of the voters to impose a tax upon the people to build railroads. A few years later Judge Samuel F. Miller of the United States Supreme Court gave a similar dissenting opinion. He referred to the opinion of Judge Kinney as a correct rendition of the law on the subject before the Iowa Supreme Court. Had these opinions prevailed hundreds of thousands of dollars would have been saved to the people of several Iowa counties for which no value was ever received. In August, 1853, Judge Kinney was appointed by President Pierce Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Utah. Accepting the position he made the journey of 1,500 miles with his family in an emigrant wagon over the plains then infested with hostile Indians. In 1860 he was reappointed by President Buchanan and in 1863 was removed by the Republican administration. Returning to Nebraska, he was chosen to Congress and gave his support to the war measures of that body. In 1867 he was a member of a commission to report upon the condition of the Sioux Indians. He was appointed by President Arthur agent for the Yankton Sioux Indians of Dakota, serving until 1889, when he removed to California where he died August 16, 1902.

WILLIAM H. KINSMAN was a native of Nova Scotia where he was born in 1832. He was a sailor in early life and later entered the Columbia, New York, Academy. After attending law school in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1858 he went to Council Bluffs where he entered the law office of Clinton & Baldwin. He was admitted to the bar of Pottawattamie County and was employed on one of the city papers. When the Civil War began he assisted in raising the first military company organized in that county and was chosen second lieutenant. The company was assigned to the Fourth Iowa Infantry and became Company B. Kinsman was soon promoted to captain of the company which he led in the Battle of Pea Ridge. In July, 1863, he was placed on the staff of General Dodge and in August was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-third Iowa Volunteers. In December he was promoted to colonel and commanded the regiment in the early battles of Grant's Vicksburg campaign. While gallantly leading a charge at the Battle of Black River Bridge he fell mortally wounded and died upon the field.

SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD, fifth Governor of the State, was born in Hartford County, Maryland, December 20, 1813. He was educated in Washington, D. C., and employed in a drug store. In 1835 his father removed to Richland County, Ohio, where for several years the son assisted him in clearing a new farm in the heavy forest. He finally studied law and in 1843 was admitted to the bar. From 1845 to 1849 he was Prosecuting Attorney and was then elected to the convention which framed the present Constitution of the State of Ohio. Up to 1854 Mr. Kirkwood was a Democrat but when that party attempted to force slavery into Kansas he became alienated and favored the free soil movement. In 1855 he removed to Iowa and purchased an interest in a mill near Iowa City. In February, 1856, he served as a delegate in the State Convention which organized the Republican party of Iowa. In the fall of that year he was elected to the State Senate from the district consisting of Iowa and Johnson counties, serving in the Sixth and Seventh General Assemblies. He won such reputation as a legislator that at the Republican State Convention in 1859 he was nominated for Governor and was elected over General A. C. Dodge the Democratic candidate by over 3,000 majority. During his two terms as Governor it devolved upon him to organize and send to the seat of war more than 60,000 citizen soldiers. How ably he met and performed the arduous duties which a great war thrust upon him is recorded in the most stirring chapters of Iowa history. He won a place with the greatest ‘War Governors' of the Nation. In 1866 he was elected to the United States Senate to fill a vacancy of two years. In 1875 he was again chosen Governor; but the General Assembly of 1876 elected him to the Senate for a full term of six years and he resigned the office of Governor and returned to the Senate in March, 1877. Upon the inauguration of President Garfield, Governor Kirkwood was invited to a seat in the Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior which he accepted, resigning his position in the Senate. The death of the President terminated his service in the Cabinet after thirteen months and he retired to private life. During the quarter of a century that Governor Kirkwood was almost continually in public life, he possessed the confidence and esteem of the people of Iowa in as great a degree as any citizen who ever served the State. On the 28 th of September, 1892, ten years after Governor Kirkwood retired to private life, at the suggestion of Governor Sherman, more than thirty of the old associates of Governor Kirkwood in official positions living in different parts of the State, assembled at his home at Iowa City to pay their respects to the ‘War Governor' who was then about eighty years of age. It was a remarkable gathering of distinguished men of both political parties, after time had obliterated the bitterness of a score of partisan conflicts. All met as old friends and joined in honoring the man who had earned undying fame in the most critical period of our State and National history. Governor Kirkwood died at his home near Iowa City, September 1, 1894.

CHARLES W. KITTREDGE was born in Portland, Maine, on the 16 th of January, 1826. He received a liberal education and in 1839 joined his father's family in Adams County, Illinois. He came to Iowa in about the year 1857, first locating at Mount Pleasant and later at Ottumwa. Early in the summer of 1861, he raised a company of volunteers which was assigned to the Seventh Iowa Infantry, becoming Company F, of which Kittredge was appointed captain. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Belmont, where he was severely wounded and taken prisoner. His wound disabled him for active service and he resigned. In August, 1862, having recovered, he was appointed colonel of the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry. He commanded the regiment in the Battle of Helena and in Steele's expedition against Little Rock he commanded a brigade. The regiment was captured at the Battle of Mark's Mills, but Colonel Kittredge being sick was not with it. He continued in the service to the close of the war.

JOSEPH C. KNAPP was born at Berlin, Vermont, June 27, 1813. He received a liberal education, studied law and became a resident of Keosauqua, Iowa, in 1843. He became a member of the noted law firm of Wright, Knapp & Caldwell all of whom became eminent lawyers and distinguished judges. In 1850 Mr. Knapp was appointed judge of the Third District and in 1853 was appointed United States District Attorney for Iowa by President Pierce. He was reappointed by President Buchanan, serving eight years. Judge Knapp was a Democrat and one of the leaders of that party. Living in a Republican State, he has been a candidate for its highest offices, but could not overcome the great majorities of his political opponents. He was a Democrat candidate for Supreme Judge in 1869, for Governor in 1871 and for United States Senator in 1872.

JOHN B. KNOEPFLER was born at Neukirch, Germany, February 13, 1852, and came to America with his father in 1854. He grew to manhood in Oakland, Michigan, where his father settled on a farm. Acquiring sufficient education by the time he was nineteen to teach school, with his earnings he pursued studies in the higher institutions of learning. He removed to Iowa in 1876 where he became principal of a public school in Fayette County. In 1882 he was chosen superintendent of the city schools of West Union, serving seven years, when he removed to Lansing where he became superintendent of the schools of that city. In 1900 he was elected professor of German in the State Normal School at Cedar Falls. He has done a large amount of institute work in the counties of northern Iowa. In 1891 he was nominated by the Democratic State Convention for Superintendent of Public Instruction and elected, being the first Democrat to hold that office since 1863. He was defeated with his party in 1893 and returned to his former position at Lansing.

FREDERICK M. KNOLL of Dubuque is one of the veteran lawmakers of Iowa, having served fourteen years in the General Assembly of the State. He was born March 8, 1833, in Alsace, then a French province. He attended the schools of his native country and in August, 1853, when twenty years of age, emigrated to America, locating in Dubuque County which has since been his home. For forty-eight years he has lived on the farm he selected for his home upon his arrival in America. During that time he has served ten years as a member of the board of supervisors, was forty-three years a member of the school board, and thirty-three years a justice of the peace. In 1861 he was first elected a Representative in the Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth General Assemblies. In 1877 Mr. Knoll was again elected to the House of the Seventeenth General Assembly, and in 1890 his county returned him to the House of the Twenty-third General Assembly, twenty-eight years from the time he first entered the Legislature as one of its youngest members. Few citizens of Iowa have served so long as a public official, and in every position Mr. Knoll has proved faithful, efficient and worthy. He has been a Democrat from the time he landed in America and has many times represented his party in State conventions.