History of Iowa From the Earliest Times..., 1903 - M

1903 Index

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

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Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Becke Dawson.

WILLIAM CORSE MCARTHUR, grandson of General John M. Corse, one of Iowa 's most distinguished soldiers, is a native of Burlington. Mr. McArthur received his education at the Institute College of Burlington, Chicago University and Cornell University of New York, where he graduated in 1881. He took the law course at Columbia College and was admitted to the bar in 1882. Immediately he entered upon practice in his native city and was soon after appointed deputy collector of Internal Revenue. He served as colonel on the staffs of Governors Jackson and Drake. In 1895 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth General Assembly where he was a prominent supporter of bills to permit the manufacture of spirituous liquors in the State, to drain lowlands of the Mississippi valley and to prohibit city councils from granting franchises to quasi-public corporations. In 1897 he was elected to the State Senate where he served in the Twenty-seventh General Assembly. In 1900 Mr. McArthur was appointed clerk of the United States District Court.

CORNELIUS G. McCarthy was born at Toledo, Ontario, January 29, 1843. He was educated in the common schools and in 1864 came to Iowa and taught school in Story County. In 1867 he located at Ames and became engaged in farming and stock raising. He was for many years connected with the Central Importing & Breeding Company which carried on a large business in importing French and English horses of the best breeds. In 1881 Mr. McCarthy was elected county auditor, serving four terms. In 1889 he was elected on Republican ticket to represent Story County in the House of the Twenty-third General Assembly. During the same year he helped to organize the Iowa Savings & Loan Association of which he has long been president. In 1892 he was elected Auditor of State, serving by reelection three terms. He was instrumental in introducing many reforms in that important department. Mr. McCarthy acquired wide influence in the Republican party and became one of its most influential leaders. He has from the first been a warm supporter of Hon. A. B. Cummins for United States Senator, and was largely instrumental in securing his nomination for Governor in 1901.

EMIL MCCLAIN is a native of the State of Ohio, having been born in Salem, November 25, 1851. His father removed with his family to Iowa in 1855, locating in Tipton where he had charge of the public schools. The son entered the State University at Iowa City in 1871, graduating the Law Department in 1873. He studied law with Judg Wright of Des Moines, becoming his private secretary after he was chosen United States Senator and later was clerk of the Senate committee on claims. In 1877 he began to practice law in Des Moines and prepared 'McClain's Annotated Statutes of Iowa' which was published in 1880 and became the standard code of the State. In 1881, Mr. McClain was appointed professor in the Law Department of the State University, removing to Iowa City where he was made Vice-Chancellor in 1887 and Chancellor in 1890. He has been long a law writer; his principal works are: 'Outlines of Criminal Law,' 1884; 'Synopsis of Elementary Law and Law of Personal Property,' 1884; 'Digest of Iowa Reports,' 1887 and 1898; 'Criminal Law,' two volumes, 1897; 'Cases on Law of Carriers', 1893 and 1896; 'Cases on Constitutional Law,' in 1900. He has been a contributor to many law journals and an active member of the American Bar Association. In 1894 Chancellor McClain was appointed one of the Commissioners of Iowa to act with other Commissioners from other States to recommend uniform laws on negotiable instruments and in conformity with their report acts have been passed by New York, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida and other States which will probably be the basis of future commercial law in the United States. In 1894 Chancellor McClain was selected by the Senate of Iowa as one of the Code Commissioners to formulate a revised code. Their work was the basis of the code adopted by the special session of the Twenty-sixth General Assembly. Chancellor McClain was selected to prepare the annotations of the new code which was published in 1897. At the Republican State Convention in 1900, he received the nomination for Judge of the Supreme Court, and was elected, assuming the duties in January, 1901.

MOSES A. MCCOID was born in Logan County, Ohio, on the 5th of November, 1840. He was educated at Fairfield University and Washington College, Pennsylvania. He removed to Fairfield, Iowa, and studied law with James F. Wilson of that place from 1858 to 1861. On the 6th of May he enlisted in Company E, Sixth Regiment of Volunteer Infantry. He took part in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Bear Creek, Resaca and Ostenaula River. He was first promoted to second lieutenant and later to adjutant of the regiment. Upon his return from the war he engaged in the practice of law at Fairfield and was chosen District Attorney of the Sixth District, serving until 1871 when he was elected to the State Senate where he served six years. He was elected to Congress on the Republican ticket in 1878 and was twice reelected, serving six years.

GEORGE W. MCCRARY was born on the 29th of August, 1835, near Evansville, Indiana. In 1837 the family emigrated to the 'Black Hawk Purchase,' locating in Van Buren County where the son grew to manhood on his father's farm. He received a liberal education and when nineteen began to study law with Rankin & Miller. When Miller became Judge of the United States Supreme Court, Mr. McCrary took his place in the law firm. In 1857, at the age of twenty-two, Mr. McCrary was elected Representative in the House of the Seventh General Assembly, being its youngest member. In 1861 he was elected to the State Senate, serving four years. He was an able and influential legislator and in 1868 was elected Representative in Congress from the First District. He was repeatedly reelected, serving eight years. As chairman of the committee on elections in the Forty-second Congress he insisted that every case should be decided upon the evidence, independent of partisan considerations. In the Forty-third Congress as chairman of the committee on railroads and canals he prepared an able report on the constitutional power of Congress to regulate commerce among the States which has since been regarded as high authority sustaining that power. At the time of the contest following the Presidential election of 1876, Mr. McCrary originated the famous Electoral Commission which decided that perilous controversy. He made an able argument before that tribunal in support of the legality of the election of Hayes and when the latter became President, George W. McCrary was chosen Secretary of War, entering the Cabinet March 12, 1877. After nearly three years' service in that position, he was appointed United States Judge of the Eighth Circuit, embracing the States of Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas and Arkansas. Mr. McCrary resigned the war portfolio and entered upon the duties of his new position in January, 1880. He brought to the bench great legal attainments, his opinions were clear, sound and comprehensive and rank as high authority. He here met as an associate his first instructor in law and his life-long friend, Justice Samuel F. Miller. In 1884 Judge McCrary resigned the judgeship and accepted the position of general counsel for the Santa Fe Railroad system; making his home in Kansas City. As a law writer Judge McCrary ranked high; his 'American Law of Elections,' is the standard work on that subject. He was a contributor to the NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW and an able writer on Unitarianism, being a prominent member of that denomination. He died in the meridian of a noble life on the 23d of June, 1890, loved and honored by the best people of the Nation. His body was taken to his old home where it rests among his early friends at Keokuk. He was a noble man, an unsullied statesman and jurist and the highest type of an American citizen.

JAMES W. MCDILL, was born at Monroe, Ohio, March 4, 1834. He was educated at the South Salem Academy and at Miami University from which he graduated in 1853. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and removed to Union County, Iowa, in 1856. Here he served as county judge one term, was clerk of a Senate committee and clerk in the office of the third auditor at Washington. In 1868 he was elected judge of the Circuit Court and later judge of the District Court. In 1872 he was elected to Congress for the Eighth District, serving two terms. In 1878 he was appointed Railroad Commissioner, serving until March, 1881, when he was appointed United States Senator to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Kirkwood. The term ended March 4, 1883. Judge McDill was again appointed Railroad Commissioner for three years from April, 1884. He was appointed by President Harrison one of the members of the Inter- State Commerce Commission, which place he held at the time of his death which occurred on the 28th of February, 1894.

W. J. MCGEE was born in Dubuque County, Iowa, April 17, 1853. In youth he worked on a farm and in a blacksmith shop and became a land surveyor. He was a student, securing a good knowledge of Latin and higher mathematics. Early in the seventies he went to Farley where he invented and had patented several mechanical devices, chiefly improvements in agricultural implements. About this time he began to take an interest in geology and archaeology and made an amateur geological survey covering 17,000 square miles in northeastern Iowa, being the most extensive survey ever made at private expense. From 1883 to 1893 he was in charge of the coastal plain operations of the United States Geological Survey, compiling many geological maps and making personal surveys covering more than 300,000 square miles. He has published several volumes and many papers on geological and anthropological subjects. Professor McGee has established various new principles in glacial and general geology, as well as tracing the beginnings of agriculture, marriage, domestication of animals, etc., in the field of anthropology. In addition to the official position in charge of the Bureau of American Ethnology at Washington, Professor McGee is non-resident professor of anthropology in the State University of Iowa and was representative of the United States Geological Survey in the International Geological Congress at Berlin in 1887; acting president of the American Association for Advancement of Science, 1897; president of the Anthropological Society of Washington, 1897-99; vice-president of the National Geographic Society, 1898-9; first president of the American Anthropological Association and vice-president of the Ordicalogical Institute of America. He is a member of leading scientific and historical societies, being founder of Columbia Historical Society and first editor of the Geological Society of America.

JOHN F. MCJUNKIN was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, September 23, 1830. He attended the public schools until qualified to teach, when for several years he earned by that occupation enough to secure an excellent education. In 1857 he began to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1858. The following year he located in Washington County, Iowa, and entered upon the practice of his profession. He was elected to the State Senate in the fall of 1863 on the Republican ticket, serving in the Tenth and Eleventh General Assemblies. Mr. McJunkin was the author of the joint resolutions adopted by the Tenth General Assembly instructing our Senators and Representatives in Congress to support an amendment to the Federal Constitution for the entire abolition of slavery. This was the first action taken by a State which resulted in such an amendment. In 1876 he was elected Attorney-General of the State on the Republican ticket, in which position he served two terms. He died many years ago.

JOHN MCKEAN is a native of the State of Pennsylvania, born in Lawrence County on the 19th of July, 1835. He was an infant when his father removed to Ohio and located on a farm where the boy received his early education. Later he attended New Richmond College. In 1854 John and a brother came to Iowa in an emigrant wagon, taking a claim at Scotch Grove in Jones County, where they opened a farm. He read law at Anamosa in Jones County, was admitted to the bar and there began to practice. In 1865 he was elected to the House of the Eleventh General Assembly serving two terms, after which he was promoted to the Senate where he served in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth General Assemblies. Mr. McKean was an able and influential legislator and did good service for the Agricultural College and the State University; for six years he was a regent of the latter. He secured the establishment of an additional penitentiary at Anamosa. In 1872 he was elected judge of the Circuit Court, where he remained for many years.

HORACE G. MCMILLAN was born in Wayne County, Ohio, May 20, 1854. When but three years of age his parents removed to Washington County, Iowa, where he grew to manhood. His education was acquired in the district school and the academies of Grandview and Washington. Later he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1880, immediately entering upon practice in Washington. He removed to Rock Rapids in Lyon County in 1882. In early days the bonds of that county had been fraudulently issued for $170,000 and the school districts had been bonded for sums ranging from $20,000 to $250,000 each. When legitimate settlers came in litigation was instituted to defeat payment of these fraudulent bonds, and Mr. McMillan was employed to conduct some of the suits on behalf of the county and school districts. He tried them in the State and United States Supreme Courts, winning two of them, and thus saved thousands of dollars to the taxpayers. He served three terms as county attorney and in 1892 was chosen a member of the Republican State Central Committee, serving many years. In 1895 he was elected chairman of the committee and as such had charge of three State campaigns, conducting them with marked ability. In 1898 he was appointed by President McKinley United States Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa. The same year he in company with Cyrenus Cole, late of the STATE REGISTER, purchased the CEDAR RAPIDS DAILY REPUBLICAN, of which they immedidately assumed the management.

SAMUEL MCNUTT was born near Londonderry, Ireland, November 21, 1825. His father emigrated to America when the son was a child and located on a farm in Delaware. Samuel was educated in Delaware College, taught school and studied law. He removed to Milwaukee where he was admitted to the bar in 1851. He came to Iowa in 1854, and engaged in teaching at Muscatine. He joined D. F. Wells in the publication of the VOICE OF IOWA, the first educational periodical in the State. In 1856 Mr. McNutt purchased an interest in the MUSCATINE ENQUIRER, assuming the editorial management. A few years later he became associate editor of the DUBUQUE HERALD with J. B. Dorr. Up to this time Mr. McNutt had been a 'Douglas Democrat' but when the Civil War began he became a warm supporter of Lincoln 's administration as a Union Democrat. The 'War Democrats' were displeased with the position of the HERALD and united in establishing THE EVENING UNION with Mr. McNutt as editor. It was a strong supporter of the war measures of Congress and the President. After the UNION was discontinued he became one of the editors of the DUBUQUE TIMES, afterwards returning to Muscatine. Having united with the Republican party he was elected in the fall of 1863 Representative in the Legislature where he served by reelection for six years and at the close of his third term was elected to the Senate for four years. He was one of the early and able advocates of legislative control of railroads and in all matters before the Legislature was an earnest champion of the interests of the industrial classes and the author of many excellent laws. In 1872 he was a prominent candidate for State Treasurer before the Republican Convention but was defeated by the railroad influence which was united against him. In August, 1890, he was appointed by President Harrison United States Consul at Maracaibo, in Venezuela.

SMITH MCPHERSON was born in Morgan County, Indiana, February 14, 1848. He was reared on a farm, received a liberal education and removing to Iowa entered the State University, graduating in the Law Department in 1870. He located at Red Oak in Montgomery County and entered upon the practice of law. In 1874 he was elected on the Republican ticket District Attorney for the Third District, serving six years. In 1880 he was elected to Congress for the Ninth District. In 1900 he was appointed by the President United States judge for the Southern District of Iowa.

ALFRED H. MCVEY was born in Fayette County, Ohio, and his education was obtained in the schools of that State. When the Civil War came he enlisted in the Seventy-ninth Ohio Infantry and served until mustered out. He then entered the Ohio Wesleyan University and was graduated in 1868. Later he graduated from the Law Department of the Cincinnati College and began to practice. Moving to Toledo, Mr. McVey became general Counsel for the Toledo, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway. In 1883 he removed to Des Moines, Iowa, where he engaged in the practice of his profession. In 1901 he was appointed by Governor Shaw judge of the District Court, and at the following general election Judge McVey was chosen for a full term.

CYRUS H. MACKEY was a native of Illinois where he was born in 1837. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and at the beginning of the Civil War was engaged in the practice of law at Sigourney in Keokuk County, Iowa. Upon the organization of the Thirty-third Iowa Infantry, he was commissioned lieutenant- colonel, in August, 1862. He commanded the regiment at the Battle of Helena where he was wounded. After the death of Colonel Samuel A. Rice he succeeded to the command of the regiment and was commissioned colonel. In 1883 he was the Democratic candidage for Congress in the Sixth District but was not elected.

GEORGE F. MAGOON, first president of Iowa College, was born at Bath, Maine, March 29, 1821. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1841 and studied theology at Andover and Yale Seminaries. He came west and was principal of an academy at Plattsville, Wisconsin, and later was pastor of churches in Galena, Illinois, and Davenport and Lyons, Iowa. In Davenport he was pastor of the college church, was chosen a trustee, holding that office during the removal of the college to Grinnell. In 1862 he was chosen president of Iowa College, although he did not leave his church at Lyons until 1865. He remained president for twenty years, retiring in 1884, though he continued to teach mental and moral philosophy. During his administration Dr. Magoon aided materially in securing a larger endowment fund for the college. He was an ardent advocate of prohibition of the liquor traffic and wielded his pen with great effect in the cause. He was editor of the IOWA NEWS LETTER and the CONGREGATIONAL QUARTERLY, and a contributor to many educational journals. He died January 15, 1896, at his home in Grinnell.

JOHN MAHIN was born on the 8th of December, 1833, at Noblesville, Indiana. He learned the printer's trade in the office of the BLOOMINGTON (now Muscatine ) HERALD in 1847. In 1851 the name of the HERALD was changed to the MUSCATINE JOURNAL and in July, 1852, Mr. Mahin became its editor, a position which he has held for nearly fifty years. In 1845 the daily edition was established; it was first a Whig and later a Republican paper and one of the firm, unflinching advocated of temperance. In 1872 Mr. Mahin was elected on the Republican ticket one of the Representatives in the Legislature. He served many years as postmaster of Muscatine and was for a time Inspector of the Post-Office Department. In 1888 he was nominated by the Republican State Convention for Railroad Commissioner but was defeated by a few votes for a candidate who was more acceptable to the railroad companies of the State. Mr. Mahin was one of the most fearless and uncompromising foes of saloons and in his warfare upon the liquor traffic had incurred the enmity of the liquor league. On the night of May 10, 1893, his residence was destroyed by dynamite placed under it by conspirators in the interest of the saloons of the city. Two other residences belonging to persons who had been active in trying to enforce the prohibitory law were destroyed. Threats had been repeatedly made against the men who were active in prosecuting the violators of the law and on the night of the destruction of the homes they were occupied by the families consisting of eighteen persons, mostly women and children. While the homes were wrecked, the inmates fortunately escaped the horrible fate intended for them. Arrests were made and one of the wretches, Matt Woods, was proved to have been the person who threw one of the bombs. He was sent to the penitentiary for ten years. He refused to divulge the names of the other conspirators and they escaped punishment. Mr. Mahin's loss was about $6,000 but it did not silence his war upon the saloon lawbreakers.

DENNIS A. MAHONEY was born in Ross County, Ireland, January 20, 1821. When he was nine years old his parent came to America, locating in Philadelphia where the son was educated. In 1843 he came to Dubuque, Iowa, and for five years was engaged in teaching. He was a frequent contributor to the journals of Dubuque and studying law was admitted to the bar. He removed to Jackson County where, in 1848, he was elected to the General Assembly. After his term expired he became editor of the Dubuque MINERS' EXPRESS. A few years later he was one of a firm which established the DUBUQUE HERALD, of which he became editor. He took a deep interest in the public schools and was a member of the first board of education of Dubuque. In 1858 he was again a member of the General Assembly. He remained editor of the HERALD until 1862 and ranked with the ablest political writers of the State. Mr. Mahoney was a radical opponent of the war for suppression of the Rebellion and his writing on that subject aroused a storm of indignation among Union men which threatened personal violence. On the night of the 14th of August, 1862, he was arrested by H. M. Hoxie, United States Marshal, and taken to Washington where he was incarcerated in the old Capital prison. While in prison he was nominated by the Democrats of the Third Iowa District for Representative in Congress, and although defeated by William B. Allison carried Dubuque County by a majority of 1,457. He was released without trial after about three months' imprisonment and returned to Dubuque but the HERALD had been sold during his absence. The following year he was elected sheriff, holding the office four years. In 1869 he became editor of the ST. LOUIS DAILY TIMES. In 1871 he returned to Dubuque and took editorial charge of the DAILY TELEGRAPH, a position he held to the time of his death. After his release from prison Mr. Mahoney wrote and published a book entitled 'Prisoner of State,' in which he told the story of his arrest and experience in the old Capital prison. He died at Dubuque, November 5, 1879.

SMITH H. MALLORY was born in Yates County, New York, December 2, 1835. At an early day he secured a position with the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad as an engineer. Later he was chief engineer on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. In 1867 he located at Chariton, in Lucas County, Iowa, and became actively interested in the upbuilding of the town. He was president of the First National Bank, and had long been one of the leaders of the Democratic party of Iowa. In 1877 he was elected Representative in the House of the Seventeenth General Assembly. He served as a director of the State Agricultural Society and was president of the Iowa Board of Managers of the Centennial Exposition at Chicago in 1893. He was also chairman of the executive committee of the commission devoting his entire time for more than a year to the Exposition management. He died at his home March 26, 1903.

EDWIN MANNING, one of the pioneer settlers in Iowa, was born February 8, 1810, at South Coventry, Connecticut. He was educated in the common schools, and at the age of sixteen became clerk in a store. In 1836 he emigrated to the “Black Hawk Purchase,” first stopping at Fort Madison. In 1837, with two companions, he went up the Des Moines River to Horse Shoe Bend, where a claim was made and a town platted, which became Keosauqua. In 1839 Mr. Manning opened a store in a log cabin he had erected in his new town. In 184 he built the first brick court house in the Territory, which was still standing in 1900. He ran the first loaded steamboat from St. Louis to Des Moines in 1843. The next year he built the first flat boat that floated down the Des Moines River. In 1856 he was appointed by the Governor Commissioner of the Des Moines River Improvement, serving two years. He was an enterprising business man, and for half a century was closely identified with many of the most important interests of that part of the State, accumulating a large fortune.

ORLANDO H. MANNING was born at Abington, Indiana, on the 18th of May, 1847. His parents removed to Iowa when he was but six years old, locating at Adel in Dallas County in 1853. He graduated at Western College, taught at Jefferson in 1865 and soon after began the study of law with Head & Russell. He was admitted to the bar in 1868 and took up his residence at Carroll where he was elected county treasurer. In 1870 he took charge of the CARROLL HERALD as editor and retained the position until elected to the Legislature as the Representative from the district composed of the counties of Carroll, Calhoun, Greene and Sac in the fall of 1875. He was reelected in 1877, serving two terms, the last session as chairman of the committee on railroads. At the Republican State Convention of 1881 Mr. Manning was nominated for Lieutenant- Governor and elected on the ticket with Governor Sherman. He was reelected in 1883 and served until October 12, 1885, when he resigned and removed to Council Bluffs where he resumed the practice of law. While making a speech in a Republican convention he used this expression: " Iowa, the State that has a schoolhouse on every hill and no saloon in the valley." This remark caught the attention of the people and was used as the keynote to the campaign. It is hardly necessary to remark that this was before the party had abandoned prohibition. Mr. Manning removed from the State many years ago.

JACQUES MARQUETTE is a name that should ever be honored in Iowa history and should be as familiar to all the people of the State as that of any of her eminent and honored citizens. Although he never made his home in Iowa, it was he who planned and led the expedition which first explored the upper Mississippi River and it was he who discovered Iowa and explored its eastern shores. Jacques Marquette was born in Laon, France, in 1637. His ancestors were Celtic nobles. He was educated in Catholic schools of France and when seventeen years of age entered the Jesuit Society to prepare to become a missionary among the Indians of America. He sailed for Quebec in 1666 and acquired a knowledge of the language of the Indian tribes of that province. In 1668 he founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary. The following year he established a second mission at Point St. Ignatius where the old town of Michillimackinac was founded some years later. It was from the Indians of this vicinity that he first heard reports of a great river in the far west which drained a region of vast natural meadows. He at once conceived the idea of exploring that unknown country and carrying his missionary labors among the Indians who inhabited its valley. He applied to his superior, Claude Dablon, for permission to 'seek the new nations toward the southern sea.' The officers of the Government were anxious to have the country explored and gave him authority, with Louis Joliet, to fit out an expedition of discovery and furnished them five assistants and equipments for the voyage. The story of their journey and discoveries is told elsewhere. Upon their return from the expedition which had been successful beyond the most sanguine expectations of the French Government, Marquette established a mission among the Illinois Indians at Le Vantam. In 1674 he sailed to the mouth of the river where Chicago stands, erected a log house and during the winter preached to more than 2,000 Indians in that region. Constant traveling among the swamps and exposure to the miasma of that country had undermined his health and in May, 1675, he started with two companions for the Mission of St. Ignace. As his devoted followers paddled the canoe through the waters of Lake Michigan, Marquette became so weak that he was obliged to lie on a rude bed in the bottom of the boat. On the 19th of May he beckoned his companions to land. He was unable to proceed farther; a cabin was hastily erected and a bed of pine boughs made upon which he was tenderly placed. He began to sink rapidly and realized that the end of life was near. In the gloom and solitude of the great wilderness, remote from civilization and medical aid, he calmly awaited the summons. His comrades cared for him with the greatest devotion, doing all in human power for his relief. But his life work was ended and in the wilds of the west where he had accomplished so much, the great spirit of the heroic young missionary and explorer took its departure. Thus perished the discoverer of Iowa at the early age of thirty-eight. Beneath th dark shadows of the pines on the lonely shore of Lake Michigan his companions enclosed his body in a rude coffin of birch bark and buried him beneath the sand, carefully marking the grave. Two years later some of his Indian friends sought his grave, disinterred his body and tenderly conveyed it to St. Ignace Mission where it was buried beneath the church which he had founded. More than two hundred years passed away and the name of the discoverer of Iowa had become historic and honored wherever his achievements were known. In 1877 the old grave was found and a monument erected to his memory on the site of the old church of St. Ignace, by descendants of his French and Indian companions. History will hand down to the latest generations the brief record preserved of one of the noblest of America 's pioneers. Breese in the 'Early History of Illinois,' says: "For years did this devoted man, silent and unobserved in the gloomy forest amid untamed savages, forsaking home and kindred, fired by a lofty zeal - exert his energies to exalt the condition of abject and degraded humanity. In the accomplishment of his mission, a domain more than imperial, destined to nourish multitudes as countless as those of the plains of India, was opened to the world." Michigan has given the name of Marquette to a river, a county, and a city, while Iowa has done nothing to connect his memory with the State whose eastern shores he first explored.

WILLIAM B. MARIN was born March 16, 1846, at Rochester, Vermont. He was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools and the Orange County Grammar School. At eighteen he began teaching, which he continued for three years. In 1867 he went west locating on a farm in Henry County, Illinois, where he taught school winters. In 1869 he removed to Adair County, Iowa, where on the wild prairie he improved a farm. He was elected auditor of the county in 1873 and after serving four years entered into the real estate business in Greenfield, and in 1890 was mayor of the town. In 1893 he was elected on the Republican ticket Representative in the House of the Twenty-fifth General Assembly and as a member of the committee on the suppression of intemperance he devised the Mulct Law, which so changed the prohibition acts as to permit the legal voters in towns and cities to determine whether saloons should be established within their jurisdiction. Mr. Martin was reelected to the Twenty- sixth General Assembly where, as chairman of the building and loan committee he framed and secured the passage of an act regulating the business of such organizations. In 1899 Mr. Martin was nominated by the Republican State Convention for Secretary of State and elected by the largest majority ever given in Iowa to a candidate for a State office. He was elected for a second term in 1902.

CHARLES MASON was born in Onondaga County, New York, October 24, 1804. He was appointed a cadet in the West Point Military Academy where he graduated at the head of his class in 1829. Among his classmates were Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Leonidas Polk, afterwards leaders in the great Rebellion. Mr. Mason remained at West Point two years as an instructor in the Academy, then resigned and studied law in New York City where he began to practice his profession. He was for a time employed on the editorial staff of the NEW YORK EVENING POST. In 1837 he located at Burlington, then in Wisconsin Territory, where he had been appointed United States District Attorney. Upon the creation of Iowa Territory the following year, Mr. Mason was appointed by the President Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a position which he held until Iowa became a State. The most important decision made during his term was one sustaining the right to freedom of a slave who had been brought by his master to the free Territory of Iowa. When the controversy arose between Iowa and Missouri over the boundary and was carried into the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Mason was appointed by Governor Hempstead to represent Iowa in the suit, where a decree was obtained in favor of Iowa. He was one of the commissioners to revise the laws of the State in 1848 and the result of the work was the Code of 1851. In 1853 Judge Mason was appointed by President Pierce Commissioner of Patents, and removed to Washington. In August, 1857, he resigned and returned to Iowa and in 1858 was elected a member of the first State Board of Education. In 1861 he was nominated for Governor by the Democratic State Convention but declined. In 1867 he was again nominated for Governor by the Democrats and was defeated in the election by Samuel Merrill the Republican candidate. N 1868 and again in 1872 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Conventions and in 1873 he made a voyage to Europe. He died on his farm near Burlington, February 25, 1882, at the age of seventy- eight. Judge Wright said of him: "As a man he was as much respected and esteemed as any of the early jurists and public men of our Territory and State."

EDWARD R. MASON was born December 8, 1846, at Franklinville, Cattaraugus County, New York, and at eleven years of age came with his parents to Bentonsport, Iowa. His boyhood years were spent in Van Buren County. He took a course of medicine at the Keokuk Medical College and practiced a short time. In 1864 he enlisted in Company K, in the Forty-fifth Regiment of 'hundred days men,' serving until the close of the war as corporal. In politics Mr. Mason is a Republican and in 1869 he was appointed deputy clerk of the United States District and Circuit Courts. Five years later he was promoted to clerk of these courts, serving until 1900, when he resigned as clerk of the District Court retaining the clerkship of the Circuit Court. He has long held the positions of Master of Chancery and Commissioner in the Circuit Court. His home has been in Des Moines since 1869.

WILLIAM E. MASON, lawyer and lawmaker, lived in Iowa from the age of eight years until 1873. He was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, July 7, 1850. His parents removed to Iowa in 1858, settling at Bentonsport in Van Buren County where his father died in 1865. William was thus at the age of fifteen left to make his own way in the world. He received sufficient education to enable him to teach school and, coming to Des Moines in 1868, he followed teaching for two years. He then began the study of law in the office of Thomas J. Withrow. When Mr. Withrow was called to Chicago as solicitor for the Rock Island Railroad Company, young Mason accompanied him to that city and there completed his law studies. He entered upon the practice of his profession and before he was thirty was elected to the Illinois Legislature. Here began his successful public career which has given him a national reputation. In 1882 he was elected to the State Senate where he became one of the leading members. He was an eloquent public speaker and a popular member. In 1888 he was elected to Congress from the Third Chicago District and in that body won distinction. His sympathies were always with the common people and on all subjects of legislation affecting their welfare he was one of their most reliable friends. In 1897 he was elected United States Senator and soon attained high rank in that body.

SYLVESTER G. MATSON was born in Middlesex, Vermont, March 5, 1808. His boyhood was spent on a New England farm where he secured a liberal education and became a teacher. He graduated in the Medical Department of the State University and became a practicing physician. In 1845 he removed to Iowa Territory, locating near Anamosa. In 1846 he was elected a member of the convention which framed the Constitution under which Iowa became a State. He was the same year chosen a member of the House of the First General Assembly and helped to frame the first laws for the government of the new State. He was chairman of the committee on schools and reported the bill which provided for a State University. Mr. Matson was influential in framing the first school laws and was chosen a trustee of the State University. As a legislator he left the impress of his early work upon the permanent laws of the State. He was a Democrat up to the time of the organization of the Republican party when he united with it in opposition to slavery. He died on the 5th of February, 1898.

CHARLES L. MATTHIES was born in Bromberg, Prussia, on the 31st of May, 1824. When sixteen years of age he was sent to the University of Halle where he received a thorough military education. At the age of twenty he entered the Prussian army and in 1847 served against the Poles in a revolution. In 1849 he emigrated to America and coming to Iowa located at Burlington where he became a merchant. When the Rebellion began he was the first man in Iowa and the United States, to tender a military company to the National Government. He was captain of Company D, of the First Iowa Volunteers. In July, 1861, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Infantry and upon the death of Colonel Worthington was promoted to the command of that regiment. At the Battle of Iuka his regiment was in the thickest of the fight and lost two hundred seventeen men. In April, 1863, Colonel Matthies was promoted to Brigadier-General for his gallant services in several battles.

SARA B. MAXWELL, was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, February 12, 1837. She acquired her education by private instruction, in the public schools and in the academies of Bryan and West Unity, Ohio. After leaving school, for five years, from 1853 to 1858, she was engaged in teaching. In the latter year she was married to William Maxwell, and in 1863 they removed to Panora, Iowa. After the death of Mr. Maxwell in 1877, Mrs. Maxwell was appointed by Governor Gear in 1878, State Librarian, serving until 1888. During this time the Library was catalogued for the first time. She inaugurated the collection and preservation of Iowa newspaper files, and a systematic effort was begun for the collection in the library of all books and pamphlets by all Iowa authors, or relating to the State. After her retirement from the library Mrs. Maxwell was a cataloguer and organizer of libraries and delivered lectures on library work. She was the author of the first History of Guthrie County. In 1892 she was employed by the Iowa Commissioners to make a collection of books and pamphlets by Iowa authors for exhibition at the World's Fair at Chicago, and of this exhibition she was in charge. In 1897 Mrs. Maxwell was elected librarian of the Meadville, Pennsylvania, Unitarian Theological School, a position she has continued to fill up to the present time.

PETER MELENDY was born on the 9th of February, 1823, and attended private schools in his boyhood, later taking a three years' course in Woodward College, Ohio, where his father then lived. He purchased a farm near Cincinnati and in 1855 helped to organize the 'Iowa Fine Stock Company.' This company selected a tract of 10,000 acres of Government land in Butler County, Iowa, near Bear Grove where a farm was opened for the breeding of fine stock. Mr. Melendy also bought a farm near Cedar Falls consisting of 1,080 acres which he stocked with fine cattle. In 1869 Mr. Melendy with others established a large grain and implement warehouse at Cedar Falls. In 1862 he was appointed by Governor Kirkwood to select the 240,000 acres of public lands granted by Congress for the support of the State Agricultural College. There were nearly 6,000,000 of acres of Government lands in Iowa at that time to choose from and Mr. Melendy made excellent selections which eventually produced a munificent endowment fund for the new college. In 1864 he was chosen superintendent of the college farm and secretary of the board of trustees. In 1865 he was appointed by President Lincoln, United States Marshal for Iowa. In 1871 he was reappointed for four years by President Grant. He was instrumental in 1865 in securing the location of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home at Cedar Falls and was one of ten citizens to purchase forty acres of land on which the home was located. In 1864 he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention which renominated President Lincoln and was one of the committee sent to Washington to notify the President of his nomination. Mr. Melendy was for five years president of the State Agricultural Society and also served as vice-president, marshal and treasurer. He was chairman of the Republican State Central Committee in the Grant campaign of 1868 and was a delegate to the Chicago National Republican Convention which nominated Grant and Colfax. He was a member of the board of trustees of the State Agricultural College for fourteen years and one of the most influential promoters of that institution. In 1866 he was a member of the committee to visit and examine into the working and plans of the various Agricultural Colleges of the country, report a plan for organization, and select suitable persons for president and members of the faculty. In 1879 Mr. Melendy was appointed agent for the Quartermaster's Department of the United States to adjust claims arising out of the war and served in Tennessee until 1886. After his return to Cedar Falls his old neighbors insisted on making him mayor of the city which had been his home for nearly half a century. He died on the 18th of October, 1901.

NATHANIEL A. MERRILL was born in Copenhagen, Lewis County, New York, in 1829. He was reared on a farm, attending the common schools winters and assisting in the work of the farm during summers. He taught several terms and then studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1855 and the following spring removed to Iowa, locating at De Witt, then the county-seat of Clinton. He soon acquired a good practice but when the Civil War began he raised a company and entered the service as captain of Company D, Twenty-sixth Regiment of Infantry. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Arkansas Post. Mr. Merrill was mayor of De Witt two years, was a Democratic member of the House of the Fourteenth, Twentieth and Twenty-sixth General Assemblies and a member of the Senate of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth General Assemblies. He took a prominent part in the revision of the Code of 1873. Mr. Merrill was a commissioner of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home and president of the First National Bank of De Witt for several years. He died at his home in De Witt on the 31st of December, 1896.

SAMUEL MERRILL, seventh Governor of the State, was born in Oxford County in the State of Maine on the 7th of August, 1822. He received a liberal education and when a young man taught school several terms in the south and in his native State. He removed to New Hampshire where he was elected to the Legislature in 1854, serving two sessions. In 1856 he came to Iowa, locating at McGregor, where he opened a general store. In 1859 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the House of the Eighth General Assembly. When the war began in 1861, Mr. Merrill took the contract to furnish three Iowa regiments with clothing before the Government could supply them with uniforms. In 1862 he was commissioned colonel of the Twenty-first Iowa Infantry. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Black River Bridge and was so disabled that he resigned his commission. In 1867 he was nominated by the Republican State Convention for Governor and elected, serving two terms. He removed to Des Moines and, after the close of his second term, engaged in the banking business. With others he established the Citizens' National Bank. He was active in bringing about the great reunion of Iowa soldiers at Des Moines in the summer of 1870. Governor Merrill was for many years an influential trustee of Iowa College at Grinnell. He acquired great wealth in banking and railroad building and finally removed to California. The last years of his life were spent in Pasadena, where he died on the 31st of August, 1899. His funeral was held at Des Moines and was attended by many of the public officials and prominent men of the State.

WILLIAM H. MERRITT was born in New York City, September 12, 1820. He received his education at Lima Seminary. In 1838 he went to Rock Island where he obtained a clerkship. He was sent to Ivanho in Linn County in 1839 to take charge of an Indian trading house. In 1841 he was a clerk in the Council of the Legislative Assembly at Burlington. In 1847 he removed to Dubuque and for two years was editor of the MINERS' EXPRESS. He made the overland journey to California and returning in 1851 again became editor of the MINERS' EXPRESS, having purchased an interest in the establishment. In 1855 he was appointed Register of the United States Land Office at Fort Dodge and after selling about 2,000,000 acres of public land, he engaged in banking at Cedar Rapids. When the Civil War began he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the First Regiment of Iowa Volunteers and participated in the Battle of Wilson' Creek, having served three months when the regiment was mustered out. In July, 1861, he was nominated by the Democratic State Convention for Governor but was defeated by Samuel J. Kirkwood. In 1863 he removed to Des Moines and took editorial charge of THE STATESMAN, a leading Democratic newspaper. In 1866 he was appointed by President Johnson Collector of Internal Revenue but his nomination was rejected by the Senate. Colonel Merritt died on the 23d of July, 1891.

JOHN F. MERRY was born in Summit County, Ohio, March 24, 1844. He came to Iowa with his parents in an emigrant wagon in 1856, his father locating on a farm in Delaware County. The son secured an education in the public schools and became a teacher. In 1880 he entered the service of the Illinois Central Railway Company as excursion agent, making himself so useful that he was soon promoted to general western passenger agent, and finally to assistant general passenger agent of the entire system. Captain Merry served in the Civil War, as a private first in the Twenty-first Infantry. He afterwards recruited and was elected a lieutenant in Company F, of the Forty-sixth Regiment. He was on the staff of General Fairchild in the Grand Army of the Republic, and was the originator of the law converting the battle-field of Vicksburg into a National Park. Captain Merry was a member of the Iowa Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition Commission. He has given special attention to the agricultural and commercial development of the country traversed by the Illinois Central Railroad system and has published several works of interest among which are 'Where to Locate New Factories,' 'The Southern Homeseekers' Guide,' and the 'Industrial Outlook for New Orleans.' Captain Merry has held the following important positions: assistant general passenger agent of the Illinois Central Railway Company, secretary and treasurer of the Iowa Land & Loan Company, secretary and assistant treasurer of the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad Company, and secretary and assistant treasurer of the Fort Dodge & Omaha Railroad Company. He is a prominent Republican, serving as delegate to the Republican National Convention at St. Louis in 1896.

STILLMAN T. MESERVEY was born at De Witt, Illinois, December 17, 1848, and was educated in the public schools and at Clinton Liberal Institute, New York. His father removed to Homer, then in Webster County, in 1854, and after the removal of the county-seat from that place made his home in Fort Dodge, where Stillman grew up to manhood. He was an active Republican and in 1885 was elected Representative in the House of the Twenty-first General Assembly and in 1902 he was again a member of the Twenty-ninth Assembly. He was one of the three Fort Dodge men who were the pioneers in developing the great gypsum deposits in that vicinity and became one of the directors of the Iowa Plaster Association. He has long been president of the First National Bank of Fort Dodge and of the Fort Dodge Power & Light Company, having also other large financial interests.

GEORGE METZGAR was born in Germany, April 19, 1845. His father, who was engaged in the Revolution of 1848-9 became an exile, coming with his family to the United States in 1850. The son received his education in the common schools and in 1862 enlisted in the One Hundred Twenty-fifth New York Volunteers. He served in General Hancock's Second Corps and participated in most of the battle fought by the Army of the Potomac, received a severe wound at Gettysburg. He came to Iowa in 1869, making his home in Davenport. He became an active and influential Republican and has held the highest positions in the Grand Army of the Republic. In 1894 Mr. Metzgar was appointed by the Governor custodian of public buildings of the State, serving four years. In 1898 he was appointed postmaster of Davenport by President McKinley.

JOHN MEYER was born in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1824. He was a graduate of Oberlin College and for two years was an instuctor in the institution. In April, 1857, he located at Newton, Iowa, which became his permanent home. In August, 1862, he was commissioned captain in Company K, Twenty-eighth Iowa Volunteers, serving three years in the Union Army, attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was engaged in the battles of Champion's Hill, siege of Vicksburg, Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. Mr. Meyer had served in the House of Representatives of the Ninth General Assembly, both in the regular and extra session, and after the close of the war in the fall of 1865 was elected to the Senate, serving in the Eleventh and Twelfth General Assemblies. In 1877 he was again elected to the Senate, serving through the Seventeenth and Eighteenth General Assemblies. For many years he was a trustee of Iowa College at Grinnell. He died on the 14th of May, 1902.

J. FRED MEYERS was born in Oettinger, Bavaria, Germany, in 1833. His parents came to America when he was fourteen years of age and located at Adrian, Michigan, where he learned the printing business. He was a radical abolitionist in the days of slavery and became the editor of THE INDEPENDENT, published at Columbus, Indiana. In 1857 he was associated with S. M. Booth in the publication of THE FREE DEMOCRAT at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1861 he was appointed Chief of the Printing Division of the Treasury Department at Washington under Secretary S. P. Chase, serving until 1874. He was for several years editor and publisher of THE CIVIL SERVICE JOURNAL at Washington and was chief editor of THE REPUBLIC, a political magazine under the direction of the National Republican committee. He was twice sent by the Treasury Department to Germany to investigate emigration. During his life in Washington he graduated from the Columbian University Law School. In 1874 he removed to Iowa, locating in Crawford County, where he purchased and published the DENISON REVIEW. He was postmaster from 1877 to 1886. In 1889 he was appointed by President Harrison, chief clerk in the office of the Sixth Auditor of the Treasury Department. In 1891 the Bureau of Labor sent him to Germany to report on the Industrial School system of that country. Mr. Meyers was a strong writer in the field of Iowa journalism. He died at Denison, Iowa, May 1, 1898.

LEWIS MILES was born in Marion County, Ohio, June 30, 1845, and came with his parents to Wayne County, Iowa, in 1853. He worked on a farm until nineteen years of age when he began to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1868 and began to practice in Corydon in 1872. In October, 1869, when but twenty- four years of age he was elected a member of the House in the Thirteenth General Assembly. In 1879 he was the Republican candidate for State Senator, and although running ahead of his ticket he was defeated. In 1880 he was one of the presidential electors, and in 1883 was elected to the State Senate, serving in the Twentieth and Twenty-first General Assemblies. He was appointed by President Harrison United States District Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, serving four years. When the Republican party again came into power, he was appointed by McKinley to his old place.

DANIEL F. MILLER was born in Allegheny County, Maryland, October 14, 1814. He studied law in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he practiced until 1839 when he removed to Iowa Territory, locating at Fort Madison. He was elected a member of the Third Legislative Assembly in 1840. In 1848 he was the Whig candidate for Representative in Congress in the First District. His Democratic opponent was Colonel William Thompson, who was declared by the canvassers elected. The decision was contested in the House by Miller and the seat was declared vacant. At a special election to fill the vacancy Miller was elected and served the remainder of the term. Mr. Miller was one of the founders of the Republican party and was placed at the head of the ticket for presidential elector. For the first time in the history of the State its vote was cast against the Democratic candidate for President. In 1860 Mr. Miller was an independent candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court but was defeated by Judge Wright the Republican candidate. In 1893 Daniel F. Miller was again elected to the General Assembly, fifty-three years after his first term of service in that body. He had practiced law for fifty-four years in Iowa and was known as the "Nestor' of the Iowa bar. He died at Omaha, Nebraska, December 9, 1895, at the age of eighty-one. Coming to Iowa the year after it was made a Territory he was for fifty-five years closely identified with its political and industrial affairs and one of its most widely known lawmakers and pioneers.

SAMUEL F. MILLER was born at Richmond, Kentucky, on the 5th of April, 1816. He was educated in the common schools and village academy and when eighteen years of age began the study of medicine. He attended medical lectures at Transylvania University, received a diploma and began practice at Barbersville in 1838, where he remained eight years. In 1845 he read law with Judge Ballinger, was admitted to the bar, and decided to change his profession to the practice of law. From a boy he was a fearless advocate of emancipation of the slaves, but realizing that it could not be accomplished he determined to make his home in a free State. He therefore removed to Iowa in May, 1850, locating at Keokuk, where he entered upon the practice of law. He had been a Whig in politics but when the Republican party was organized united with it. Mr. Miller was a member of the law firm of Rankin & Miller and in a few years became one of the leading lawyers in the State. When the United States Supreme Court was reorganized in 1861 such was his fame that the Congressmen and bar of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Wisconsin united in recommending Samuel F. Miller for one of the new Justices. President Lincoln, who was personally acquainted with the Iowa jurist, and recognized his high qualifications for the place, in July, 1862, sent his nomination to the Senate where it was immediately confirmed. During his long term of service on the highest judicial tribunal of the Nation, it became his duty to join in the adjudication of some of the most important and far-reaching problems that have ever arisen under our Government. The vital issues involved in the Civil War, the amendments to the Constitution and whole plan of reconstruction came before that court for final settlement. During the period s fraught with peril to the Republic the opinions of Judge Miller show the mental caliber of the great jurist who is regarded as the peer of Marshall and Story. A high authority has said:

"Some other judges had greater learning but none possessed more legal wisdom. After delivering judgments whose influence will outlive the granite walls of the court room and after deciding cases that involved millions of money, he died poor in gold, but rich in fame. Morally his great characteristic was simplicity; mentally it was logically a rugged vigor of reasoning."

In religion he was a Unitarian and for many years was president of the American Unitarian Association. He died at Washington on the 13th of October, 1890, after serving twenty-eight years in the Supreme Court. Funeral services were held in the Supreme Court room in the presence of the highest officials of the Government. Iowa has never given a greater man to the public service.

WILLIAM E. MILLER was born near Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania, October 18, 1823. He was reared on a farm, attending the district school winters. In 1846 he began to study law and in 1852 removed to Iowa, taking up his residence at Iowa City where he engaged in newspaper business. In 1853 he was admitted to the bar and began practice. In 1854 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney. In 1857 he was the Republican candidate for Representative in the Legislature but was defeated. The following year he was elected judge of the Eighth District for four years. In 1862 he resigned to accept a commission as colonel of the Twenty-eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. After a year's service his health failed and he resigned, returning to the practice of law. In 1864 he began to prepare a Treatise on Pleadings which was published in 1868. In the same year he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court. In 1870 he was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court to fill a vacancy. At the following election he was chosen for a full term of six years and in 1874 became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1871 he succeeded Judge Wright as Professor of Constitutional and Criminal Law in the State University. In 1873 he compiled a Revision of the Laws of Iowa and also a work on Highways. He was engaged on another legal work at the time of this death which occurred November 7, 1896.

JAMES C. MILLIMAN was born in Saratoga County, New York, January 28, 1847, and was educated in the State University, earning his way from the time he was ten years old. In 1856 he came to Iowa, locating at Missouri Valley. He served eight years as recorder of Harrison County and was one of the founders of the Harrison County Bank in 1876. For many years he was engaged in the abstract, loan and real estate business. He served in the Union Army during the War of the Rebellion until disabled in battle by severe wounds in 1864. In 1893-4 he was the Senior Vice-Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic for the Department of Iowa. In 1894 he was a Representative in the Twenty-fifth General Assembly. In 1897 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor on the Republican ticket with L. M. Shaw and in 1899 was reelected, serving four years. He was a member of the Commission of Iowa for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

FREDERICK D. MILLS, who rendered a great service to Iowa when a young man, has left no record of his youth and place of nativity. We only learn that he graduated at Yale College in 1840 and came to Iowa in 1841, locating at Burlington where he became the law partner of J. C. Hall. He was a brilliant public speaker and in 1845 rendered a voluntary service to Iowa which has immortalized his name. Although a Democrat, he opposed the efforts of his party to secure the adoption of the Constitution of 1844, under which the entire Missouri slope would have been cut off from the State as defined in the enabling act of Congress. Uniting his efforts with Theodore S. Parvin and Enoch W. Eastman, he canvassed the Territory, urging the electors to vote against the adoption of the Constitution which would do away with the symmetrical proportions of the State. The Whigs were opposed to the Constitution for various other reasons, while the Democrats were urging its adoption as a party measure. The three young lawyers, all Democrats, who opposed its adoption solely on the ground of obnoxious boundary on the west were able to defeat it and thus preserve for all time the fair proportions of the State when it was finally admitted. At the beginning of the War with Mexico in 1846, Mr. Mills received a commission as major in the army and was with the command of General Scott in his march to the City of Mexico. After the Battle of Cherubusco, Major Mills led a detachment in pursuit of General Santa Anna to the walls of the city where he was slain on the 20th of August, in leading a charge. The Federal Government had his name inscribed on a mural tablet in the chapel of the Military Academy at West Point as one of the heroes of Cherubusco. The General Assembly of Iowa recognized his service in civil affairs by giving his name to a county.

NOAH W. MILLS was born in Montgomery County, Indiana, on the 21st of June, 1834. He received a liberal education, having graduated at Wabash College. For several months after leaving college he was employed in an engineering corps and later had a position with the Adams Express Company. He studied law and was admitted to the bar. In the fall of 1856 he removed to Iowa, taking up his residence at Des Moines, where he entered into partnership with his brother, F. M. Mills. When the Rebellion began, Noah W., was one of the first to enter the volunteer service and was appointed second lieutenant of Company D, of which M. M. Crocker was the first captain in the Second Iowa Infantry. He received rapid promotion to captain, major, lieutenant-colonel in June, 1862, and upon the wounding of Colonel Baker, succeeded him as colonel of the regiment. On the second day of the Battle of Corinth, while Lieutenant-Colonel Mills was leading a charge he was severely wounded in the foot and a week later he was attacked with lockjaw and died on the 12th of October. Colonel Mills was a man of fine literary attainments and was an accomplished newspaper writer.

OLIVER MILLS was born at Gustavus, Trumbull County, Ohio, February 1, 1820. He attended the public schools of that section until he was fourteen years of age when he entered Farmington Academy. After leaving school he engaged in stock raising and in 1850 removed to Iowa, locating in Lee County. In 1868 he removed to Cass County which was then largely unsettled, making his home in Lewis, the old county-seat. He was an active promoter of improved stock and the best methods of farming. For twenty years he was a prominent member of the State Agricultural Society, often a director and for three terms president. He has held many minor public offices, being originally a Whig and later a Republican. In 1871 he was the Republican candidate for Representative in the Legislature in the district composed of the counties of Cass, Adair and Montgomery, and was elected, serving in the Fourteenth General Assembly. For more than fifty years he has been prominently identified with industrial interests of Iowa.

THOMAS MITCHELL, was born in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, March 3, 1816. He was reared on a farm and had but a common school education. In 1840 he came to Iowa and first made his home in Jefferson County but in 1844 came to Fort Des Moines and obtained permission of Captain Allen, its commander, to build a log cabin on Camp Creek for the entertainment of travelers. It was the first public house in the upper Des Moines valley. The country was then occupied by the Indians and the Fox chief, Poweshiek had a village on the Skunk River where Colfax stands, which was the home of more than a thousand members of that tribe. Mr. Mitchell was a warm friend of the chief. In 1857 he was elected to the House of the first General Assembly which convened at Des Moines. In 1867 he founded the town of Mitchellville and a few years later secured the location at that place of a Universalist Seminary. In 1873 Mr. Mitchell was elected to the State Senate, serving four years. He was a radical abolitionist, kept a station on the 'Underground Railroad' and was always ready to entertain John Brown with his escaping slaves on their way to freedom in Canada and convey them to the next station. Mr. Mitchell was a man of broad and liberal views, large benevolence and great public spirit. He was of the best type of the pioneers who laid the foundation for the future greatness of the State. He died on the 14th of July, 1894.

WILLIAM O. MITCHELL is a native of Iowa, born in Van Buren County, April 4, 1846. At the age of sixteen he enlisted in Company C, Thirteenth Iowa Volunteers, serving three years. During that time he was eight months a prisoner confined in the Andersonville stockade, Salisbury and Florence prisons, from the last of which he escaped. During his term of service he participated in the Vicksburg campaign and many other engagements. After the close of the war he graduated at Cornell College, Mount Vernon, and began the study of law, being admitted to the bar in 1872. He located at Corning in Adams County and in addition to practicing law became largely engaged in farming. He has done probably more than any other one man to call public attention to the famous 'Blue Grass Region' of southern Iowa as a stock country. He was in 1891 elected Representative in the House of the Twenty- fourth General Assembly and had the unusual honor of being chosen Speaker the first term of his legislative service. He was reelected to the Twenty-fifth General Assembly, serving as chairman of the committee of ways and means. In 1895 he was elected to the Senate, serving in the Twenty-sixth and Twenty- seventh General Assemblies and at the extra session.

SAMUEL A. MOORE, pioneer legislator and soldier, was born at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, December 16, 1821. He was educated in the log cabins of Dearborn and Bartholomew counties, and at eight years of age became an apprentice in a printing office where he remained four years. He then worked ten years on a farm, taught school and finally published a paper named the SPIRIT OF THE WEST, at Columbus. In 1853 he removed to Davis County, Iowa, and two years later was elected county judge. He enlisted as a private in Company G, Second Iowa Volunteers in 1861, and was soon promoted to second lieutenant and in November became captain of his company. He was in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh, and in the latter was so severely wounded that it became necessary for him to resign. In 1863 he was commissioned captain of the 'Bloomfield Blues' and in 1864 became aid-de-camp to Governor Stone with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He served as lieutenant-colonel in the Forty-fifth Iowa Volunteers (one hundred days' service) in 1864. Colonel Moore had served in the Indiana Legislature before coming to Iowa, and in 1863 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the State Senate of Iowa, serving in the Tenth and Eleventh General Assemblies. He was one of the superintendents of the eleventh State census. In 1901 he was elected representative in the Twenty-ninth General Assembly; he has long been one of the prominent members of the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association and has delivered many addresses before that body.

WELCOME MOWRY was born in Putnam County, Illinois, April 3, 1842, and was educated in the common schools and Dover Academy. In 1861 he enlisted in Company D, Seventh Kansas Cavalry, and participated in the battles of Corinth, Coffeyville, Tupelo, Iuka, Coldwater, Holly Springs, Oxford and Jackson. Mr. Mowry with four companions was sent to reconnoiter the position of the army of General Price at Abbyville and running into the camp guard, fell back in the darkness. The enemy alarmed at the encounter and ignorant of the size of the forces near at hand, hastily evacuated the town. This is probably the only instance on record where five men stampeded an army. One of Mr. Mowry's commanders has said of him:

"He was frequently on duty as scout in hazardous expeditions where his unflinching bravery, quick intelligence and sound judgment were signally displayed. He was an ideal soldier."

Mr. Mowry was mustered out in September, 1864, but soon reenlisted in the One Hundred Fifty-first Illinois Infantry, serving until February, 1866, and as sergeant was in command of General Judea's headquarter guards. In 1867 he removed to Iowa, locating on a farm in Tama County, which became his permanent home where he has held many official positions. In 1883 he was elected Representative in the House of the Twentieth General Assembly, taking an active part in the business of the session. In 1896 he was one of the Republican presidential electors, and in 1898 he was elected Railroad Commissioner.

CHARLES W. MULLAN is the son of Charles Mullan, who was one of the first settlers at Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa. The son was born in Wayne County, Illinois, December 31, 1845, and has spent practically all his life in Iowa. His education was acquired in the public schools and at the Upper Iowa University. He read law with a private tutor, was admitted to the bar in 1870, and entered upon the practice of his profession in Waterloo. He served as city solicitor and later as county attorney for several years. In 1897 he was elected on the Republican ticket State Senator from the district composed of the counties of Black Hawk and Grundy, serving in the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth General Assemblies. He resigned before the expiration of his term to accept the office of Attorney-General to which he was elected in 1900. At the expiration of his first term in that position he was reelected.

SAMUEL MURDOCK was born near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, March 13, 1817. After obtaining a common school education he taught several years, then studied law. In 1841 he came to Iowa, locating at Iowa City, where he opened a law office. In 1842 he removed to Clayton County, making his home near Jacksonville (now Garnavillo). In 1845 he was elected to the Territorial Legislature, serving two terms. In 1855 he was elected judge of the Tenth District which included ten counties of northeastern Iowa. In several of these counties he held the first courts, riding on horseback from one county-seat to another. Judge Murdock was a Democrat but upon the organization of the Republican party became a member as he was strongly opposed to the extension of slavery into the Territories. In 1869 he was elected to the House of the Thirteenth General Assembly. In 1876 he was appointed by the Governor to fill Iowa ''s Department of Anthropology at the Centennial Exposition. He gathered and there exhibited some of the most interesting specimens of prehistoric man ever found on the continent. Judge Murdock had for many years been investigating the work of the 'Mound Builders' and delivering lectures upon the prehistoric races of America. His last public service was at the Semi-Centennial gathering at Burlington in October, 1896, where he was the principal speaker on 'Pioneers' Day.' He was the first lawyer in Clayton County, the first judge of the Tenth District and one of the few survivors of the Territorial lawmakers. He died on the 27th of January, 1897.

JEREMIAH H. MURPHEY was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, February 19, 1835, was educated in the schools of Boston and after removing to Iowa, graduated at the State University. He read law in Davenport, was admitted to the bar and at once entered upon practice. He was an active Democrat and in 1873 was elected mayor of Davenport. In 1874 he was elected to the State Senate, serving four years. In 1879 he was again chosen mayor. In 1882 he was elected to represent the Second District in Congress and was a member of the committees on rivers and harbors and on railroads and canals. On the latter committee he worked faithfully to secure an appropriation for the Hennepin canal. Mr. Murphey was reelected in 1884, serving four years. He died in Washington on the 11th of December, 1893.

JOHN S. MURPHY was born in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in 1847, and acquired his education in the public schools and the printing office. While young he came with his parents to Iowa, locating at Anamosa. He became an apprentice in the office of the DUBUQUE HERALD in 1859, and after acquiring a knowledge of the art of printing, secured a position with the GLOBE-DEMOCRAT establishment at St. Louis, doing editorial work for several years, but finally returning to Dubuque. In 1879 he became editor of the DUBUQUE DAILY TELEGRAPH. He developed fine editorial ability, making the TELEGRAPH one of the most prominent advocates of 'free silver' in the Mississippi valley. Mr. Murphy became an acknowledged leader of the Bryan wing of the Democratic party in the middle west and was one of the ablest supporters of the Nebraska orator for President in 1896. 'He was an evangelist of labor, gauging every movement by what he believed to be for labor's weal or detriment.' In October, 1901, the DUBUQUE HERALD, one of the oldest and ablest Democratic journals in Iowa, was consolidated with the TELEGRAPH under the editorial management of Mr. Murphy. His industry was unsurpassed and he died at his desk in the midst of his labors on the 10th of February, 1902.