History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/John R. Needham

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JOHN R. NEEDHAM was born on the 18th of December, 1824, in Washington, Ohio. He received a good education, studied law and was admitted to the bar at Cambridge, Ohio. In 1849 he came to Iowa, taking up his residence in Mahaska County, where he first engaged in teaching. On the 2d of July, 1850, Mr. Needham and Mr. McNeeley issued the first newspaper ever published in that county under the name of the Iowa Herald. The name was afterwards changed to the Oskaloosa Herald. In 1852 Mr. Needham was nominated by the Whigs for State Senator and elected, serving four years as one of the most influential members of that body. In 1857 he was nominated by the Republicans for member of the convention to frame a new Constitution but declined the position. In 1861 he was elected on the Republican ticket Lieutenant-Governor of the State and was an able and popular President of the Senate. In 1867 he was again elected to the State Senate for four years but died on the 9th of July, 1868. He was a life-long member of the Methodist Episcopal church.