History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Oliver P. Shiras
[O. P. Shiras]
OLIVER P. SHIRAS, jurist, a native of Pennsylvania, was born in Pittsburg, October 22, 1833. He graduated from the Ohio University in 1853 and took a three years' course at Yale, graduating in the Law Department and in 1856 was admitted to the bar. He came to Iowa the same year, locating at Dubuque, where he became a member of the law firm of Bissell, Wells and Shiras. In 1862 Mr. Shiras joined the Union army as quartermaster of the Twenty-seventh Iowa Infantry, serving until November, 1864. He resumed the practice of law in Dubuque and in 1882 was appointed by the President Judge of the United States District Court for Northern Iowa. Judge Shiras has long been deeply interested in education and literary affairs, having served many years as president of the Literary Association of Dubuque. As a lawyer and judge he ranks among the ablest in the State.