and legislator he ranked high and had great influence in framing laws and shaping the policy of the Territory. When James K. Polk became President he appointed Mr. Johnston United States District Attorney for Iowa. He was chosen a member of the convention which framed the present Constitution of the State and was one of the most influential of the delegates in that body. The last public position held by him was President of the “Pioneer Lawmakers' Association.” Judge Johnston was a lifelong Democrat. After his death, Hon. S. M. Clark, a Republican member of Congress, and long editor of the Gate City, wrote of Judge Johnston:
“He was one of the best as well as one of the greatest men we have ever known. No man in Iowa had more to do with the making and shaping of the Commonwealth than he. He had a hand in making both statutes and Constitution. In the first quarter century of the Territory and State there was not an act of public importance done that he was not consulted, and his judgment used in fashioning it.”
He died on the 27th of May, 1891. Two of his brothers were Governors; one of Pennsylvania and another of California.
GEORGE W. JONES was born in Vincennes, Indiana, April 12, 1804. His father, John R. Jones, was a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri. The son, George W., was educated in Transylvania University in Kentucky. When a small boy he served as a drummer in a volunteer company in the war with Great Britain. In 1823 he made the acquaintance of Jefferson Davis who was a young officer in the military service on the frontier. They met again in the Black Hawk War and later served long together in the United States Senate and were warm friends. George W. studied law and in 1827 removed to Michigan Territory where he engaged in mining. During the Black Hawk War he served on the staff of General Henry Dodge. In 1835 he was elected delegate from Michigan Territory to Congress. Michigan at that time embraced that region of the northwest which was divided into the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and the Dakotas. He secured the organization of the Territory of Wisconsin, in 1837, was the first delegate in Congress from that Territory and procured the establishment of Iowa Territory. In 1845 he was appointed Surveyor-General of Iowa and removed to Dubuque. In 1848 he was chosen one of the first United States Senators from the State of Iowa. He was thoroughly devoted to the interests of the new State and during his long term of service in the Senate worked untiringly for its material prosperity. His intimate knowledge of needs of the northwest, derived from long residence on the frontier and his wide acquaintance with the public men of that period, enabled him to secure such legislation as was required for the rapid development of the great natural resources of the new State. In 1852 he was reëlected for a term of six years but before its expiration the State passed under the control of the
