sissippi valley in 1836, locating at Burlington, which was then in Michigan Territory. In 1838 he was appointed by General Henry Dodge adjutant of a regiment organized to protect the frontier. In 1842 he explored the upper valley of the Des Moines River and while camped at the mouth of the Raccoon, predicted that the future capital of the State would be located in that vicinity. In 1844 he journeyed with an ox team to Knoxville where he built a mill and opened a store. In 1848 he was elected on the Democratic ticket, Representative in the Legislature for the district composed of Marion, Jasper, Polk and Dallas, and all of the counties in that tier to the Missouri River. He served two terms in the House. While a member he introduced and urged the passage of a bill to remove the capital from Iowa City to Des Moines, then a new town laid out upon the spot where he had camped six years before. In 1853 he was appointed Register of the United States Land Office at Council Bluffs and removed to that place. In 1857 he purchased the Council Bluffs Bugle, one of the leading journals of his party in the State. In 1859 he was the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant-Governor but was defeated. In 1867 he was again elected to the Legislature. He removed to Arkansas in 1881 where he died October 4, 1885. He had been one of the influential leaders of the Democratic party of Iowa for half a century.
A. K. BAILEY was born in Wales, Erie County, New York, November 18, 1835. After attending school until he was thirteen, he entered his father's office and learned the printer's trade. In 1860 Mr. Bailey came to Iowa, locating in Winneshiek County and with his father, Wesley Bailey, founded the Decorah Republican. For more than forty years he has remained with that journal as one of the editors and publishers. It has long ranked among the best weekly newspapers in the State. He has, during that period, in addition to conducting the Republican, held the office of treasurer and recorder of the county, served sixteen years as postmaster of Decorah and for four years, from 1890 to 1894, represented his county in the State Senate. While a member of the Senate he was an earnest advocate of the Australian ballot law and one of the zealous supporters of the establishment of the State Historical Department. He and his father were among the pioneer journalists of northern Iowa and widely known throughout the State as among the ablest editors.
GIDEON S. BAILEY was born in the State of Kentucky in 1810 and came to the “Black Hawk Purchase” in 1837, locating on the west bank of the Des Moines River in Van Buren County. He was a physician but from boyhood had taken a deep interest in public affairs. When the Territory of Iowa was established in 1838, Dr. Bailey, then a young man of twenty-eight was chosen one of the members of the First Legislative Assembly. He was the author of the first school system established in the
