History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Cyrus C. Carpenter

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CYRUS C. CARPENTER, eighth Governor of Iowa, was born at Hartford, Pennsylvania, on the 24th of November, 1829. He was reared on a farm, educated in the common schools and at an academy in his native town. He taught school two years in Licking County, Ohio, and in the spring of 1854 came to Iowa, stopping a short time at Des Moines and then walking to Fort Dodge. He there engaged in surveying, school teaching and the study of law. In 1856 he was chosen county surveyor and in March, 1857, joined the relief expedition sent to Spirit Lake to aid the settlers driven from their homes by the Sioux Indians. In the fall of that year he was nominated by the Republicans of the District embracing seventeen counties of northwestern Iowa for Representative in the Seventh General Assembly. His Democratic competitor was the brilliant young lawyer John F. Duncombe. After a vigorous campaign of the District, Carpenter was elected. In that first Legislature under the new Constitution, made up of men of unusual ability, Mr. Carpenter laid the foundation of his long and honorable public career. At the beginning of the Rebellion he was appointed to a military position and during the war served on the staff of Generals Rosecrans, Dodge and Logan. In 1868 Colonel Carpenter was elected Register of the State Land Office, serving two terms. In 1871 he was nominated for Governor by the Republican State Convention and elected by a majority of more than 40,000. He was reëlected in 1873 serving four years. At the expiration of his term he was appointed Second Comptroller of the Treasury of the United States, where he served two years. In 1878 he was appointed Railroad Commissioner and before the expiration of his term was nominated for Congress by the Republicans of the Ninth District. He was elected, serving two terms. In 1884 he served another term in the State Legislature. He was postmaster of Fort Dodge for several years. The last years of his life were given to the care of his fine farm. He died on the 29th of May, 1898. At his funeral were assembled many of the prominent men of the State, including the Governor. No man ever served the public more faithfully, or brought to the performance of his official duties a more conscientious regard for the general welfare of the people than Governor C. C. Carpenter.