History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/William P. Wolfe
WILLIAM P. WOLFE was born at Harrisburg, Stark County, Ohio, on the 31st of December, 1833. He received a liberal education and taught school several years in Ohio. In 1856 he came to Iowa, locating in Cedar County, where he again engaged in teaching. He studied law with Hon. Rush Clark of Iowa City and was admitted to the bar. He was one of the friends of John Brown when that noted emancipator was helping slaves to freedom and making his headquarters at Springdale. Mr. Wolfe removed to Tipton and entered upon the practice of law. He served as county superintendent of schools. In 1863 he was elected on the Republican ticket Representative in the Tenth General Assembly. In May, 1864, he was appointed captain of Company I, of the Forty-sixth Iowa Infantry. At the close of the war he was for a time editor of the Tipton Advertiser. In 1867 he was elected to the State Senate, serving in the Twelfth and Thirteenth General Assemblies. In 1870 he was elected Representative in Congress to fill a vacancy. In 1881 he was again elected Representative in the Legislature and reëlected in 1883. He was chosen Speaker of the House of the Twentieth General Assembly. In the fall of 1894 he was chosen judge of the Eighteenth District which position he held at the time of his death, September 19th, 1896.