Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/236

 the Code of 1860. In politics Judge Hall was a Democrat; as a lawyer, judge and legislator, he had few equals in the State he served so long and well. He died June 11, 1874. MOSES M. HAM, journalist and Senator, was born at Lyman, York County, Maine, on the 23d of March, 1833. He removed to the State of New York where his early education was acquired at Lima Seminary. He then entered Union College at Schenectady where he graduated in 1855. In 1857 he engaged in journalism, which became his life work. He came to Iowa in September, 1863, locating at Dubuque, where the following year he purchased an interest in the Dubuque Herald, one of the leading Democratic journals of the State. The Herald was always a live paper which could give and take hard blows in political conflicts. Mr. Ham was one of the leaders of his party and for sixteen years was a member of the National Democratic Committee for Iowa. He took a deep interest in education and was for a long time president of the Dubuque school board and one of the regents of the State University. In 1877, he was elected to the State Senate for a term of four years, serving in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth General Assemblies. In March, 1890, Mr. Ham contributed to the Annals of Iowa the most valuable historical article on Julien Dubuque, “The First White Man in Iowa,” that, so far as I am informed, has ever been written. It contained many heretofore unpublished facts relating to that settlement which, dating from soon after the close of the War of the American Revolution (1788), must be for all time of deep interest to Iowa people. In 1899, Mr. Ham disposed of a large interest in the Herald establishment and retired from its management after thirty-live years of continuous service. His son, Colonel Clifford D. Ham, succeeded to the editorial control of the daily Herald. Mr. Ham died at his home in Dubuque on the 25th of December, 1902.  JOHN T. HAMILTON was born near Geneseo, Henry County, Illinois, on the 10th of October, 1843. He was reared on a farm and received but an ordinary education. He removed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1868 and engaged in the sale of farm machinery. He has served on the board of supervisors, mayor of Cedar Rapids, president of Cedar Rapids Savings Bank and director of the Electric Light Company. In 1885 he was elected on the Democratic ticket one of the Representatives in the Legislature, and was twice reëlected, serving six years in the House. In 1890 he was elected Speaker of the House of the Twenty-third General Assembly. In October of the same year he was elected to Congress for the Fifth District on the Democratic ticket over George R. Struble, Republican, serving but one term. He was a candidate for reëlection in 1892 but was defeated by R. G. Cousins, Republican.