Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/332

  to the Eleventh General Assembly. Before the expiration of his term he was elected clerk of the Supreme Court, serving by reelection until 1875. In 1891 he was again chosen to represent his county in the Twenty-fourth General Assembly, serving two terms. MATHIAS LORAS, the first Catholic Bishop of Iowa, was born at Lyons, France, August 30, 1792. His father, who was a loyalist at the time of the French Revolution, fell a victim to the “reign of terror.” Young Loras studied at Lyons several years and became a priest in 1817. He came to America in 1829. His fine ability attracted attention and in a few years he became Vicar-General. When the Diocese of Dubuque was established Father Loras was made bishop. He returned to France and procured six missionaries for the new diocese and reached Dubuque in April, 1839. The diocese embraced all of the territory north of Missouri between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in which were more than 30,000 Indians who were in his charge. Throughout this region he established schools. He sat in the Fourth Council of Baltimore in 1840, in the Fifth in 1843, the Sixth in 1846 and again in 1849. After many ineffectual efforts in 1843 he succeeded in obtaining a religious community for the girls' school of his diocese. In 1854 he had established thirty-one Catholic churches in the State of Iowa with a membership of more than 15,000. During nearly twenty years of devoted work for the church he won the esteem of thousands of its best citizens. He died on the 19th of February, 1858, at Dubuque. WILLIAM LOUGHRIDGE was born in Youngstown, Ohio, July 11, 1827. He received a common school education, studied law and began practice in Mansfield, Ohio. Coming to Iowa in 1852 he located at Oskaloosa where he practiced law. In 1856 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the State Senate, serving four years. In 1861 he was chosen judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, serving until January, 1867. He was elected to Congress in 1866 and twice reëlected, being a member of the Fortieth, Forty-first and Forty-third Congresses. JAMES M. LOVE was born in Fairfax, Virginia, March 4, 1820. The family removed to Zanesville, Ohio, when he was a lad of twelve and there he obtained a good education and studied law with an older brother. When the war with Mexico began he volunteered and was chosen captain of a company, serving through the war. In 1850 he removed to Iowa, locating at Keokuk where he entered into partnership with Samuel F. Miller in the practice of law. In 1852 he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the State Senate where he served four years as chairman of the judiciary committee. In 1855 he was appointed by President Pierce Judge of the United States District Court for Iowa, a position