Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/400

 study of law when about twenty-six years of age and took six months' instruction in a law school, working at his trade to support himself. In 1849 he was admitted to the bar and came to Iowa, locating at Muscatine, where he opened a law office. He united with the free soil movement in 1854, supporting James W. Grimes for Governor. In 1856 he was a delegate to the State Convention which organized the Republican party in Iowa and made a speech on the evening of the ratification meeting which for impassioned eloquence has seldom been equalled. It placed him in the front rank of Republican orators. In 1857 Mr. O'Connor wan chosen District Attorney in the Seventh District. When the War of the Rebellion began in 1861, Mr. O'Connor enlisted as a private in the First Iowa Regiment and fought bravely until his term of service expired. In 1862 he was commissioned major of the Thirty-fifth Regiment. In 1867 he was elected Attorney-General of Iowa, serving by reëlections until 1872. While holding this position, a young woman was elected to the office of superintendent of schools in Mitchell County. Her eligibility to the office was questioned and submitted to the Attorney-General. He decided that a woman was eligible to hold office—the first decision in the United States upon that subject. In 1872 Mr. O'Connor was appointed by President Grant Solicitor of the Department of State and served in that important position under four secretaries—Hamilton Fish, Wm. M. Evarts, F. T. Frelinghuysen and James G. Elaine, a period of nearly fourteen years. In 1872 he was warmly supported for Governor before the Republican State Convention but the nomination went to C. C. Carpenter. Major O'Connor died at the Soldiers' Home, November 6, 1900. ADDISON OLIVER was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1834, and received a classical education, graduating at Washington College in 1850. He taught two years in Arkansas, returning to Pennsylvania and studied law, was admitted to the bar and removed to Iowa in 1857, taking up his residence at Onawa, in Monona County, where he began practice. Mr. Oliver was elected to the House of the Tenth General Assembly in 1863 to represent the district composed of the counties of Carroll, Crawford, Monona and Sac. He became a prominent member and at the close of his term was elected to the Senate for the Forty-fifth District composed of fifteen counties in the northwestern part of the State and served four years. He was then chosen circuit judge and twice reflected. In 1874 he was elected to Congress from the Sixth District, serving four years. Mr. Oliver became one of the most extensive farmers in western Iowa after retiring from public life. JACKSON ORR was born in Fayette County, Ohio, September 21, 1832. He was reared on a farm and by his own labor earned the means to pay his way in the University. After attending the public schools in