Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/415

  of early Iowa newspapers, legislative journals and session laws, long out of print and other rare publications to the State and Historical libraries have been continuous and exceedingly valuable. He was one of the most valued members of the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association and his historical contributions to that organization have been of great value. His writings and addresses on historical subjects relating to Iowa for half a century would fill several volumes. No citizen of Iowa has done so much to collect and preserve its early records and history as Theodore S. Parvin. He died at his home at Cedar Rapids, June 28, 1901. WILLIAM PATTERSON was born in Wythe County, Virginia, March 9, 1802, and when four years of age his father removed into the forest of Adair County, Kentucky. With no schools in the vicinity the son had little chance to acquire an education. In 1836 he took up his residence at West Point in Lee County, two years before the organization of Iowa Territory. In 1838 he was elected a member of the First Legislative Assembly and reëlected repeatedly, serving in the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Territorial Legislatures; four terms in the House and two in the Council. He was appointed by Governor Lucas colonel of a regiment raised to defend the territory in the Missouri boundary war and was one of the commissioners chosen by the Legislature to secure a peaceable settlement of that controversy. He removed to Keokuk in an early day where he served as postmaster and mayor of the city. In 1857 he was a member of the convention which framed the present Constitution of the State. In 1864 he was one of the Vice-Presidents of the National Democratic Convention which nominated General McClellan for President. Colonel Patterson was for more than fifty years a citizen of Lee County. As a pioneer lawmaker he served in six legislatures and one Constitutional Convention. He was a Democrat and although not a public speaker, had great influence in the councils of big party, as he also had as a legislator. He died on the 23d of October, 1889. EMLEN G. PENROSE was born at Chesterfield, Ohio, August 22, 1844, and was educated in the district schools of his native State. He came to Iowa in 1860 where he worked on a farm and taught school. He attended the State University several terms and in 1868 located at Tama City where he engaged in the mercantile business. He was for several years a resident of Grand Junction where he carried on the hardware, agricultural implement and grain trade. In 1872 he returned to Tama City and opened a hardware store, and has been member of the city council and mayor of the city. In 1893 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the State Senate from the district consisting of the counties of Benton and Tama, where he served in the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth General Assemblies, and was chairman of the