Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/427

 House. He was an earnest advocate of the most energetic war measures and of legislation to strengthen the credit of the Government. Mr. Price was one of the founders of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home. In 1876 he was again elected to Congress and served until 1880. In 1881 Mr. Price was appointed by the President Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in which position he served with distinguished ability for four years. He made many reforms where abuses had grown up in dealing with the Indians. He was one of the pioneers in railroad building in Iowa. In 1853, when the first railroad was being built from Chicago toward Iowa, Mr. Price was chosen to traverse the counties on the projected line through the State to the Missouri River to create an interest among the people and towns. In 1869 when a railroad was projected from Davenport in a northwesterly direction Hiram Price was elected president of the company which constructed the road. One of his last public acts before removing to Washington was to endow a free reading room in the public library of Davenport, his old home. He was a life-long and prominent member of the Methodist Church. He died in Washington, D. C., May 30, 1901. SOLOMON F. PROUTY was born in Delaware, Ohio, January 17, 1854, and came with his parents to Iowa in 1855. They located at Knoxville, in Marion County, where he grew to manhood. He was educated at the Central University at Pella and at Simpson College at Indianola. He taught school for several years and when twenty-three years of age became Professor of Latin in the Central University, serving in that position four years. In 1879 Mr. Prouty was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the Eighteenth General Assembly. Removing to Des Moines he engaged in the practice of law and in 1898 was elected judge of the District Court. In 1902 Judge Prouty was a prominent candidate for Congress in the Seventh District. WILLIAM H. M. PUSEY was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, July 29, 1826. He graduated from Washington and Jefferson College in 1847 and came to Springfield, Illinois, where he studied law and became personally acquainted with Abraham Lincoln, who was then practicing law in that city but had at that time attained no prominence outside of the region in which he lived. In 1856 Mr. Pusey became a resident at Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he entered into the banking business with his brother-in-law, Thomas Officer. Theirs was one of the pioneer banks of western Iowa and was continued until the death of Mr. Officer in 1900. In 1857 Mr. Pusey was elected to the State Senate for the Twelfth District which embraced twenty-two counties of western Iowa. He served in the Senate four years. In 1882 he was the Democratic candidate for Representative in Congress from the Ninth District and was elected over Colonel Anderson the Republican candidate, serving two years. Mr. Pusey