Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/439

 the public men of Iowa was very wide and although he was a lifelong Democrat and an active and influential leader in his party for more than forty years, he won and retained the confidence and personal friendship of his political opponents everywhere. He died on the 4th of July, 1898. JACOB S. RICHMAN was born at Somerset, Ohio, on the 11th of March, 1820. He studied law at Knoxville, Illinois, and in 1839 came to Iowa, locating in Cedar County where he was admitted to the bar at Rochester, then the county-seat. In 1840 he removed to Muscatine and entered into partnership in the practice of law with S. C. Hastings. In 1846 Mr. Richman was a member of the convention which framed the Constitution under which Iowa became a State. In 1848 he served as chief clerk of the House of Representatives. In October, 1883, he was appointed judge of the District Court where he served until 1870 when he resigned and returned to the practice of law.  BENJAMIN S. ROBERTS wag born in Manchester, Vermont, on the 18th of November, 1810. He graduated at the Military Academy at West Point in 1835, and was commissioned a second lieutenant. In 1839 he resigned and became chief engineer of a railroad company and later was Assistant State Geologist for New York. He finally studied law and in 1844 located at Fort Madison, Iowa, where he practiced law. When the Mexican War began in 1846 he returned to the service and was appointed first lieutenant in a regiment of mounted riflemen. Mr. Roberts greatly distinguished himself in the campaign of General Scott against the City of Mexico. He led the advance into the city and with his own hands raised the American flag over the ancient palace of the Montezumas. At the close of the war he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the regular army. In 1849 the Iowa Legislature bestowed upon him a sword of honor for his gallant services during the war. When the Civil War began Colonel Roberts was in command of the southern district of New Mexico, where he routed the Confederate army and saved the Territory to the Union. In 1882 he was promoted to Brigadier-General and became Inspector-General of General Pope's army in Virginia. In June, 1863, he was assigned to the command of the Department of Iowa with headquarters at Davenport. He served with distinguished ability to the close of the war.  GEORGE E. ROBERTS is a native of Iowa, having been born in Colesburg, Delaware County, in 1857. In 1873 his parents removed to Fort Dodge, where the son, in 1878, became the editor and publisher of the Fort Dodge Messenger, then a weekly Republican journal. In February, 1882, he was elected State Printer, which position he held by reëlections for six years. He became widely known in the presidential 