Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/483

 during the winter months. When eighteen years of age he began to teach at ten dollars a month. In 1833 he studied law and five years later went to the far west, locating at the new town of Wapello, in Louisa County, Iowa. He was the first lawyer in the new county and in 1840 was elected on the Whig ticket to represent Louisa and Washington counties in the Council of the Legislative Assembly, where he served four years. Upon the admission of Iowa as a State, in 1846, Mr. Springer was elected to the Senate of the First General Assembly where he served four years. In 1849-50 he was a special agent of the Post-Office Department and in 1851 was appointed Register of the United States Land Office at Fairfield. In 1854 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney and in 1855 was chosen District Judge. In 1856 he was a delegate to the first Republican National Convention which nominated John C. Fremont for President. In 1857 Judge Springer was a member of the convention which framed the present Constitution of the State and was the permanent president of that body. He was again elected District Judge in 1858, serving until 1860, when he resigned to accept the position of Collector of Internal Revenue. In 1882, on the 19th of January, a reunion of the surviving members of the Constitutional Convention of 1857 was held at Des Moines, at which Judge Springer presided. It was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Convention which framed the Constitution and Judge Springer delivered an address of great historic interest. He died on the 2d of October, 1898.  FRANK SPRINGER is the son of Judge Francis Springer and was born at Wapello, Iowa, June 17, 1848. He graduated from the State University in 1867 and immediately began the study of law at Burlington. The following year he matriculated with the senior class at the State University and was admitted to the bar in 1869. He entered upon the practice of law in Burlington and was soon appointed Special Prosecuting Attorney. In 1873 Mr. Springer removed to New Mexico where he was employed as attorney for the famous Maxwell Land Grant Company which brought him into prominence before the United States Supreme Court. In 1883 he became a resident of Las Vegas where he has since resided. He was chosen president of the Maxwell Land Company in 1891 and has been counsel for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company since 1878. Mr. Springer served several terms in the Territorial Legislature of New Mexico and was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1889. In the same year he was elected president of the Bar Association of New Mexico. In 1902 he was a member of the New Mexico Irrigation Commission and president of the Board of Regents of the Normal University. From early youth Mr. Springer took a deep interest in natural science, and while at the University gave special attention to geology. At Burlington he became acquainted with Professor Wachsmuth and was associated with him in his studies and publications on crinoids. 