Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/509

 17, 1830. He was reared on a farm, receiving his early education in a log schoolhouse, and became a teacher. At the age of nineteen he entered the Weatherspoon Institute, remaining two years when he began the study of law, supporting himself by working for his employers. He was admitted to the bar in 1853 and immediately came to Iowa, locating at Marion in Linn County, which became his permanent home. He was a member of the State Convention at Iowa City in 1856 which founded the Republican party of Iowa. The same year he was chosen a member of the State Senate, serving in the Sixth and Seventh General Assemblies. He was one of the presidential electors in 1864, and was elected District Attorney, serving six years. In 1879 he was appointed Chief Justice of Idaho Territory, and in the same year was elected to Congress from the Fifth Iowa District to fill a vacancy and was reëlected for the next regular term. In 1885 he was elected to the House of the Twenty-first General Assembly, serving on the committee chosen by the House of Representatives to prosecute the impeachment proceedings against Auditor Brown. In 1894 Judge Thompson was appointed Judge of the Eighteenth Judicial District and has been elected since to a full term. JAMES THORINGTON was born on the 7th of May, 1816, in Wilmington, North Carolina. He was a graduate of the State University of Alabama, and studied law with his father. He located at Davenport, Iowa, in 1839, where he began practice. In 1842 he was chosen mayor of the city, serving four years. He was one of the leaders in the Free Soil movement and in 1854 was nominated for Representative in Congress for the Second District by the antislavery elements of the various parties. The district embraced all of the northern half of the State and few expected the Free Soil candidate to be elected. Several prominent men declined the nomination and it was offered to Mr. Thorington. He said, “Gentlemen, I am not anxious to take the chances, but if you choose to nominate me, I will make an aggressive canvass and shall expect to be elected.” His response aroused enthusiasm, he was nominated and made a vigorous campaign, having for his Democratic competitor Ex-Governor Stephen Hempstead. Thorington was elected by more than 1,500 majority. He served two years from March, 1855, and was largely instrumental in securing to Iowa the land grants of 1850 for the aid of railroads. This most important act gave to his district three trunk lines of railroad from the Mississippi to the Missouri River. But it compassed his defeat for renomination. Delegates in the convention from counties not on the lines of the projected railroads united against him and nominated a Republican in Dubuque. Mr. Thorington was one of the leaders in the political movement which resulted in uniting the antislavery elements into the Republican party in 1855-6. In 1858 he was a candidate for United States Senator to succeed George W. Jones but James W. Grimes was nominated and elected.