Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/71

  at the ankle. Elizabeth C. Stanton was the second woman to appear in the new style of dress, and Mrs. Bloomer was the third. Mrs. Bloomer began to advocate the dress reform in her paper and the public obtained the impression that she was the originator of the new costume and it became known as the “Bloomer dress.” The notoriety of the “Bloomer Costume” brought to her paper thousands of new subscribers and greatly enlarged her constituency to whom she urged the reforms in which she was deeply interested and she soon acquired national fame. In 1855 Mr. and Mrs. Bloomer removed to Iowa, settling at Council Bluffs, where Mrs. Bloomer continued to advocate woman suffrage and prohibition as a lecturer. In October, 1871, she was chosen president of the Iowa Woman's Suffrage Association at its second annual session. Mrs. Bloomer died at Council Bluffs on the 30th of December, 1894.  DEXTER C. BLOOMER was born at Aurora, New York, on the 4th of July, 1810. He studied law and was admitted to the bar but soon after entered upon journalism, serving as an editor both in New York and Ohio. In 1855 he moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he practiced law. He was elected mayor of the city and for several years Receiver of the United States Land Office. He was one of the promoters of the public library of that city and for many years one of the trustees. He was a frequent contributor to historical publications, and in 1895 wrote and published the “Life and Times of Amelia Bloomer,” his wife, who was a noted reformer in New York and Iowa. He was also the author of a “History of Pottawattamie County.” Mr. Bloomer died on the 24th of February, 1900. NORMAN BOARDMAN was born at Morristown, Vermont, April 30, 1813. During boyhood he worked on his father's farm, attending district school in the winter. He earned his way through Johnstown Academy before he was twenty-one years of age, studied law and was admitted to the bar and in 1853 came to Iowa, locating at Lyons, in Clinton County. Here he engaged in the real estate business with great success. In the spring of 1854 he, in company with three associates, laid out a town in Mitchell County which they named Osage in honor of Dr. Oren Sage. In early life Mr. Boardman was a Democrat but upon the organization of the Republican party he united with it. In 1861 he was nominated by the Republicans for the State Senate and was elected by a large majority. He became an influential member of the Senate, was made chairman of the committee on schools, was a member of the committee of ways and means and the author of some of the most important legislation for the protection and safe keeping of the school funds of the State. He was a firm friend of the State University and Agricultural College. In 1869 Mr. Boardman was appointed by President Grant to the office of Collector of