PoliticalGraveyard.com
The Political Graveyard: A Database of American History
U.S. District Court in Iowa

U.S. District Judges for Iowa, 1847-82 (may be incomplete!)
John James Dyer 1847-55 James M. Love 1855-82

Officeholding Events (may be incomplete!)

  • 1855 Sep 14: John James Dyer, died in office.

    U.S. District Judges for the Northern District of Iowa, 1882-2017 (may be incomplete!)
    Oliver Perry Shiras 1882-1903 Henry T. Reed 1900 George C. Scott 1922-43 Henry N. Graven 1944- Edward J. McManus 1962-85 William Cook Hanson 1962-77 David Rasmussen Hansen 1986-91 Michael Joseph Melloy 1992-2002 Mark W. Bennett 1994- Linda R. Reade 2002- Leonard Terry Strand 2016-

    Officeholding Events (may be incomplete!)

  • 1903 Nov 1: Oliver Perry Shiras, retired.
  • 1943 Nov 1: George C. Scott, took senior status.
  • 1977 Aug 15: William Cook Hanson, took senior status.
  • 1985 Feb 9: Edward J. McManus, took senior status.

    U.S. District Judges for the Southern District of Iowa, 1882-2017 (may be incomplete!)
    James M. Love 1882-91 John Simson Woolson 1891-99 Smith McPherson 1900-15 Martin J. Wade 1915-31 Charles A. Dewey 1928-49 Carroll O. Switzer 1949-50 William F. Riley 1950- Edwin Richley Hicklin 1957-60 Roy L. Stephenson 1960-71 William Cook Hanson 1962-77 William C. Stuart 1971-86 Harold Duane Vietor 1979-96 Charles R. Wolle 1987-2001 Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger 2016-

    Officeholding Events (may be incomplete!)

  • 1891 Jul 2: James M. Love, died in office.
  • 1899 Dec 4: John Simson Woolson, died in office.
  • 1915 Jan 17: Smith McPherson, died in office.
  • 1931 Apr 16: Martin J. Wade, died in office.
  • 1949 Mar 1: Charles A. Dewey, took senior status.
  • 1960 Jan 27: Edwin Richley Hicklin, took senior status.
  • 1977 Aug 15: William Cook Hanson, took senior status.
  • 1986 Apr 30: William C. Stuart, took senior status.
  • 1996 Dec 29: Harold Duane Vietor, took senior status.
  • 2001 Oct 16: Charles R. Wolle, took senior status.
    "Enjoy the hospitable entertainment of a political graveyard."
    Henry L. Clinton, Apollo Hall, New York City, February 3, 1872    		 The Political Graveyard

    The Political Graveyard is a web site about U.S. political history and cemeteries. Founded in 1996, it is the Internet's most comprehensive free source for American political biography, listing 338,260 politicians, living and dead.
     
      The coverage of this site includes (1) the President, Vice President, members of Congress, elected state and territorial officeholders in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories; and the chief elected official, typically the mayor, of qualifying municipalities; (2) candidates at election, including primaries, for any of the above; (3) all federal judges and all state appellate judges; (4) certain federal officials, including the federal cabinet, diplomatic chiefs of mission, consuls, U.S. district attorneys, collectors of customs and internal revenue, members of major federal commissions; and political appointee (pre-1969) postmasters of qualifying communities; (5) state and national political party officials, including delegates, alternate delegates, and other participants in national party nominating conventions; (6) Americans who served as "honorary" consuls for other nations before 1950. Note: municipalities or communities "qualify", for Political Graveyard purposes, if they have at least half a million person-years of history, inclusive of predecessor, successor, and merged entities.  
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    Site information: The Political Graveyard is created and maintained by Lawrence Kestenbaum, who is solely responsible for its structure and content. — The mailing address is The Political Graveyard, P.O. Box 2563, Ann Arbor MI 48106. — This site is hosted by HDLmi.com. — The Political Graveyard opened on July 1, 1996; the last full revision was done on February 17, 2025.