Iowa was not builded like the great states of the old world nor yet like the old States of our own Union, by successive generations of men and statesmen but rather by a single generation of master workmen. In this she the more resembled the fabled Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, who sprang full fledged from the brain of Jupiter the heroic god of the ancient world.

No class of men but such as those through whose veins. coursed Pioneer and Old Settler blood could have builded Iowa as they builded the State with foundations strong and broad and deep, for the foundation of the State upon which a grand structure was to be erected should be laid like those of the God of the Universe, upon foundations of "righteousness and judgment." It requires time to take "accurately the altitude of the men" who made the early history of the State, and the historian with the leisure of coming years will no doubt succeed in arriving at results which shall place these men properly before the generations of people who shall profit by the labors of the early builders. When admiring the beauty of the dome, the symbol of the State, reflected in the sunlight of the morning, forget not to render homage to the builders whose modesty bespeaks their merits and who have faded from view with the evening twilight of the setting sun.

It is our purpose in this paper to speak in brief of one, and a prominent one, the Hon. John James Dyer, deceased, of Dubuque, who engaged at an early day in the work of Statebuilding upon the beautiful and rolling prairies of Iowa, stretching from river to river upon the east and west. He was not a Pioneer but one of the most honored and capable of the Old Settlers, who, following and uniting with the Pioneers, are the real and true makers of Iowa Statehood, so recently celebrated in the first capital of the Territory-the city of Burlington.

Mr. Dyer's last and most eminent service to the Territory of Iowa, just preceding her admission to the Union as a State, was rendered in the Democratic Convention which assembled

in the early fall (September 4th) after the adoption by the people of the Constitution of (May 4th) 1846 on August 3rd of that year. The ticket nominated by that Convention was elected October 26th following, though the Act of Congress for the admission of Iowa into the Union was not passed till the 28th of the following December. These events culminated in the practical completion of the work of Statehood and Iowa became then and there one of the States of the Union expressed in the motto "E Pluribus Unum" the twenty-ninth star upon the Nation's banner.

When the citizens of the new State, about to be, had convened through their representatives in the Convention it was found that there were no prominent citizens of the new commonwealth who sought the nomination for the office of Governor. The leading Democrats were all aspiring to the offices of U. S. Senator, Members of Congress, of which there were to be two, or Judges of the Supreme Court, three of whom were to be elected by the new Legislature when it should convene. The majority "for the Constitution" was only 456 in the total vote of 18,526 which shows that the people after three successive trials were not overly eager for Statehood. The people had twice rejected the Constitution of 1844 by a vote of 996 majority in April, and 421 majority in August, 1845. At this election of 1846, Jackson County had cast the largest vote in proportion to the number of votes cast for the Constitution (422), and so was styled "the banner County of Democracy," her vote being 588 for and 166 against the Constitution. Lee County having the much larger vote, 1,287 for to 785 against, gave a larger majority, but not in per centage of the population of voters.

In view of these facts it was agreed among the leaders (of which I was one) in Convention that we would give to Jackson County the presentation of a name for nomination for Governor. It was fully believed that the name of Mr. John J. Dyer would be selected and presented by his associate delegates, he, however, positively declined and for the reason,

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as confided to me, that he was a candidate for the appointment of Judge of the District Court of the United States upon the admission of the State-an appointment which a few months later he received; he, however, presented the Convention, with a nominating speech couched in terse and appropriate language, the name of Ansel Briggs, of Jackson County, a worthy gentleman who had held prominent offices in the county and represented it in the Legislative Assembly at its fifth annual session, 1842, but was not generally known to the members of the Convention-he was a modest man of moderate ability and had cut but little figure and so left no mark in the legislation of that year; he was elected and became the first Governor of the new State of Iowa, and as such his name will go down through the years enjoying the honor and respect of his fellow citizens of that and later periods.

John J. Dyer, of Dubuque, Judge of the U. S. District Court for the District of Iowa, was the first contribution of the State to this branch of the higher National Court. This distinguished honor has been later shared by Hon. Jas. M. Love, an Old Settler, of Keokuk, and now by the Hon. Oliver P. Shiras, of Dubuque, who came to Iowa the year following (1856) Judge Dyer's death, and by Hon. John S. Woolson, of Mt. Pleasant -the two latter present incumbents of the bench-all of whom have reflected honor upon the State and appointing power of the Nation. Upon Judge Dyer devolved both the honor and the labor of organizing the Court and establishing wise rules for the practice and administration of justice within its jurisdiction corresponding with that of the State. Of the officers of his Court, the Marshal, Dr. Gideon S. Bailey, of Van Buren County, and the Clerk, T. S. Parvin, of Muscatine County, are still living; the District Attorney, Hon. Isaac M. Preston, of Johnson County, deceased many years ago. The District at first and during Judge Dyer's service embraced the whole State, and Court was held, the first term, July, 1847, at Iowa City, the State capital, and later at Dubuque and Burlington. After the death of his successor, Judge Love, the

State was divided into two, the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa, and courts are now held at Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Sioux City and Ft. Dodge for the Northern District and for the Southern District at Council Bluffs, Keokuk and Des Moines, the capital of the State since 1857. Judge Dyer's commission was signed by President Jas. K. Polk and countersigned by Jas. Buchanan as Secretary of State, and is dated Washington, the 3rd day of March, 1847. The date of his being qualified I do not know, but as he was (as I well remember) east at the time of his appointment he must have filed his oath of office in the State Department soon after. receiving his commission; the endorsement of his oath upon the Commission is dated at Dubuque the 22nd day of November, 1847.

Well could Judge Dyer at the close of that July, the first term of his Court, have pronounced its "dictum" in behalf of the Pioneers and Old Settlers and declared that the work of their hands was completed, the temple of State builded and passed to the new settlers yet to come as their inheritance and. possession, the new born State, with the pleasing announcement to them that

"For the structure that you raise

Time is with materi 2s filled,

Our to-days and yesterdays

Are the blocks with which you build,"

and upon you will devolve the work of beautifying, strength-` ening and enlarging the State for your successors. Judge Dyer lived long enough-a decade-to see the State he had helped to build take her place in the front rank of the commonwealths of the land, possessed of ail the elements that constitute a great and a mighty commonwealth.

The intimate relations existing between us as officers of the Court, extended also to the social circle and we were a frequent inmate of his house, breaking bread with him at his table and enjoying, as I am sure, his confidence and esteem through life, would enable me to speak personally of his character as a

Judge and a citizen-we prefer, however, for public reasons to present the testimony of his fellow citizens, also members of the Court, to all of which we can most heartily respond an approval. When his death was announced a meeting of the bar of his city was called and a series of resolutions presented by Hon. Stephen Hempstead, the second Governor of the State, 1850-54, and who had through the whole territorial period occupied positions of high honor and trust, ever serving the people most acceptably. The committee say:

"That we as members of the Dubuque bar deeply lament the loss which our profession, the Court, and the country have sustained in the death of our friend and brother, John J. Dyer.

"That society may well mourn the death of one whose public spirit and generous impulses had endeared him to all who knew him.

"That, as in the profession of the law, so much depends upon the integrity and character of the bench, we especially deplore in the demise of our friend the removal of a Judge whose prompt decision, legal acumen, dignified deportment, patient attention and unvarying courage gave tone to his Court not only attractive to us but to all who came before it.

"That we offer our sincere sympathy to the immediate family and relations of the deceased for the loss of him whose simplicity of heart, purity of purpose and amiable social qualities made his home happy and his friends joyous around him.

"That the memory of a citizen so esteemed, a public officer so eminent and faithful and whose past life was so intimately connected with the welfare and prosperity of the State ought to be endeared to those who have been associated with him and to all who desire to emulate his virtues."

We know not what we could add to this testimony so beautifully presented and by the entire bar and the citizens of his adopted city, further than to say that "he ever placed honesty before expediency and was ready to follow his convictions nurtured by study and by thought wherever they might lead him."

He was not and never had been a politician of the