Francis Wayland PALMER, Congress, IA (1827-1907)

PALMER, Francis Wayland, a Representative from Iowa; born in Manchester, Dearborn County, Ind., October 11, 1827; moved with his parents to Jamestown, N.Y., in boyhood; learned the printing trade on the Jamestown Journal in 1841; owner of the Jamestown Journal 1848-1858; member of the State assembly in 1853 and again in 1854; moved to Dubuque, Iowa, in 1858, and became editor and one of the proprietors of the Dubuque Times; State printer of Iowa 1861-1869; settled in Des Moines in 1861 and was publisher and owner of the Iowa State Register; elected as a Republican to the Forty-first and Forty-second Congresses (March 4, 1869-March 3, 1873); was not a candidate for renomination in 1872; moved to Chicago, Ill., in 1873, purchased an interest in the Inter-Ocean and became its editor in chief; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1876; postmaster of Chicago by appointment of President Hayes from February 26, 1877, to May 5, 1885; Public Printer of the United States from May 7, 1889, to May 2, 1894, and again from March 31, 1897, until September 8, 1905, when he was removed; died in Chicago, Ill., December 3, 1907; interment in Graceland Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present