William Peters HEPBURN, Congress, IA (1833-1916)

HEPBURN, William Peters, (great-grandson of Matthew Lyon), a Representative from Iowa; born in Wellsville, Columbiana County, Ohio, November 4, 1833; moved to Iowa with his parents, who settled near Iowa City in April 1841; attended the common schools of Iowa City and the academy conducted by James F. Harlan (later a Senator); served an apprenticeship in a printing office; studied law in Iowa City and Chicago; was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1854 and commenced practice in Iowa City, Iowa; settled in Marshalltown, Marshall County, in February 1856; prosecuting attorney of Marshall County in 1856; district attorney of the eleventh judicial district 1856-1861; clerk of the Iowa house of representatives in 1858; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1860, 1888 and 1896; during the Civil War served in the Second Iowa Cavalry as captain, major, and lieutenant colonel; resident of Memphis, Tenn., 1865-1867; moved to Clarinda, Iowa, in 1867; resumed the practice of law until 1881; elected as a Republican to the Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth, and Forty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1881-March 3, 1887); served as Solicitor of the Treasury during the administration of President Benjamin Harrison; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1886 to the Fiftieth Congress; elected to the Fifty-third and to the seven succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1909); chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (Fifty-fourth through Sixtieth Congresses); sponsor of the Hepburn Act of 1906; unsuccessfully contested the election of William D. Jamieson to the Sixty-first Congress; engaged in the practice of law in Clarinda, Iowa, and Washington, D.C.; died in Clarinda, Iowa, February 7, 1916; interment in Clarinda Cemetery.

Bibliography

Briggs, John E. William Peters Hepburn. Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1919.

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