Convention Member John Jackson Selman

Convention Member
Democrat
Born January 17, 1818, in Franklin County, Alabama, and there grew to manhood on a farm, and was educated at Perryville Institute, near St. Genevieve, Mo. In 1834, he began to study medicine with his brother, Dr. S. H. Selman of Columbus, Ind., and graduated at the Ohio Medical College in 1837. In July, 1838, he began the practice of his profession at Rushville, Ind., where he remained three years. In 1841 he came to Jackson Township, Van Buren County, Iowa. In 1844, in the spring, he came to this county and located a claim about three miles west of Bloomfield. He was the oldest resident physician living in the county, and has seen the ups and downs of pioneer life. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1846, and in 1848 was elected to the State Senate from Davis and Appanoose counties. He drew the short term and was reelected in 1848, and was elected president of the Senate. He was also elected one of the presidential electors and cast one of Iowa’s four votes for General Cass, for president. Although that was the last of his political career, he was always closely allied with the public interests of the county. He was married in 1840 to Miss Mary A. Morris, a native of Indiana, who died a few months after their marriage. He married again April 17, 1844, to Clarissa Cassady, a native of Indiana.