Born on a farm near West Union, the judicial center of Fayette county, Iowa, on the 10th of March, 1852, and is a son of Franklin Park Bishop and Cynthia Ann (Commack) Bishop. Hiram received in his youth the best of scholastic advantages. He was reared under the invigorating influences of the home farm and while contributing his quota to its work he applied himself diligently to his studies in the district school near his home until he was eligible for the initiating of higher academic study. At West Union he attended Ainsworth Academy, and after leaving this institution he prosecuted his studies in Upper Iowa University, at Fayette. He put his scholastic attainments to effective test and utilization by entering the pedagogic profession, in which he gained unequivocal success and popularity. He taught seven terms in the rural or district schools and thirty-one terms in town public schools, in which connection his services finally became enlisted in Clayton county. From January 1, 1888, to January 1, 1894, he was county superintendent of schools. Mr. Bishop has always been a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stand sponsor, and he has given yeoman service in furtherance of its cause in northeastern Iowa. He served as a member of the State senate from 1900 to 1905, and was recognized as one of the dominating figures in the deliberations on the floor of the upper house and in the councils of the various committees to which he was assigned. On the 4th of July, 1893, he founded the Clayton County Democrat, at Elkader, the judicial center of the county, and during the intervening period of nearly a quarter of a century he has maintained for his representative paper a high standard as an exponent of local interests and a director of popular sentiment. On June 14, 1882, he was married to Miss Emma Kern. He and his wife are members of the Universalist church of Elkader, and he is affiliated with the local organizations of the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America.

Born on a farm near West Union, the judicial center of Fayette county, Iowa, on the 10th of March, 1852, and is a son of Franklin Park Bishop and Cynthia Ann (Commack) Bishop. Hiram received in his youth the best of scholastic advantages. He was reared under the invigorating influences of the home farm and while contributing his quota to its work he applied himself diligently to his studies in the district school near his home until he was eligible for the initiating of higher academic study. At West Union he attended Ainsworth Academy, and after leaving this institution he prosecuted his studies in Upper Iowa University, at Fayette. He put his scholastic attainments to effective test and utilization by entering the pedagogic profession, in which he gained unequivocal success and popularity. He taught seven terms in the rural or district schools and thirty-one terms in town public schools, in which connection his services finally became enlisted in Clayton county. From January 1, 1888, to January 1, 1894, he was county superintendent of schools. Mr. Bishop has always been a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stand sponsor, and he has given yeoman service in furtherance of its cause in northeastern Iowa. He served as a member of the State senate from 1900 to 1905, and was recognized as one of the dominating figures in the deliberations on the floor of the upper house and in the councils of the various committees to which he was assigned. On the 4th of July, 1893, he founded the Clayton County Democrat, at Elkader, the judicial center of the county, and during the intervening period of nearly a quarter of a century he has maintained for his representative paper a high standard as an exponent of local interests and a director of popular sentiment. On June 14, 1882, he was married to Miss Emma Kern. He and his wife are members of the Universalist church of Elkader, and he is affiliated with the local organizations of the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America.