Born in Harrison County, Ohio, January 23, 1851, and died at Creston, Iowa, August 28, 1920. Burial was at Corning, Iowa. He removed with his parents, Thomas and Ann Maxwell, to Industry, Illinois, in 1860. In 1874 he came to Cromwell, Iowa, and taught school there and at Prescott until 1878 when he was elected county superintendent of Adams County. He was admitted to the bar at Afton in September, 1879, and in 1880 actively engaged in the practice of his profession at Corning. In 1881 he was elected representative and served in the Nineteenth General Assembly. In 1884 he removed to Creston and engaged in the practice of law. In 1892 he was the Democratic nominee for Congress in the Eighth District against Colonel Hepburn. In 1895 he removed to Des Moines, but in 1901 returned to Corning and engaged in stock raising and the practice of law. In 1905 he removed again to Creston and renewed his practice there. He was elected district judge of the Third Judicial District and served eight years, 1911-1918, declining re-election, after which he again entered practice.