Born May 2, 1846, the son of Rev. Salmon Gleason, a native of New Hampshire. He remained at home until sixteen years of age, receiving his rudimentary education at the common schools and Newbury Academy, at Newbury, Vermont. He enlisted in June, 1862, in Co. G, l2th N.H.Vol. Infantry as a private soldier. He was promoted Sergeant Major and subsequently to First Lieutenant, and was detailed as an aid-de-camp on the staff of Gen. Whipple. At the closing up of the war Lieut. Gleason was detailed and placed in charge of the Government property at Bermuda Hundred. On Sept. 22, 1865, he was honorably discharged at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, and returned to his eastern home. In the spring of 1866, Mr. Gleason came to the boundless west, stopping one year at Mankato, Minnesota. In 1867 he removed to Benton County, Iowa, where he taught school and read law at the same time, and was admitted to the bar in December, 1869, at Toledo, Iowa. From there he removed to Jasper County, Iowa, where he followed his profession until May, 1872, when he came to Oskaloosa and formed a partnership with Hon. J. A. L. Crookham. On October 20, 1875, Mr. Gleason was married in Oskaloosa, to Miss Flora A. Howard, a daughter of Henry Howard, Esq., of this city. Mr. Gleason is a member of the following Masonic bodies: Blue Lodge Chapter and Commandery, Council and Consistory, and has represented both Chapter and Commandery in the grand bodies of the State. He is also a member of Phil Kearney Post No. 40, G. A. R. Politically he is a Republican, and in 1878 was elected by that party as its representative in the Lower House of the General Assembly of Iowa, participating actively in all the work of the session, and acquitting himself in a manner alike creditable to himself and his constituents.