Born at New Martinsville, West Virginia, on the 30th of May, 1841. In 1855 he came with his father to Oskaloosa, near which they located on a farm. His education was limited by lack of means and he learned the trade of bricklaying. When the Civil War began he enlisted in Company H, Third Iowa Infantry, was captured at the Battle of Blue Mills but was soon released on parole. He returned home and began to read law with Samuel A. Rice, then Attorney-General of Iowa. After being exchanged in 1802, he enlisted in Company D, Thirty-third Iowa Volunteers, of which Mr. Rice was appointed colonel. He was soon promoted to first lieutenant of Company C and later was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General on the staff of General Steele, serving in that position to the end of the war. He participated in the battles of Helena, Little Rock, Elkin's Ford, Prairie d'Ann, Camden, Jenkin's Ferry and Blakely. Upon his return home he entered upon the practice of law. In 1869 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the House of the Thirteenth General Assembly, serving one term. He was city solicitor and is the author of Lacey's Railway Digest in two volumes and also of the Third Iowa Digest. He was first elected to Congress from the Sixth District in 1888 and has been repeatedly reelected, serving to the close of the Nineteenth Century. He has taken a deep interest in the preservation of the forests and animals of the country and is the author of numerous important laws on the subject.