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James Wamsley

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State Representative
Whig
Blacksmith
Jefferson
5
12/04/1854 - 07/01/1856
25

James Wamsley was born in Adams County, Ohio, in 1814. James and his brother Thomas O. Wamsley and their families first appeared in Iowa in Henry County between 1840 and 1844 and later moved to Jefferson County. James listed his occupation as blacksmith in 1854 when he was a member of the Fifth General Assembly for Jefferson County. However, he moved from the county and didn’t serve in the special session for the Fifth General Assembly. He next appears in the 1860 census for Knox County, Missouri, as a farmer. He served in Company K as a second lieutenant for the Missouri militia in the Civil War. He mustered out in September 1862 and was elected in December to serve in the Missouri House of Representatives from 1862 to 1864. By 1880 he is living with his daughter and her family in Adair County, Missouri. He died in 1885.

Information from State Historical Society of Iowa resources