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Reuben Riggs
Appanoose County
Born in Tennessee, January 4, 1810, and married in 1832. He subsequently removed to Illinois and Missouri, in which States he lived a few years, and in 1840 emigrated to Iowa, which was at that time a territory. In Iowa he held many positions of honor and trust. He was a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of Iowa when Iowa was admitted into the Union as a State. Subsequently, during his residence in Iowa, he at different times was elected as the representative of Davis, Appanoose and Union Counties. He was also twice elected to the Senate of the State of Iowa. In 1863 he removed from Iowa and settled in Kansas. Here his ability and worth soon made themselves known to the public. Thrice was he called upon and elected in the Legislature of Kansas-twice as a State Representative, and once as a State Senator. He served several terms as District Attorney, also as a County Judge, Probate Judge, and two terms as School Fund Commissioner, as well as a number of terms as County Attorney. He was most eminently a man of the people. During his public life he was instrumental in organizing seven new counties. One in Missouri, three in Iowa and three in Kansas. As a man of the people, he has made sixteen farms, in all the different localities where he lived. He was ever a friend, a guide, a counselor to the erring, a helper to the poor, a father to the orphan and needy ones. In his religion he was a Universalist. Politically he was a Democrat, but always a people's man, or policy lover rather than a strict partisan. He was an honored member of the Masonic fraternity.
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