Lucien Lester Ainsworth

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Lucien Lester Ainsworth
LucienLAinsworth.jpg
Member of the U.S.HouseofRepresentatives
from Iowa's 3rd district
In office
March 4, 1875 March 3, 1877

Lucien Lester Ainsworth (June 21, 1831 – April 19, 1902) was a one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 3rd congressional district in northeastern Iowa.

Contents

1902 and 1921 - Headstone - L L Ainsworth and Margaret E McCool - West Union Cemetery, West Union, Fayette, Iowa, United States Ainsworth McCool Headstone.jpg
1902 and 1921 - Headstone - L L Ainsworth and Margaret E McCool - West Union Cemetery, West Union, Fayette, Iowa, United States

Family life

Lucien Lester Ainsworth was born on June 21, 1831, in New Woodstock, New York, the eldest child of Parmenas Ainsworth and Keziah Webber. His parents had 3 additional children, Lucretia L (1834), Walter C (1839), and Harriet C (1843). Their mother Keziah died in 1847.

Lucien's father was remarried to Miss Amanda Carpenter on November 2, 1848, in Cazenovia, Madison, New York. Parmenas and Amanda had one child, Ella Kezia Ainsworth born November 15, 1850. [1]

The Ainsworth family ancestors were of English descent. Lucien's Great Grandfather, Nathan Ainsworth (1740-1776) served in the Revolutionary war and "died as a prisoner on an English ship, a martyr to the colonial cause." [2]

On December 8, 1859, Lucien Lester Ainsworth married Margaret Elizabeth McCool (1833-1921), daughter of Joseph McCool and Eleanor Nevius [3] Lucien and Margaret had 5 children, 4 which survived to adulthood.

James Walter (1861)

Lucretia Eleanor "Kittie" (1863)

Charles Gray "Little Charlie" (1866–68)

Porter Lester "Toke" (1868)

Willard Joseph (1870)

Fred Lee (1873) [4]

Education, military, and employment

Young Ainsworth attended the public schools, and the Oneida Conference Seminary, in Cazenovia, New York. "At intervals during his course at the seminary he taught school and was said to be a very popular teacher and educator." In 1854 at age 23, after studying law, he was admitted to the bar in Madison County, New York. That same year he moved to Belvidere, Illinois, and began practicing law.

Just a year later, in 1855, Ainsworth moved to Iowa and continued the practice of law in West Union, where he would remain until his death in 1902.

During the Civil War in 1862, Ainsworth joined the Union Army as captain of Company C, 6th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, and served three years in areas of conflict with Native American tribes in the northern Great Plains. He and his company participated in the Battle of Whitestone Hill in Dakota Territory. [5] After leaving the Army, he returned to West Union and resumed the practice of law.

In 1885 Ainsworth continued his law practice. "We find the following local item telegraphed to the Cedar Rapids Republican from Fayette, March 6, 1885. The saloon of Simon Nefzger, at Lima, in this county, was raided night before last and a small quantity of whisky found yesterday morning. Nefzger and his clerk were both arrested for selling and the trial fixed for today. They came by their attorney, L. L. AINSWORTH, of West Union, proposing to quit the business totally and forever and pay all costs and expenses, including attorney for prosecution. Being satisfied that the proposition was made in good faith and would be adhered to, the prosecution did not appear. The costs were promptly paid and there is one less saloon in Iowa. It does prohibit." [6]

In 1890 Ainsworth was mentioned again. "A grave-stone law suit was in progress here last week between J. O. VanSyckel and some parties Strawberry Pointward, which lasted a couple of days. L.L. Ainsworth chopped up law for VanSyckel, and attorney Blair, of Manchester, assisted the defense. [7]

Political career

In the fall of 1856, Ainsworth began his political career by running for the office of Fayette County Attorney as a Democrat. "The county was overwhelmingly Republican, and he was defeated as a matter of course." [8]

LL Ainsworth served as member of the Iowa Senate from 1860 to 1862, representing Bremer and Fayette Counties. [9]

He served as member of the Iowa House of Representatives from 1871 to 1873.

In 1874, Ainsworth ran as a Democrat to represent Iowa's 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House. [10] Becoming the first Iowa Democrat elected to Congress since 1854, he served in the Forty-fourth Congress. He declined to accept a renomination in 1876. [11] He served from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1877.

Death

He died in West Union, Fayette County, Iowa on April 19, 1902. He is buried in the West Union Cemetery, lot 155 [12] along with his Wife Margaret E. McCool Ainsworth.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Union, Iowa</span> City in Iowa, United States

West Union is a city in Fayette County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,490 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Fayette County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granville G. Bennett</span> American judge

Granville Gaylord Bennett was an American lawyer who served as a justice of the Supreme Court for the Dakota Territory and as a delegate to the United States House of Representatives. He was the presiding judge at the trial of Jack McCall for the Aug. 2,1876 murder of Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. This trial was held in Yankton, the then headquarters of the Territory. Judge Bennett later was assigned to Lawrence county and moved his family there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George A. Mathews</span> American attorney and politician from South Dakota

George Arthur Mathews was an American lawyer of Brookings, South Dakota. He was active in the government of the Dakota Territory, and was a territorial delegate to the United States House of Representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David B. Henderson</span> American politician (1840-1906)

David Bremner Henderson was an American attorney, Civil War veteran and Republican Party politician who served as the 34th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1899 to 1903. He represented Iowa in the House from 1883 to 1903. He was the first Speaker from west of the Mississippi River, the second foreign-born Speaker, the only Speaker from Iowa, and the last Speaker who was a veteran of the Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horace M. Towner</span> American politician and governor of Puerto Rico

Horace Mann Towner was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa's 8th congressional district and appointed the governor of Puerto Rico. In an era in which the federal government's role in health and education was small, he was an early leader of efforts to expand that role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L. J. Dickinson</span> American politician

Lester Jesse Dickinson was a Republican United States Representative and Senator from Iowa. He was, in the words of Time magazine, "a big, friendly, white-thatched Iowa lawyer." In early 1936, he dreamed of winning the presidency. However, the only race he would enter that year would be for his own seat in the Senate which he lost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aylett R. Cotton</span> American politician (1826–1912)

Aylett Rains Cotton was an American politician, lawyer, judge, educator and miner active in Iowa and Northern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred N. Cummings</span> American politician

Fred Nelson Cummings was an American farmer and rancher who served as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Colorado for four terms from 1933 to 1941.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. Dickinson Letts</span> U.S. Congressman and federal judge

Fred Dickinson Letts was a United States representative from Iowa, and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James P. Conner</span> American politician

James Perry Conner was a Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 10th congressional district from 1900 to 1909.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lloyd Thurston</span> American politician (1880–1970)

Lloyd Thurston was a seven-term Republican U.S. Representative from southern Iowa. First elected in 1924, he served until 1938, when he unsuccessfully sought election to the U.S. Senate. By his final term, he had served on three of the most powerful House committees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter H. Butler</span> American politician (1852–1931)

Walter Halben Butler was a lawyer, teacher, newspaper publisher, and one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district, then located in northeastern Iowa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William E. Fuller</span> American politician (1846–1918)

William Elijah Fuller, was an attorney, and a two-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 4th congressional district in northeastern Iowa during the 1880s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William G. Donnan</span> American politician

William G. Donnan was an American lawyer, Civil War officer, politician who served as a two-term Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's 3rd congressional district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William O. Barnard</span> American politician (1852–1939)

William Oscar Barnard was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from Indiana from 1909 to 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustus Hall</span> American politician (1814–1861)

Augustus Hall, a lawyer, was a one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 1st congressional district, and chief justice of the Nebraska Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carman Newcomb</span> American politician

Carman Adam Newcomb was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer, judge and marshal from Iowa and Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William W. Chapman</span> American politician

William Williams Chapman was an American politician and lawyer in Oregon and Iowa. He was born and raised in Virginia. He served as a United States Attorney in Iowa when it was part of the Michigan and Wisconsin territories, and then represented the Iowa Territory in the United States House of Representatives. He later immigrated to the Oregon Country, where he served in the Oregon Territorial Legislature.

Eldorado is an unincorporated community in Fayette County, Iowa, United States. It is located at the junction of Iowa State Highway 150 and Major Road, six miles northeast of West Union.

Charles Trumbull Granger was an American lawyer and pioneer settler of Allamakee County, Iowa. He was a justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, serving from 1889 through 1900. He previously served on lower courts in Iowa, serving a total of 28 years in various judicial offices.

References

  1. Ainsworth families in America. Compiled by Francis J. Parker. 8vo. Boston 1894, page 106
  2. Past and Present of Fayette County Iowa, 1910 Author: G. Blessin - http://iagenweb.org/fayette/hist/1910/1272.htm
  3. "United States Census, 1900," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M9KV-NGF  : accessed 20 January 2015), Margaret E Ainsworth in household of Lucian L Ainsworth, West Union Township West Union city Ward 1-3, Fayette, Iowa, United States; citing sheet 5B, family 131, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,240,432.
  4. FamilySearch.org record K2SR-DVB
  5. Iowa Genweb Iowa in the Civil War Project after Logan, Guy E., Roster and Record of Iowa Troops In the Rebellion, Vol. 1
  6. Newspaper Article, The Cedar Rapids Republican, March 6, 1885
  7. Fayette County Leader Newspaper, Fayette Iowa, Fri, July 4, 1890, page 8
  8. Past and Present of Fayette County Iowa, 1910 Author: G. Blessin - http://iagenweb.org/fayette/hist/1910/1272.htm
  9. Benjamin F. Gue, "History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century," Vol. 4 (Lucian L. Ainsworth), pp. 3 (1902).
  10. "The Elections: Further Returns," Davenport Daily Gazette, 1874-10-16 at p. 1.
  11. "Home and State News," Perry Chief, 1876-04-01 at p. 1.
  12. Ancestry.com. Iowa, Cemetery Records, 1662-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Original data: Works Project Administration. Graves Registration Project. Washington, D.C.: n.p., n.d.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the  U.S. House of Representatives
from Iowa's 3rd congressional district

18751877
Succeeded by

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress