author
Charles Clinton Nourse
b. 1829
A frontier lawyer with a storyteller’s eye, this 19th-century Iowan wrote a lively memoir drawn from more than fifty years at the bar and in public life. His recollections open a window onto early Iowa politics, law, and everyday life on the developing American frontier.
1 Audiobook
Autobiography of Charles Clinton Nourse Prepared for use of Members of the Family
by Charles Clinton Nourse
About the author
Born in Sharpsburg, Maryland, on April 1, 1829, he studied law at Transylvania University in Kentucky and moved to Iowa in 1851. He first settled in Keosauqua, where he began building the legal career that would later make him a familiar figure in Iowa public life.
Over the years, he served as a lawyer, judge, legislator, and Iowa attorney general. Accounts of his career describe him as deeply involved in the state’s early political and legal history, especially during the years when Iowa was still taking shape.
He is best remembered today for Autobiography of Charles Clinton Nourse, a memoir prepared for his family and later published more widely. The book blends personal memory with stories from courtrooms and public affairs, making it valuable both as life writing and as a firsthand glimpse of 19th-century Iowa.