author
Charles Clinton Nourse
b. 1829
A vivid first-person memoir from one of early Iowa’s best-known lawyers and public figures, it follows a life shaped by frontier law, state politics, and decades in the courtroom. His recollections offer a direct window into how Iowa grew in the second half of the nineteenth century.
1 Audiobook
Autobiography of Charles Clinton Nourse Prepared for use of Members of the Family
by Charles Clinton Nourse
About the author
Born on April 1, 1829, in Sharpsburg, Maryland, Charles Clinton Nourse studied law at Transylvania University and moved to Iowa in 1851. He began his career in Keosauqua, later settled in Des Moines, and became widely known in Iowa legal and political life over more than fifty years.
Nourse served in several important public roles, including prosecuting attorney in Van Buren County, clerk of the Iowa House of Representatives, and Iowa attorney general. He was also active in the early Republican Party in the state, and his long legal career made him a familiar figure in Iowa courts and public affairs.
His autobiography, prepared for members of his family and later widely circulated, mixes personal history with stories from the Iowa bar and government. For listeners interested in nineteenth-century America, it offers both a personal memoir and a lively account of the people and institutions that helped shape early Iowa.