History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Charles C. Nourse
CHARLES C. NOURSE was born at Sharpsburg, Maryland, April 1, 1829. He received a liberal education and when quite young began the study of law. He graduated from the Law Department of the Transylvania University of Kentucky in 1850 and the following year removed to Iowa, making his home at Keosauqua. In 1852 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney and in 1854 chief clerk of the House of the Fifth General Assembly at Iowa City. In 1856 he was Secretary of the Senate. He was a delegate to the State Convention of that year which organized the Republican party of Iowa and served as one of the secretaries. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago which nominated Abraham Lincoln. At the State Convention the same year he was nominated for Attorney-General of Iowa and elected, serving four years. In 1865 Mr. Nourse was appointed Judge of the Fifth District. In 1876 he was selected by the Governor to deliver an address for Iowa at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia. It was a masterly oration showing the wonderful progress and development of the new State, and 20,000 copies were published for general circulation. Judge Nourse has long ranked among the ablest lawyers of the State and has been one of the most prominent leaders of temperance and prohibition.