History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/Emlen G. Penrose
EMLEN G. PENROSE was born at Chesterfield, Ohio, August 22, 1844, and was educated in the district schools of his native State. He came to Iowa in 1860 where he worked on a farm and taught school. He attended the State University several terms and in 1868 located at Tama City where he engaged in the mercantile business. He was for several years a resident of Grand Junction where he carried on the hardware, agricultural implement and grain trade. In 1872 he returned to Tama City and opened a hardware store, and has been member of the city council and mayor of the city. In 1893 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the State Senate from the district consisting of the counties of Benton and Tama, where he served in the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth General Assemblies, and was chairman of the committee on railroads. In 1900 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Philadelphia.