History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/James W. McDill
JAMES W. McDILL
JAMES W. McDILL was born at Monroe, Ohio, March 4, 1834. He was educated at the South Salem Academy and at Miami University from which he graduated in 1853. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and removed to Union County, Iowa, in 1856. Here he served as county judge one term, was clerk of a Senate committee and clerk in the office of the third auditor at Washington. In 1868 he was elected judge of the Circuit Court and later judge of the District Court. In 1872 he was elected to Congress for the Eighth District, serving two terms. In 1878 he was appointed Railroad Commissioner, serving until March, 1881, when he was appointed United States Senator to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Kirk wood. The term ended March 4, 1883. Judge McDill was again appointed Railroad Commissioner for three years from April, 1884. He was appointed by President Harrison one of the members of the Inter-State Commerce Commission, which place he held at the time of his death which occurred on the 28th of February, 1894.