History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/4/William Vandever
WILLIAM VANDEVER was born in Baltimore, Maryland, March 31, 1817. He was educated in the schools of Philadelphia. In 1839 he went to Rock Island where he engaged in surveying public lands. For several years he was editor of the Northwestern Advertiser. In 1851 he removed to Dubuque and was employed in the office of the Surveyor-General. He afterwards became a partner of Ben M. Samuels in the practice of law. In 1856 he was a delegate to the convention which organized the Republican party of Iowa. In 1858 he was nominated for Representative in Congress in the Second District and elected over his former law partner, B. M. Samuels. He was reëlected in 1860 but resigned his seat in 1861 to enter the military service and was appointed colonel of the Ninth Iowa Infantry. Mr. Vandever commanded a brigade at the Battle of Pea Ridge and won promotion to Brigadier-General. He served through the war with distinction in the armies of Grant and Sherman and was brevetted Major-General. Some years after the close of the war he removed to California where he was again elected to Congress. He died on the 23d of July, 1893.