Polk-Van Buren County IA Archives Biographies.....Nourse, Charles Clinton 1829 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ia/iafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 29, 2011, 6:08 pm Source: See below Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896) CHARLES CLINTON NOURSE, who since 1858 has been a resident of Des Moines and a prominent representative of the legal profession, is a native of Maryland. He was born in Sharpsburg, Washington county, on the 1st of April, 1829, and is the third son of Charles and Susan (Cameron) Nourse. The ancestry of the family can be traced back to 1520, when John Nourse lived at Chilling Place, Oxford, England. He married Phillipa, daughter of Sir Edward Terrill. The American branch of the Nourse family to which the subject of this review belongs descended from James Nourse and his wife Sarah, nee Fonance, who emigrated from London, England, in 1769, and settled at Piedmont, Jefferson county, Virginia. They were the parents of twenty-one children, including Gabriel Nourse, grandfather of Charles Clinton. He was one of the early settlers of Kentucky, but after the death of his two brothers at the hands of the Indians he returned to Virginia, where he reared his family. Charles Nourse, the father of our subject, was born at Frankfort, Kentucky, April 15, 1801, and was a teacher by profession. He taught school for fifty consecutive years, first in Maryland and afterward in Ohio, Kentucky and Iowa. He died at Reynoldsburg, Ohio, in January, 1880, having survived his wife many years. She died at Shepherdstown, Virginia, in 1836, and on her mother's side was descended from the prominent Clinton family, whose name has been preserved in the family of our subject in honor of the grandmother. Charles Clinton Nourse enjoyed the advantage of a good education, received chiefly from his father's personal instruction. Determining to enter the legal profession and make the practice of law his life work, he became a student in the law department of Transylvania University, at Lexington, Kentucky, where he was graduated with the class of 1850. Believing that the West furnished better opportunities for a young man just starting out in life with a business reputation to make, he came to Iowa in 1851, and opened a law office in Keosauqua, Van Buren county, where he made his home for seven years, coming to Des Moines in 1858. He has built up and maintained an extensive practice. In early life he laid the foundation for the substantial success that has crowned his efforts by a strict regard for integrity, an earnestness of purpose and a determination to make the practice of his profession, in the legitimate channels of the law, the paramount object of his business career. A conscientious, painstaking preparation of all cases intrusted to him and their able management in court has characterized the professional work of Judge Nourse throughout his many years of practice, and has won for him the reputation of an able trial lawyer, while in general practice he takes rank among the best in the profession in his adopted State. In 1853, in Lexington, Kentucky, the Judge was united in marriage with Miss Rebecca McMeekin. Their only child bears the name of Clinton C. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1864, was educated at Callanan College, and the State Agricultural College of Iowa, and is now an architect by profession, doing business in Des Moines. In June, 1889, he wedded Miss Elizabeth Behring, of Fort Dodge, Iowa. The Judge and his wife have been lifelong members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are among the most prominent and highly respected citizens of the community. The Judge was instrumental in the organization of the Republican party in Iowa in 1856, and has since been a stalwart advocate of its principles. He has been honored with various public offices, having first held office in Iowa, in August, 1852, when he was elected public prosecutor for Van Buren county. He was Clerk of the Iowa House of Representatives in 1853-4, and in 1856-7 was Secretary of the Senate. In 1860 he was elected Attorney General of Iowa, and so capable was his administration of the affairs of this office that on the expiration of his two-years term he was reelected. In 1865 he was appointed Judge of the Fifth Judicial District of the State, but after being on the bench six months he resigned and returned to the practice of law, in which he, has met with marked success. As a statesman, public official or jurist he has alike won the commendation of the public and the respect of all. He has been an active, earnest advocate of the cause of temperance and the cause of prohibition, and gives his support to all measures or interests which are calculated to prove of public benefit. His prominence in his adopted State is shown by the fact that in 1876 he was chosen by the Governor of Iowa to deliver the centennial address at Philadelphia. The address was a masterpiece of oratory and history, a condensed account of the early settlement of the State, its topography, resources, progress, politics and educational facilities; and the State published 20,000 copies of this address for general circulation. In 1877 the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon Judge Nourse by Simpson Centenary College. He is a fluent speaker, earnest and entertaining, at the same time logical and instructive. A ready thinker, well posted on all topics of the day and an interesting conversationalist, and always a favorite in any society. He has a mind subtle and refined and inclined to be judicial in its nature, capable of hearing both sides of the question and drawing correct conclusions. His long residence and upright life have made him one of the prominent and esteemed citizens of his adopted State. Additional Comments: Extracted from: A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1896 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ia/polk/bios/nourse238nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/iafiles/ File size: 6.3 Kb