Josiah B. Grinnell

JOSIAH B. GRINNELL was born in New Haven, Vermont, in 1822. He received a liberal education, graduating at Oneida College, New York. He then took the course in theology at Auburn and became a Congregational minister, preaching several years at Washington and New York City. In the winter of 1853 he projected a colony to settle in the West and in May, 1854, went to Iowa City with members of the colony to procure wild lands. He selected several thousand acres in Poweshiek County which were entered and the town of Grinnell laid out. A college was projected which in time was realized in Iowa College. Mr. Grinnell helped to organize a Congregational church and was its first minister. In 1856 he began his political career by acting as a delegate to the convention which organized the Republican party of Iowa. In the fall of that year he was the Republican candidate for State Senator from the district consisting of the counties of Poweshiek, Jasper, Marshall and Tama. He was elected, serving four years. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, ln 1862 Mr. Grinnell was elected to Congress from the Fourth District and in 1864 was reëlected, serving four years. He was at one time a prominent candidate for nomination for Governor and later for United States Senator, but without success. In 1872 Mr. Grinnell united with the "Liberal Republicans" and Democrats in supporting Horace Greeley for President as against General Grant. He was one of the promoters of the Central Railroad of Iowa and the first president of that company. Mr. Grinnell was an enthusiastic worker for the development of his adopted State and the city which bore his name, as well as the college he had helped to establish.

SOURCE: Benjamin F. Gue, History of Iowa, Volume IV: Iowa Biography, p. 111