Henry Clay Dean

HENRY CLAY DEAN was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, October 27, 1822. He was a graduate of Madison College, Pennsylvania, taught for a time and studied law. In 1845 he joined the Methodist Episcopal Conference of Virginia and began to preach in the mountain region of that State where he remained for four years. In 1850 he removed to Iowa, locating at Pittsburg, Van Buren County, where he preached through the Keosauqua circuit, joining the Fairfield Conference. Through the influence of General George W. Jones, one of our first United States Senators, Mr. Dean was chosen chaplain of the Senate. He was one of the trustees of the Iowa Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant. Mr. Dean was admitted to the bar but did not practice law. He was a public speaker of rare eloquence and was frequently invited to deliver lectures, among which was a "Reply to Ingersoll," "The Constitution," "Declaration of Independence" and many other topics. During the Civil War he was arrested for disloyal utterances and confined in prison for several months by order of Government officials. Upon his release he wrote and published a book with the title, "Crimes of the Civil War." It was a bitter assault upon President Lincoln and the administration in the great work of subduing the Rebellion. He removed to a farm in Putnam County, Missouri, which he named "Rebel Cove "; it was about four miles from a station on the C. B. & Q. Railroad where a post-office was named Dean. Here he had gathered a great library which was destroyed by fire. He died on this farm February 6, 1887.

SOURCE: Benjamin F. Gue, History of Iowa, Volume IV: Iowa Biography, p. 69