Josiah Bushnell Grinnell
Encyclopedia
Iowa's 4th congressional district
Iowa's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Iowa that covers most of the north-central part of the state....
, an ordained Congregational minister, founder of Grinnell, Iowa
Grinnell, Iowa
Grinnell is a city in Poweshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 9,218 at the 2010 census. Grinnell was named after Josiah Bushnell Grinnell and is the home of Grinnell College.- History :...
and benefactor of Grinnell College
Grinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
.
J.B. Grinnell was born in New Haven, Vermont
New Haven, Vermont
New Haven is a town in Addison County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,666 at the 2000 census. New Haven contains the village of Belden as well as Brooksville, New Haven Junction and New Haven Mills.-Geography:...
in 1821. Grinnell studied the Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and graduated from Auburn Theological Seminary
Auburn Theological Seminary
Auburn Theological Seminary was founded in 1818. Auburn Theological Seminary focuses on religious leadership development, movement-building, and research. Auburn is based in New York City and exists in covenant with the Presbyterian Church ....
in 1847. He held pastorates in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
before moving to Iowa. He was the young man to whom Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley
Horace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery...
is quoted as having given the famous advice, "Go West, young man
Go West, young man
"Go West, young man" is a popular saying in the United States about Manifest Destiny popularized by American author Horace Greeley.Greeley favored westward expansion. He saw the fertile farmland of the west as an ideal place for people willing to work hard for the opportunity to succeed...
." Grinnell was also involved in railway building and was instrumental in the move of Grinnell College
Grinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
, known at the time as Iowa College, from Davenport
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
to the newly established town of Grinnell.
In Iowa, Grinnell was elected to the Iowa Senate
Iowa Senate
The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 50 members of the Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 59,500 per constituency. Each Senate district is composed of two House districts...
, where he served from 1856 to 1860. At the same time, he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1858, and set up his legal practice in Grinnell. He was a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention
1860 Republican National Convention
The 1860 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States, held in Chicago, Illinois at the Wigwam, nominated former U.S. Representative Abraham Lincoln of Illinois for President and U.S. Senator Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for Vice President...
that nominated Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
for President.
Grinnell was also a 'conductor' on the underground railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
and was associated with John Brown
John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...
. He provided shelter to John Brown in 1859 after Brown's anti-slavery raids in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
and Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
.
In 1862, after the 1860 census increased the number of U.S. House seats in Iowa from two to six, Grinnell ran for the newly-created seat representing Iowa's 4th congressional district. The Fourth District was then a diamond-shaped configuation of twelve counties that included Newton and Iowa City, and ran from the Missouri border to the southern edge of Waterloo. After winning the Republican nomination and the general election in 1862, he served in the Thirty-eighth Congress. In 1864 he won re-election, serving in the Thirty-ninth Congress. On June 14, 1866, he was assaulted by fellow congressman Lovell Rousseau
Lovell Rousseau
Lovell Harrison Rousseau was a general in the United States and Union Armies during the American Civil War and a lawyer and politician in both Kentucky and Indiana.-Early life and career:...
for insulting him and his home state of Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
during a House debate.
Grinnell lost the Republican nomination for a third term, losing by thirteen votes to Judge William Loughridge
William Loughridge
William Loughridge was a pioneer attorney, judge, and three-term United States Congressman from Iowa....
in June 1866.
After his service in Congress, Grinnell resumed the practice of law. He was interested in building of railroads, becoming a director of the Rock Island Railroad, and receiver of the Iowa Central Railroad (later the St. Louis & St. Paul Railroad). He also served as president of the Iowa State Horticultural Society and of the First National Bank in Grinnell.
He died of throat disease, complicated by asthma, at his home in Grinnell on March 31, 1891. He was interred in Hazelwood Cemetery.
Works
- J.B. Grinnell, Men and Events of Forty Years: Autobiographical Reminiscences of an active career from 1850 to 1890 (1891), Boston: D. Lothrop.
Articles on his life and his obituary are available from the online resources from Drake Library in Grinnell, Iowa. Many additional materials are available in the Grinnell Room Archives at Drake Library.