Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
VANDEVER, William
VANDEVER, William. (Baltimore, MD, Mar. 31, 1817-Ventura, CA, July 23, 1893). Iowa Congressman. Vandever, admitted to the Iowa bar in 1852, began his legal practice in Dubuque. He was elected as a Republican to the 36th and 37th Congresses and served as a member of a peace convention in Washington, D.C., which attempted to find a way of avoiding the CIVIL WAR.
Vandever joined the Union Army as a colonel of the 9th Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, without resigning his seat in Congress. After the war, he returned to his legal practice in Dubuque before being appointed U.S. Indian inspector by President Grant in 1873. Vandever moved from Dubuque to California where he was re-elected to Congress.