Ralph Phillips Lowe, fourth governor of Iowa, was born on November 27, 1805 in Warren County, Ohio, the fifth son of Jacob Derrick Lowe and Maria (Perlee) Lowe. As he grew up, he had to work hard on the family farm, which was also a stagecoach stop…
William Larrabee, Iowa's thirteenth governor, was born in Ledyard, Connecticut on January 20, 1832. He was the seventh of nine children of Adam and Hannah Gallup (Lester) Larrabee. He was born in Ledyard, Connecticut, where he received his primary…
James Clark (July 5, 1812 July 28, 1850) was the third Governor of Iowa Territory from November 18, 1845 until December 3, 1846, being appointed to the office, as a Democrat, by President James Polk. Born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Clarke was…
Nelson George Kraschel, Iowa's twenty-seventh governor, was born in Macon, Illinois on October 27, 1889. He was the son of Fred K. Kraschel, who farmed near Macon, Illinois, and Nancy Jane (Poe) Kraschel. Nelson Kraschel attended Macon High School…
Joshua G. Newbold, Iowa's tenth governor, was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania on May 12, 1830. He was the firstborn child of Barzillai and Catherine (Houseman) Newbold. In 1840 the Newbold family left Fayette County for Westmoreland County,…
Terry E. Branstad, a Republican from Lake Mills, Iowa, was Iowa's 39th Governor and the youngest in the nation. He was born in Winnebago County on November 17, 1946, the son of Rita And Edward Branstad of Forest City. He grew up on the family's…
Norman A. Erbe was born October 25, 1919 in Boone, Iowa, the youngest of six children of the Rev. Otto L. and Louise J. Erbe. Norman attended the Lutheran Parochial School, Boone High School and the University of Iowa until 1941, when ordered to…
Albert Cummins was born in a log house in Carmichaels, Green County, Pennsylvania, the son of Thomas L. Cummins, a carpenter/farmer, and Sarah Baird Cummins. He attended country schools and completed a four-year course in two years at Waynesburg…
Stephen Hempstead, Iowa's second governor, was born in New London, Connecticut. on October 1, 1812, the eighth son of Joseph and Celinda (Hutchinson) Hempstead. When he was 13, his father, who was in the boot and shoe business, was for some months…
John Chambers, second Territorial Governor of Iowa, was born October 6, 1780, in Somerset County, New Jersey. His father, Colonel Rowland Chambers, was a colonel in the War for American Independence. At the close of the war he removed to Mason…
