Smith McPherson

Smith McPherson

Smith McPherson (February 14, 1848 – January 17, 1915) was a Republican U.S. Representative from Iowa's now-obsolete 9th congressional district for one year, and a federal district court judge for over fourteen years.

Born near Mooresville, Indiana, McPherson attended the common schools and Mooresville Academy. He graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in June 1870. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Red Oak, Iowa. McPherson began serving as a State's attorney in 1872. In 1874, he became a district attorney of Third Judicial District of Iowa, serving in that position until 1880 (when he was elected as Iowa Attorney General). After serving as attorney general from 1881 to 1885, he returned to private practice in Red Oak until 1899.

In August 1898, McPherson defeated incumbent congressman Alva L. Hager and two others in the race for the Republican nomination in Iowa's 9th congressional district. For several days, no candidate received the required number of votes, but McPherson prevailed on the 618th ballot, after Hager threw his support to him.^[1] He then prevailed in the general election. However, McPherson did not serve a complete term. Instead, he served in the Fifty-sixth Congress from March 4, 1899, until he resigned to accept the appointment of United States district judge for the Southern District of Iowa. He was nominated by President William McKinley on April 3, 1900, to a seat vacated by John S. Woolson. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 7, 1900, and received his commission the same day.

In his final year on the bench, he upheld the constitutionality of Iowa's workers' compensation statute against an attack by an employer alleging that it violated due process.^[2]

McPherson served on the bench until his death in Red Oak on January 17, 1915. He was interred in Evergreen Cemetery.

References

• United States Congress. "Smith McPherson (id: M000594)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 

• Smith McPherson at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings and Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.