John Selby Townsend (August 24, 1824 – April 23, 1892) was an American

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Townsend was born on August 24, 1824, in Morganfield,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

to James Townsend a planter and large slaveowner. When Townsend was age four, his father freed all his slaves and moved with his family to Indiana. Townsend studied at Asbury University (now

DePauw University DePauw University ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Greencastle, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1837 as Indiana Asbury College and changed its name to DePauw University in 1884. The college has a Methodist heritage and was ...

) and, subsequently, taught himself law, passing the bar exam in

Monroe County, Iowa Monroe County is a County (United States), county located in the south central part of the U.S. state of Iowa. In the early 20th century, it was a center of bituminous coal mining and in 1910 had a population of more than 25,000. As mining dec ...

. In 1851, Townsend was elected the

county attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

of Monroe County. In 1852 he was elected to the

Iowa General Assembly The Iowa General Assembly is the legislative branch of the state government of Iowa. Like the federal United States Congress, the General Assembly is a bicameral body, composed of the upper house Iowa Senate and the lower Iowa House of Repre ...

, sitting in the House of Representatives from December 6, 1852, to December 3, 1854.John Selby Townsend, Iowa General Assembly
From 1853 to 1863 he served as a district court judge, before going into private practice with Theodore Bolivar Perry, who had previously

read law Reading law was the primary method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship un ...

under him. He retired in 1883.

References

1824 births 1892 deaths Indiana Democrats Iowa state court judges Kentucky Democrats Democratic Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives People from Putnam County, Indiana People from Albia, Iowa People from Morganfield, Kentucky 19th-century Iowa state court judges 19th-century members of the Iowa General Assembly {{Iowa-politician-stub