recognize the government of a Divine Ruler and to manifest their gratitude for the benefits received at his hands.

Therefore, I, James W. Grimes, Governor of the State of Iowa, do designate and appoint Thursday the 26th day of November next, as a day of public thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God.

I recommend the people of this State to abstain on that day from their ordinary avocation, and to assemble in their usual places of public worship, there to give thanks for the blessings of the past year and to devoutly supplicate their continuance.

LS

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of Iowa. Done this 22nd day of October, A. D. 1857 of the Independence of the United States the Eighty second, and of the State of Iowa the Eleventh

BY THE GOVERNOR

E. SELLS

Secretary of State

JAMES W. GRIMES

GOVERNOR RALPH PHILLIPS LOWE

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Ralph Phillips Lowe, the fourth Governor of the State of Iowa, was born in Warren County, Ohio, on November 27, 1805. In 1825 he entered Miami University. After graduating from the University in 1829, he went South and settled in Ashesville, Alabama. Here he taught school and read law. In 1834 he returned North and formed a partnership in the practice of law with his brother Peter P. Lowe, at Dayton, Ohio. In 1837 he married Phoebe Carleton. He removed to Iowa in 1840 and settled at Bloomington (now Muscatine). Later the town of Keokuk became his residence.

Mr. Lowe was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1844. At one time he served as District Attorney. Later he became Judge of the District Court. In January, 1858, he became Governor of the State. Two years later he was succeeded in that office by Samuel J. Kirkwood. After retiring from the office of Governor, Mr. Lowe was elected Judge of the Supreme Court. This position he held until 1868.

The closing years of his life were spent at Washington, D. C., where he died on December 22, 1883. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Washington.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.-The most satisfactory account of the life of Governor Lowe is found in the Iowa Historical Record, Vol. VII, p. 145.