James W. McDill

Who was James W. McDill?

James Wilson McDill was a lawyer, state-court judge, Republican United States Representative and Senator from Iowa, state railroad commissioner, and member of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Born in Monroe, Ohio, he attended the common schools, Hanover College, and South Salem Academy. He graduated from Miami University in 1853. He studied law in Columbus, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1856.

McDill then moved to Afton, Iowa in southwestern Iowa, and commenced practice. He was elected superintendent of Union County, Iowa, in 1859 and was elected county judge in 1860. He was a clerk in the office of the Third Auditor of the Treasury in Washington, D.C. from 1862 to 1865, when he resigned and returned to Iowa. He was elected circuit judge in 1868, and later district judge of the third judicial circuit of Iowa.

In 1872, he was elected as a Republican to represent Iowa's 8th congressional district in the U.S. House. He initially served in the Forty-third Congress. He was re-elected two years later, to the Forty-fourth Congress. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1876. In all, he served in the House from March 4, 1873 to March 3, 1877.