HISTORY OF EUGENE WARE

Ware, Eugene Fitch (Ironquill), lawyer and poet, was born at Hartford, Connecticut, May 29, 1841, a son of Hiram B. and Amanda Melvina (Holbrook) Ware. His parents moved to Burlington, Iowa, in his childhood and he was educated in the public schools of that place.

In 1861 he enlisted in Company E, First Iowa infantry; reĂ«nlisted in Company L, Fourth Iowa Cavalry, was mustered out as Captain of Company F, Seventh Iowa, in June 1866, having during the latter part of his service been aide-de-camp successively to Gens. Robert B. Mitchell, C. J. Stolbrand, Washington R. Ellett and Grenville M. Dodge.  He took a section of land in Cherokee County, Kansas, in 1867, studied law, and was admitted to the bar at Fort Scott and to the United States Supreme Court; entered the law firm of McComas & McKeighan at Fort Scott; in 1874 married Miss Jeanette P. Huntington of Rochester, N. Y., and was for many years editor of the Fort Scott Monitor.

His political career consisted of two terms in the Kansas legislature, 1879 to 1883, and three years as United States pension commissioner—1902 to 1905.  He was prominent in the Republican party; was a delegate to two of its national conventions; was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Bar Association, the Loyal Legion, and the Society of the Mayflower Descendants.  His home for some years was at Topeka, from which place he moved to Kansas City, Kansas, about 1909 where he practiced law in partnership with his son until the spring of 1911 when both retired to the Ware farm in Cherokee County. 

Mr. Ware died on July 1, 1911, at Cascade, Colorado. He was the author of "The Rise and Fall of the Saloon," 1900; "The Lyon Campaign and History of the First Iowa Infantry," 1907; "The Indian Campaign of 1864," 1908; "Rhymes of Ironquill" (13th edition), 1908; "Ithuriel," 1909; "From Court to Court" (4th edition), 1909; was the translator of Castaneda's account of Coronado's March, from the French of Ternaux Compans, 1895; Roman Water Law from the Latin of Justinian, 1905; and was a contributor to a number of legal and literary publications.

Citation: Pages 886-887 from volume II of Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... / with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago: 1912. 3 v. in 4. : front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank W. Blackmar. Transcribed July 2002 by Carolyn Ward.