W. R. Maines Biography >From "History of Davenport and Scott County" Vol. II by Harry E. Downer-S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1910 Chicago. Surnames: Maines, Gray, Chamberlin, Vollmer, Koch. W. R. Maines, for fifteen years a member of the Davenport bar and now serving as justice of the peace, to which position he was elected in 1906, was born in Ashland, Kentucky, May 10, 1874. His father, P. M. Maines, was a native of Pennsylvania and when a young man went to Kentucky, being employed as a steamboat engineer during his residence there. In 1875 he came to Iowa and after one year spent in Clinton removed to LeClaire, Scott county, where he later coming to Davenport, where he continued as a steamboat engineer until his death in February, 1909. He was well known river man, having a wide acquaintance from St. Paul to New Orleans, being on the river in the palmy and exciting days of steamboating when the Mississippi was the principal means of travel from north to south and the vessels which plied its waters were well termed floating palaces. He married Nannie E. Gray, a native of Virginia. Brought to Iowa when but a year old, W. R. Maines largely pursued his education in the public schools of Princeton and completed his more specifically literary course in Cornell College, at Mount Vernon, Iowa. Wishing to make the practice of law his life work, he began reading in the office of W. M. Chamberlin, and later entered the State University at Iowa City, where he spent one year. In 1895 he was admitted to the he bar and immediately afterward opened an office in Davenport, where he has since remained. For five years he engaged in practice with Fred Vollmer, under the firm style of Maines & Vollmer, but since that time has been alone. In 1906 he was elected justice of the peace and now presides in fair and impartial manner over the justice court in addition to attending to the duties of his law practice. Earnest application and unflagging diligence have constituted the basis of his progress success. He chose as a life work a profession in which he now occupies as a s! trong representative of the Davenport bar. Mr. Maines has always been an active politician but not an office seeker. He belong to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is a Past Worthy President of the local ærie of Eagles. He is likewise connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Woodmen of the World, the Order of Owls and Knights of the Maccabees. In 1903 he married Louise A. Koch, a native of Rock Island and a daughter of Anthony Koch of that city. ~~~~~~*~~~~~~ Elaine Rathmann ACC Scott Co, IA USGenWeb Project List Adm: *IA-CIVIL-WAR *IA-DANES