Gear, John Henry
merchant, governor, United States senator, was born April 7, 1825, in Ithaca, N. Y. He moved to Burlington in 1843, where he engaged in merchandising. He was a member of the Iowa house of representatives of the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth general assemblies of the state, serving as speaker for the last two terms. He was elected governor of Iowa in 1878-79, and He was elected to again in 1880-81. the fiftieth and fifty-first congresses; was assistant secretary of the treasury; and was elected to the fiftythird congress as a republican. He was elected in 1894 a senator in congress from the state of Iowa for six years, beginning March 4, 1895.